World Geography

Transcription

1 Unit 5: Economic Geography Ch.13 Patterns in Manufacturing (pgs ) Two Types of Landscapes: 1. Physical: Hills, rivers, grasslands etc. Land which has not been changed by human activity 2. Cultural: Landscape which is created or changed by people Subdivisions, farmers fields, planted forests, mines, highways 4 Categories of Human Activities 1. Primary: Collection or direct use of natural resources; the extraction of natural resources Not worth as much as the processed product E.g. fishing, offshore oil, forests, soil, mining 2. Secondary or Manufacturing: Processing of natural resources to suit human needs & wants through physical labour, mechanical energy and technology. Combine a natural resource with inputs (materials which make products/services people need or want) to create a desires output May happen in stages and adds value to raw materials E.g. soil + climate + seeds = wheat Wheat is processed into flour Flour + water + other inputs = baked goods (outputs) The natural resource in its raw state is not always useful to the consumer (e.g. soil) 3. Tertiary or Service: Services involved in the marketing, distribution and sale of finished goods & services for individuals, industries & governments. Supports the primary & secondary sectors. E.g. advertising, banking, insurance, transportation etc. 1

2 4. Quaternary or Information: highly specialized services such as research, software design, information technology (IT) for the purpose of storing, retrieving and distributing information The Manufacturing Process may involve one or more of the following processes 1. Conditioning Process: Change to raw material is minimal E.g. Fish to fillet, Tree to lumber 2. Analytic: When a single resource is processed into a number of products E.g. Cow into cream, cheese, meat, leather 3. Synthetic A number of parts or materials are combined to create a product E.g. Sofa (wood, fabric, nails, polystyrene stuffing, metal coils etc) Regardless of the type of process, all involve a variety of inputs. Inputs? raw materials financial investments (capital) knowledge (decisions) labour (skilled people) machinery (technology) land buildings energy Outputs? Finished products Wastes Ultimate purpose? Meet consumer needs & wants Profit: revenues > expenses, a business must balance inputs & outputs to keep expenses down 2

3 Types of Manufacturing Industries Human labour vs machinery: Must pay workers wages, sick leave, holiday pay etc. Must pay when productivity is low (lack skills, motivation etc.) In order to be cost effective, owners must balance human labour with labour saving technologies 1. Labour Intensive industries: Large workforce, usually highly skilled Work cannot be performed by machine E.g. Some computer assembly, cameras etc. 2. Capital Intensive industries: May have once been labour intensive Now machinery & technology has replaced people Costly or requires high capital for purchasing, installing and maintaining equipment E.g. Airline & auto assembly plant 3. Heavy industries: Requires large quantities of raw materials, labour, investment & semi-processed materials to produce a limited number of highly priced outputs E.g. container ships, jumbo jets, oil rigs, FFTs Transported by water or rail Dirty, noisy Not intended for general consumers but as the means of producing or transporting other products 4. Light Industries: Produces goods which are light in weight, high in value and often complicated Marketed to the general consumer E.g. Toys, CDs, computers, furniture, books etc. 3

4 The Location of Manufacturing Industries: Where & Why. Rule #1: Industry locates where production costs are lowest. Rule #2: Refer to rule #1. Why? Most costs are fixed but transportation costs can be reduced by locating the plant in the best possible location. What factors determine the best possible location? A. Physical Cost Factors: 1. Near the source of raw materials: cuts down on cost of transporting heavy raw materials 2. Land: Cost of rent Flat, well drained dense soil which supports heavy weight 3. Energy supplied economically? Not as big a concern if using electricity supplied by hydro or nuclear; can be transported over long distances. B. Human Based Factors: 1. Labour: Near large pool of workers; skilled & unskilled cheap manual labour supply (in poorer countries where technology & capital are scarce skilled workforce to operate complicated equipment Must consider differences in regional wages & employment benefits Competition for workers = low wages Workers are more mobile today; they can be encouraged to relocate! 2. Capital: A region can offer financial incentive to a manufacturing business so they will locate in that region therefore supplying employment. Incentives? Tax holidays, interest free loans, wage subsidies, etc. 4

5 E.g. Hibernia (lower royalties & taxes from Gov t Newfoundland and Labrador; $1 billion grant from Gov t Canada) Come by Chance; sold to a U.S. based refinery for $1. They had to invest a lot to get it up & running! Result? Jobs, boost to economy, trade 3. Industrial Estates (Parks): infrastructure and services can attract industry near urban areas = a concentration of land for buildings, parking, warehousing, energy supply, water & sewer, IT hookups, wide roads agglomerating tendency : factories locate near each other for mutual benefit (eg. supplier for materials) 4. Market: Resource -oriented industry: Located near resource as raw material are heavy, bulky to transport and are not worth as much as the finished product Inputs are low value for weight (e.g.) 2 tonnes raw material = 1 tonne steel Weight low = value high Cheaper to transport a more valuable finished product once bulky nonvaluable parts are incurred in processing E.g. steel, soft drinks etc. Market -oriented industry: Located near markets as finished product is lighter & easier to transport Major input (e.g. water) may be cheap and obtained anywhere so why spend on transporting it? Cheaper to transport the bulky finished product over same distances when close to market E.g. soft drinks. A manufacturing process where bulk is added to the finished product. Agglomerating Tendency: pattern where factories producing related products locate close to each other for mutual advantage many override resource or market orientation e.g. Automobile factory & steel mill e.g. Tim Hortons, Ultramar Gas Bar, Wendy s Mount Pearl 5. Socio - economic factors: Safety laws, pollution laws, labour standards (minimum wage, unions), aboriginal rights, crime, etc. may limit industry & discourage the start of operations Good health, education & recreation facilities are a draw, attracts workers too! 5