An Introduction to Human Geography
The Cultural Landscape, 8e
James M. Rubenstein
Chapter 11
Industry
• Industry: manufacturing of goods in a factory
• Utilizes a large number of people, machinery, and
money to turn out valuable products.
• A generation ago, industry was highly clustered in
a handful of MDC’s, but now has diffused to even
LDC’s
Industry is…
• Highly clustered, unlike agriculture
• Considers land, labor, and capital ($), and
connections to the rest of the world
• LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! markets
to sell to and resources needed to make the
product
Where is Industry Distributed?
• ¾’s of world’s industrial production is
concentrated in 4 regions
– 1. Western Europe & 2. Eastern Europe
– 3. Eastern North America
– 4. East Asia
• Less than 1% of world’s land is devoted
to industry
Manufacturing Regions
Fig. 11-3: The world’s major manufacturing regions are found in North America, Europe,
and East Asia. Other manufacturing centers are also found elsewhere.
1. United Kingdom 367
2. Rhine-Ruhr Valley 368
3. Mid-Rhine
369
4. Central Industrial
District 370
5. Ural Industrial
District 370
3. Northern Italy
369
4. St. Petersburg
Industrial District 370
5. Kuznetsk
Industrial District
370
6. New England
371
7. Pittsburgh-Lake Eerie
371
8. East Asia 372
5. Eastern
Ukraine 370
4. Volga Industrial
District 370
5. Silesia
370
6. Mid-Atlantic 371
6. Mohawk Valley 371
7. Western Great Lakes
371
7. Canada’s Industrial
Areas
Whichever number you are assigned, you are reading
about all the topics in that row. Be prepared to explain
your topics to the class!
Western Europe
1. United
Kingdom 367
2. Rhine-Ruhr
Valley 368
3. Mid-Rhine
369
3. Northern Italy
369
Eastern Europe
4. Central Industrial
District 370
4. St. Petersburg
Industrial District 370
4. Volga Industrial
District 370
Eastern Europe
5. Ural Industrial
District 370
5. Kuznetsk
Industrial District
370
5. Eastern
Ukraine 370
5. Silesia
370
North America
6. New England
371
6. Mid-Atlantic 371
6. Mohawk Valley 371
North America
7. Pittsburgh-Lake Eerie
371
7. Western Great Lakes
371
7. Canada’s Industrial
Areas
East Asia
8. East Asia 372
World Industrial Regions
• Europe (367 & 370)
– European countries competed with each other
– Western Europe:1 region, 4 districts (competition)
– Eastern Europe: 6…4 in Russia, Ukraine, Poland & Czech
Republic
• North America (370)
– Happened later, but developed faster
– Northeast U.S., Southeast Canada
– 5% of land but 1/3 of people and 2/3 output
• East Asia
– Isolated from world markets
– abundant cheap labor force
– South Korea, Taiwan
– Japan: highly skilled jobs at lower cost
– China: largest labor force in manufacturing
Europe
•
•
•
•
•
Industrial Rev: originated in UK and Scotland
High concentration of skilled workers, mechanics, inventors
Coal and iron ore: Steel!!!!
Diffusion of railway system corresponded with IR (TRADE!)
Rhine-Ruhr Valley, Mid-Rhine, Northern Italy
Industrial Revolution Hearths
Fig. 11-1: The Industrial Revolution originated in areas of northern England. Factories
often clustered near coalfields.
Diffusion of Railways
Fig. 11-2: The year by which the first railway opened shows the diffusion of railways and
the Industrial Revolution from Britain.
North America
• Manufacturing in NE U.S.: iron and other minerals located
here, first settlers here, biggest markets are located here
• Steel factories around Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence
Valley: hydroelectric power
• Mini-mills for steel production: smaller, less process, does
only a small part of the process; scrap metal for steel
instead of ore
Industrial Regions of North
America
Fig. 11-4: The major industrial regions of North America are clustered in the northeast
U.S. and southeastern Canada, although there are other important centers.
Manufacturing Value Change
Fig. 11-5: The value and growth of manufacturing in major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
between 1972 and 1997.
Manufacturing Centers in
Western Europe
Fig. 11-6: The major manufacturing centers in Western Europe extend in a north-south
band from Britain to Italy.
Manufacturing Centers in
Eastern Europe and Russia
Fig. 11-7: Major manufacturing centers are clustered in European Russia and the
Ukraine. Other centers were developed east of the Urals.
East Asia
• Isolated from other world markets: forced to use own
resources, Japan imports natural resources
• Japan: high quality, expensive products, low cost
because workers are paid less (cultural)
• All on the coast or island countries for trade
• Few natural resources
• Wealth gap between east and west coast (east is
urban, west is rural)
Manufacturing Centers in East Asia
Fig. 11-8: Many industries in China are clustered in three centers near the east coast. In
Japan, production is clustered along the southeast coast.
Key Issue 2:
Why Do Industries Have Different Distributions?
 Maximize profits by minimizing
production costs!
Industrial Location
• Maximize profit and minimize production costs!
• Why is one location profitable for a factory than
others?
• Situation factors: transport of materials to and from
a factory
– Location near inputs (materials)
– Location near markets
– Transport choices
• Site factors: unique characteristics of a location
– Land
– Labor
– Capital
Where should the pencil industry locate
their factory?
Bulk-gaining/ Bulk-reducing
demonstration
• Bulk-gaining
becomes
• Bulk-reducing
becomes
If cost of transporting finished product
is more expensive than the cost of
transporting the materials needed to
make it, the optimal plant location is
near consumer
Materials
Product factory
Consumer
If cost of transporting materials is more
than the cost of transporting the final
product, the optimal plant location is
near materials
Materials
Consumer
Product factory
Situation Factors
• Involves the transporting of materials to and
from a factory.
• An industrial seeks a location that minimizes
the cost of transporting inputs (materials
needed) to the factory and finished goods to
the consumers
• The further something is transported…the
higher the cost…time and distance is $$$!!!
Proximity to Inputs:
Bulk-Reducing Industry
• Final product weights less than the inputs
– Copper
– Steel…mini-mills use scrap metal = easier
Main copper production in U.S.
Proximity to Market:
Bulk-Gaining Industry
• Something gains volume or weight during
production.
– Soft drink bottling: bottle is lightweight, add liquid
is gets heavier…liquid is expensive to
transport…production is near consumer (market)
– Fabricated products: tv’s, refrigerators, AC, and
AUTOMOBILES!
Proximity to Market:
Bulk-Gaining Industry
• Perishable Products:
– Milkshed: refrigerated trucks
– Items that perish, or are irrelevant that are not
food???
Transportation: the further it goes,
the higher the cost
• Water, cheapest
• Then, rail
• Then, truck
• Then, air.
Break-of-Bulk Points
• Cost rises each time inputs or products are
transferred from on more of transportation to
another, but….
• Companies that use multiple transport modes locate
a break-of-bulk point
– Transfer from a ship to a train is possible because it will
save money
Site Factors
• Result from the unique characteristics of a location
• Land, labor, and capital are the 3 traditional
production factors that may vary among locations
Read by Numbers:
• Site Factors
1.LABOR pg 379
2.Textile and Apparel spinning pg. 379-380
3.Textile and Apparel weaving pg. 380-381
4.Textile and Apparel Assembly pg. 382
5.LAND pg. 382-384
6.CAPITAL pg. 384
Labor
Textile and Apparel
Spinning
Textile and Apparel
Weaving
Textile and Apparel
Assembly
Land
Capital
Weber’s Law of Industrial Location
• Read handout as a class and answer the
following questions:
– Does this remind you of another model?
– What four factors determine location of industry?
– What is a footloose industry? Give an example.
– What is agglomeration? Give an example.
– When is agglomeration a negative? What happens
then (vocab word)?
If “C” is the market, which
diagram shows:
• A bulk gaining industry?
• A bulk reducing industry?
• A possible footloose
industry?
Copper Industry in North America
Fig. 11-9: Copper mining, concentration, smelting, and refining are examples of bulkreducing industries. Many are located near the copper mines in Arizona.
Integrated Steel Mills
Fig. 11-10: Integrated steel mills in the U.S. are clustered near the southern Great
Lakes, which helped minimize transport costs of heavy raw materials.
Steel Minimills
Fig. 11-11: Minimills produce steel from scrap metal, and they are distributed around the
country near local markets. These are the two largest minimill operators.
Change in Steel Production, 1973–2002
Steel production has
generally declined in MDCs
and increased in LDCs,
especially in China, India,
Brazil, and South Korea.
The increase has been
especially dramatic in
CHINA.
Location of Beer Breweries
Fig. 11-12: Beer brewing is a bulk-gaining industry that needs to be located near consumers.
Breweries of the two largest brewers are located near major population centers.
Chevrolet Assembly Plants, 1955
Fig. 11-13a: In 1955, GM assembled identical Chevrolets at ten final assembly plants
located near major population centers.
Chevrolet Assembly Plants, 2003
Pg. 378
Fig. 11-13b: In 2003, GM was producing a wider variety of vehicles, and production of
various models was spread through the middle of the country.
Site Selection for Saturn pg. 377
Fig. 11-1.1: GM considered a variety of economic and geographic factors when it
searched for a site for producing the new Saturn in 1985. The plant
was eventually located in Spring Hill, TN.
Motor Vehicle Parts Plants
Fig. 11-14: U.S.-owned parts plants are clustered near the main final assembly plants.
Foreign-owned plants tend to be located further south, where labor
unions are weaker.
Car Plant Location activity and
reading.
Electronic Computer Industry
Fig. 11-20: Computer and parts manufacturing requires highly skilled workers and
capital. It is clustered in the Northeast and the West Coast.
Steel Production, 1973 and 2002
Fig. 11-21b: About 60% of global steel production takes place in MDCs in 2002,
compared to 90% in 1973. Growth of steel manufacturing in China has
been especially dramatic.