Knowt
Pearson Chapter 11
11.1.1 Industry & Geography
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most manufacturing was a cottage industry based out of the home.
The catalyst of the Industrial Revolution was technology, which led to innovations in:
Iron
Textiles
Chemicals
Food Processing
The diffusion of the Industrial Revolution followed the spread of the railroad (1825)
Spinning frames were placed inside factories near sources of rapidly flowing water, which supplied power.
1820’s-Industry is concentrated in Europe, North America, and East Asia.
11.1.2 Industrial Regions
The world’s 3 principal industrial regions are Europe, North America, and East Asia. Europe was the first to industrialize, North America the second and lastly, East Asia.
European manufacturing is centered around several major cities in the United Kingdom, Germany, northern Italy, Poland, and Russia.
North American industrial development was primarily focused on the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes region.
East Asia industrial development is focused on Japan, South Korea, and several nodes in eastern and southern China.
11.1.3 Truck, Train, Boat, or Plane
Inputs and products are transported in one of the 4 ways:
Trucks-used for short-distance delivery
Trains-more efficient for longer distances
Ships-most cost efficient for very long distances
Planes-used for speed with high-value, low-bulk items
A break-of-bulk point is a location where transfer among transportation nodes is possible.
Just-in-time delivery is shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed.
Just-in-time delivery reduces the money and space that a manufacturer must tie up in wasteful inventory
Just-in-time delivery runs the risk of disruptions caused by traffic, labor unrest, or natural hazards.
Truck freight movements are concentrated in the eastern U.S.
Most rail freight movements are along an east-west axis across the U.S.
Shipping occurs among North America, Europe, and industrial centers in Asia.
11.2.1 Three Site Factors
Site factors are industrial location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside a plant. The 3 production factors that may vary among locations are Labor, Capital, and Land.
A labor-intensive industry is an industry where wages constitutes a high percentage of expense. Textiles are an example.
Mass production is often termed Fordist production because the Ford Motor Company pioneered the approach.
The average wage paid to manufacturing workers is much higher in developed countries than in developing countries.
Despite the high cost, Apple has its headquarters in Silicon Valley where a high- tech well-educated workforce is located.
In the early 20th century, Ford assembled Model T cars in a multistory factory in Highland Park Michigan.
Contemporary factories operate most efficiently when laid out in one-story buildings.
11.2.2 Site Factors: Clothing, a Labor-Intensive Industry
Production of textiles (woven fabrics) and apparel (clothing) is a prominent example of a labor-intensive industry.
Workers in developing countries earn only around 1% of the final cost to the consumer.
The 2nd step in apparel production is weaving into cloth. Some weaving is still done by hand, but much of this process is now mechanized.
Weaving is highly clustered in low-wage countries.
11.2.3 Clothing Production & Trade
The assembly of clothing is done by sewing; designs are often screened on T- shirts
The largest flows of clothing are exported from East Asia and South Asia to developed countries in Europe and North America.
A t-shirt begins with raw materials, typically cotton. China, India and the U.S. grow nearly 2/3 ‘s of the world’s cotton.
China accounts for around 40% of the world’s T-shirt production and South Asia for around 25%. T-shirts manufactured in Asia are exported in container ships; developed countries account for most T-shirt sales.
11.3.1 Situation Factor: Inputs
Location factors relative to transport of materials into and from a factory are known as situation factors.
Proximity to inputs: The optimal location is close to inputs if the transport cost of raw materials to the factory is greater than the cost of product transport to consumers.
An industry in which the inputs weigh more than the final product is a bulk- reducing industry. To minimize transport costs, a bulk-reducing industry locates near its sources of inputs. EX: Copper production
Copper production involves several steps. The location of many of the steps illustrates the importance of a bulk-reducing industry locating near its inputs.
Pie chart of elements in the Earth’s crust:
46.6% Oxygen
3.6% Calcium
1.5% Others
27.7% Silicon
2.8% Sodium
8.1% Aluminum
2.6% Potassium
5.0% Iron
2.1% Magnesium
Important minerals for industry are found in Earth’s crust, but not uniformly. Australia and China are especially well-endowed with minerals that are important for industry.
11.3.2 Situation Factors: Proximity to Markets
A bulk-gaining industry makes products that gain volume or weight during production. To minimize transport costs, a bulk-gaining industry needs to locate near where the product is sold. Ex. Beverage bottlers; single-market manufacturers; automobile manufacturers and producers of perishable products.
11.3.3 Proximity to Markets: The Auto Industry
More than 90% of motor vehicles are sold in only 3 regions of the world: Europe, North America, and 3 countries in East Asia. The distribution of motor vehicle production closely matches the distribution of sales.
China-the leading market for sale of motor vehicles-is not by coincidence the leading country for the production of motor vehicles.
Most vehicles sold in North America are manufactured in a north-south corridor that stretches between Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico.
Most European vehicles are assembled in a corridor between France and Slovakia.
11.4.1 Emerging Industrial Regions
The new international division of labor is a selective transfer of low-paid, less-skilled jobs moving to developing countries.
The allocation of production lines to low-wage countries is known as outsourcing. This practice stands in contrast to vertical integration where a company controls all phases of production.
An iphone, and it’s components, are sourced form and travel to a wide variety of countries.
China’s industrial leadership rests on a combination of situation and site factors. China is attractive to industries that wish to locate near a large number of customers.
Chinese companies that export most of their products are likely to select locations near a major port.
In China, labor is abundant, as a result, manufacturing wages there are significantly lower than in developed countries.
China exports more than half of the world’s computers.
Availability of capital has been a key factor in China becoming the dominant producer of electric vehicles.
1.4.2 Changing Situation Factors: Steel
Steel mills in the U.S. changed location based on changing sources of raw material.
Steel mini-mills now are based on proximity to sources of recycled metal.
Worldwide steel production has shifted to developing countries, especially China.
In 1980, world steel production was concentrated in developed countries.
By 2021, world steel production had shifted to developing countries.
Integrated steel mills are clustered near the southern Great Lakes. Historically, steel mills were located near inputs to minimize transportation costs of raw materials.
11.4.3 Changing Distribution of North America’s Industries
In the U.S., industry has shifted from the Northeast toward the South and West. The principal lure for manufacturers has been right-to-work laws which make it much more difficult for unions to organize factory workers.
Industry in the U.S. has from 1950 to 2021 shifted to the South, in part because of right-to-work laws in southern states.
Factories have closed in the Northeast and new ones have been constructed in the South and West.
Manufacturing has been increasing in Mexico.
Plants in Mexico near the U.S. border are known as maquiladoras.
Parts plants in Mexico are able to ship parts in freight trains to final assembly plants in the U.S.