Large-scale manufacturing
Also called: Large-scale industry · Topic: Secondary Activities: Manufacturing and Industrial Location · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 5 "Secondary Activities"
Meaning
Large-scale manufacturing is the biggest size class of industry. It needs:
- large markets;
- varied raw materials;
- huge amounts of energy;
- specialised workers;
- advanced technology;
- assembly-line mass production;
- large capital.
It grew over the last 200 years in the UK, north-eastern USA and Europe, and has now spread almost all over the world. It forms two kinds of industrial region. Traditional regions are old heavy-industry belts clustered in a few developed countries. High-tech regions have spread to less developed countries too.
Example
The Ruhr region of Germany, on the Rhine, is a traditional large-scale industrial region. It grew on coal, iron and steel around cities such as Essen, Dortmund and Duisburg.
Don't confuse with
- Small-scale manufacturing: it is done in a workshop with local raw material, simple power-driven machines and semi-skilled labour. It needs little capital and creates many jobs.