1. Industries based on Size

Detail

• The amount of capital invested, number of workers employed and volume of production determine the size of industry.

Household Industries Or Cottage Manufacturing

• It is the smallest manufacturing unit.
• The artisans use local raw materials and simple tools to produce everyday goods in their homes with the help of their family members or part- time labour.
• Finished products may be for consumption in the same household or, for sale in local (village) markets, or, for barter.
• Capital and transportation do not wield much influence as this type of manufacturing has low commercial significance and most of the tools are devised locally.

Small Scale Manufacturing

• Distinguished from household industries by its production techniques and place of manufacture (a workshop outside the home/cottage of the producer).
• This type of manufacturing uses local raw material, simple power-driven machines and semi-skilled labour.
• It provides employment and raises local purchasing power.
• Therefore, countries like India, China, Indonesia and Brazil, etc. have developed labour -intensive small scale manufacturing in order to provide employment to their population.

Large Scale Manufacturing

• Large scale manufacturing involves a large market, various raw materials, enormous energy, specialised workers, advanced technology, assembly-line mass production and large capital.
• This kind of manufacturing developed in the last 200 years, in the United Kingdom, north-eastern U.S.A. and Europe. Now it has diffused to almost all over the world.
• On the basis of the system of large scale manufacturing, the world’s major industrial regions may be grouped under two broad types, namely
• Traditional large-scale industrial regions which are thickly clustered in a few more developed countries.
• High-technology large scale industrial regions which have diffused to less developed countries.

2. Industries Based On Inputs/Raw Materials

(A) Agro Based Industries

• Agro processing involves the processing of raw materials from the field and the farm into finished products for rural and urban markets. Major agro-processing industries are food processing, sugar, pickles, fruits juices, beverages (tea, coffee and cocoa), spices and oils fats and textiles (cotton, jute, silk), rubber, etc.
• Agri-business is commercial farming on an industrial scale often financed by business whose main interests lie outside agriculture, for example, large corporations in tea plantation business.
• Agri-business farms are mechanised, large in size, highly structured, reliant on chemicals, and may be described as agro-factories

(B) Mineral Based Industries

• These industries use minerals as a raw material. Some industries use ferrous metallic minerals which contain ferrous (iron), such as iron and steel industries but some use non-ferrous metallic minerals, such as aluminium, copper and jewellery industries. Many industries use non-metallic minerals such as cement and pottery industries.

(C) Chemical Based Industries

• Such industries use natural chemical minerals, mineral-oil (petroleum) is used in petro- chemical industry.
• Salts sulphur and potash industries also use natural minerals. Chemical industries are also based on raw materials obtained from wood and coal. Synthetic fibre, plastic, etc. are other examples of chemical based industries.

(D) Forest Based Raw Material Using Industries

• For furniture industry, wood, bamboo and grass for paper industry, lac for lac industries come from forests.

(E) Animal Based Industries

• Leather for leather industry and wool for woollen textiles are obtained from animals. Besides, ivory is also obtained from elephant‘s tusks.

3. Industries Based On Output/Product

Details

• The industry whose products are used to make other goods by using them as raw materials are basic industries.
• The consumer goods industries produced goods which are consumed by consumers directly.
• For example, industries producing breads and biscuits, tea, soaps and toiletries, paper for writing, televisions, etc. are consumer goods or non-basic industries.

4. Industries Based On Ownership

Details

• Public Sector Industries are owned and managed by governments.
• Private Sector Industries are owned by individual investors.
• These are managed by private organisations
• Joint Sector Industries are managed by joint stock companies or sometimes the private and public sectors together establish and manage the industries.

Traditional Large-Scale Industrial Regions

• These are based on heavy industry, often located near coal-fields and engaged in metal smelting, heavy engineering, chemical manufacture or textile production.
• These industries are now known as smoke stack industries. Traditional industrial regions can be recognised by:
• High proportion of employment in manufacturing industry.
• High-density housing, often of inferior type, and poor services. Unattractive environment, for example, pollution, waste heaps, and so on.
• Problems of unemployment, emigration and derelict land areas caused by closure of factories because of a worldwide fall in demand

The Ruhr Coal-Field, Germany

• This has been one of the major industrial regions of Europe for a long time.
• Coal and iron and steel formed the basis of the economy, but as the demand for coal declined, the industry started shrinking.
• Even after the iron ore was exhausted, the industry remained, using imported ore brought by waterways to the Ruhr.
• The Ruhr region is responsible for 80 per cent of Germany’s total steel production.

Iron And Steel Industry

• The iron and steel industry forms the base of all other industries and, therefore, it is called a basic industry. It is basic because it provides raw material for other industries such as machine tools used for further production.
• It may also be called a heavy industry because it uses large quantities of bulky raw materials and its products are also heavy.
• Iron is extracted from iron ore by smelting in a blast furnace with carbon (coke) and limestone. The molten iron is cooled and moulded to form pig iron which is used for converting into steel by adding strengthening materials like manganese.
• The large integrated steel industry is traditionally located close to the sources of raw materials – iron ore, coal, manganese and limestone – or at places where these could be easily brought, e.g. near ports.
• But in mini steel mills access to markets is more important than inputs. These are less expensive to build and operate and can be located near markets because of the abundance of scrap metal, which is the main input.

Distribution

• The industry is one of the most complex and capital-intensive industries and is concentrated in the advanced countries of North America, Europe and Asia. It has now become the ?rust bowl? of U.S.A.

Cotton Textile Industry

• Cotton textile industry has three sub-sectors handloom, power loom and mill sectors.
• Handloom sector is labour-intensive and provides employment to semi-skilled workers. It requires small capital investment. This sector involves spinning, weaving and finishing of the fabrics.
• The power loom sector introduces machines and becomes less labour intensive and the volume of production increases.
• Mill sector is highly capital intensive and produces fine clothes in bulk.
• Cotton textile manufacturing requires good quality cotton as raw material.
• India, China, U.S.A, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt produce more than half of the world raw cotton.
• The U.K, NW European countries and Japan also produce cotton textile made from imported yarn. Europe alone accounts for nearly half of the world‘s cotton imports.
• The industry has to face very stiff competition with synthetic fibres hence it has now shown a declining trend in many countries

Concept of High Technology Industry

• High technology, or simply high-tech, is the latest generation of manufacturing activities. It is best understood as the application of intensive research and development (R and D) efforts leading to the manufacture of products of an advanced scientific and engineering character.
• Professional (white collar) workers make up a large share of the total workforce. These highly skilled specialists greatly outnumber the actual production (blue collar) workers. Robotics on the assembly line, computer-aided design (CAD) and manufacturing, electronic controls of smelting and refining processes, and the constant development of new chemical and pharmaceutical products are notable examples of a high-tech industry.