Factory
Also called: manufacturing unit · Topic: Industrial Policy, Public Sector, MSMEs and Disinvestment · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 14 "Economic Activities Around Us"
Meaning
A factory is a building, or a group of buildings, where workers use machines to make goods on a large scale. Raw materials or parts go in, and finished products come out. Some factories only assemble ready-made parts into a final product. Factories belong to the manufacturing (secondary) sector. They bring workers, machines, power and materials together in one place, which lowers the cost of each unit made.
Example
In 1992 Ravi started a small factory in Hosur (Tamil Nadu) to make capacitors, using a bank loan. Within three years it employed 20 workers. Big steel plants like the one at Jamshedpur are also factories, on a much larger scale.
Don't confuse with
- Cottage industry: this is production at home, using family labour, simple tools and local materials. A factory is a separate workplace with hired workers and machines.