Instructor Manual for the Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography, 10e

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1 Chapter 11: Industry Chapter Outline Introduction. Geographers are interested in studying industry because the choice of location of an industry is fundamentally about spatial relationships among raw materials, markets, and site factors. Case Study: Maquiladoras in Mexico. The case study describes the work of Edi Bencomo assembling auto parts. Factories locate just south of the U.S. border to take advantage of low wages. Key Issue 1. Where Is Industry Distributed? Origin of Industry. Industry originated in the Industrial Revolution, a technological transformation of production and transportation associated with abundant power from steam engines. Industrial Regions. Industry is concentrated in Europe, North America, and East Asia. European industrial areas tend to be located in regions with abundant energy, raw materials such as iron ore, and labor concentrations. North American industrial areas are located in a band from the Great Lakes to the East Coast and the California Coast. East Asia s industrial areas are in China along the coast and in Japan. Key Issue 2. Why Are Situation Factors Important? Proximity to Inputs. Industries where the product is cheaper to transport than the raw materials are bulk-reducing industries. To save on transportation costs they located closer to inputs than to markets. Examples include copper production and early steel production. Steel production has changed to reflect an increased emphasis on the availability of scrap metal and proximity to markets. Proximity to Markets. When products are more expensive to transport than the inputs, bulk-gaining industries tend to locate closer to markets to minimize transportation costs. Examples include beer production, soft-drink bottling, and fabricated metals. Contemporary Geographic Tools: Honda Selects a Factory Location. Honda based the location of its new factory on the desire to minimize shipping costs of new vehicles, minimize the shipping costs of inputs, and access to inexpensive labor. Ship, Rail, Truck, or Air? Shipping costs are variable depending on the mode of transport used. Long-distance shipping is the least expensive shipping option. Industries which use a number of different shipping modes tend to locate at break-of-bulk points, where it is easy to repackage products and change the shipping method. Key Issue 3. Why Are Site Factors Important? Labor. The price and relative skill level of labor is important to industrial location decisions. Industries that have a greater percentage of their production expenses in labor are labor-intensive industries and receive the greatest benefit from paying less per hour for the same skill level of work. The textile industry is an example of a labor-intensive industry. 66

2 Land. Rural sites are more attractive to industries than before, which once located in cities for access to labor and markets. Rural land is cheaper and better accommodates large one-story factories. Ideal sites are close to major highways. Some locations may have more desirable environmental attributes, like a favorable climate or inexpensive electricity. Capital. Not all sites have equal access to sources of funding. An example is the tendency of high-tech firms to locate in Silicon Valley for access to business loans. Key Issue 4. Why Are Location Factors Changing? Attraction of New Industrial Regions. Industry is shifting to new areas within MDCs. In the U.S. it is shifting south- and westward, especially because of the attraction of right-to-work laws in Southern states that limit the power of unions. In Europe it is shifting to Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, and southern Italy and Greece through the encouragement of EU policy. Internationally, industrial regions outside of North America and Europe are growing as production shifts from MDCs to LDCs, especially in East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. Two examples are the shifts in steel production and the textile industry. Not all industrial jobs are equally likely to move internationally. Transnational corporations separate and outsource production steps that low-paid, low-skilled workers can perform while keeping other elements of production in the MDC. This phenomenon is called the new international division of labor. Global Forces, Local Impacts: What Is an American Car? Automobiles labeled as domestic still contain a significant percentage of foreign-made parts. The definition of domestic vs. foreign is complicated, as firms like Honda and Toyota have levels of U.S. content similar to U.S. brands. Renewed Attraction of Traditional Industrial Regions. Some industries remain in traditional regions because of their need for highly skilled labor and flexible work forces. An example is Toyota s lean production approach. Another factor favoring location in traditional industrial regions is the adoption of just-in-time delivery manufacturing, where components are delivered exactly as they are needed, reducing a firm s inventory expense. Introducing the Chapter The chapter enters on a dark note: the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States at the dawn of the 21 st Century. It s a fine place to start for many of our students, and a great way to make what might otherwise be perceived as a boring subject matter very relevant. A similar approach to the outsourcing of service jobs can be used to introduce Chapter 12. Icebreaker: Rivers and Cities This exercise can also be used for Chapter 13, Urban Patterns. 67

3 Using an online mapping service (e.g. Google Maps TM, challenge the students: Can you name a major North American city that is not located on a river or with access to the ocean? Las Vegas will invariably come up. Use the opportunity to discuss why Las Vegas is located where it is. Most other examples are on the ocean, on a river, or both. Enter the city name into the search tool to demonstrate this. Next ask the following: Can you think of any other cities in the world? Again, students will be hard-pressed to find a city of significant size that is not served by a river, the ocean, or both. The availability of efficient transportation (not to mention water supply) is fundamental to a city with industrial output at any appreciable scale. Challenges to Comprehension Other Industries Similar to the confusion over the meaning of state, students may have heard industry used in more general terms than the text s strict definition. For clarity, simply explain that industry applies only to the manufacturing of goods of some sort, and doesn t include the following industries: The recreation industry The restaurant industry The hospitality industry The travel industry Site vs. Situation Factors Students usually grasp the reasons for an industry locating close to inputs vs. close to markets but then they forget these reasons for industrial location as soon as they learn about site factors, or confuse the two. The review questions below may help students to distinguish between these issues: sometimes site factors are so overwhelming that situation factors are ignored, and viceversa. In other cases a combination of site and situation factors may be at play. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions Name some industries local to our town. Identify and explain the situation and site factors involved in each industry s location. 68

4 Now pick an industry and describe how its closing would affect the town s economy. Would the jobs lost in the closing be the only effects? Explain. Give an example, not from the text, of an industry that is likely to locate closer to inputs, and explain. Give an example, not from the text, of an industry that is likely to locate closer to markets, and explain. If industrial location is chosen according to situation factors in order to minimize transportation costs, explain why many industries are locating in Southeast Asia and shipping goods to markets in North America. Given current trends in the movement and growth of industry, is industry likely to remain important as a source of employment in our country? Why or why not? Resources Industrial Centers geographic coordinates These coordinates highlight a few examples of industrial centers around the world. Great similarities can be observed between all of the centers. While some feature heavy industry and others light, transportation routes by sea or rail, and frequently highway, are always visible N, 2.32 W Manchester, United Kingdom N, E Barbaraviertel, Germany industrial complex, including a port and rail yard on the Rhine (near Dusseldorf, Germany) N, 7.8 E Strasbourg industrial complex on the Ill River N, 9.08 E Industrial complex and rail yard outside of Milan, Italy N, E and N, E Myslowice and Krakow, Poland 55.7 N, E; N, E; N, 60.6 E; 53.8 N, 87.1 E Moscow, Donetsk, Yekaterinburg, and Kuznetsk, Russia 42.3 N, W; N, W; N, W; N, W; N, W Ford Motor Company River Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan; Heavy industry in the port of Hamilton, Ontario; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Wilmington, Delaware; and Boston Harbor N, E; 39 N, E; 41.7 N, E Guangzhou, Tientsin, and Shenyang, China 35.6 N, E; 34.6 N, E Tokyo harbor and Osaka harbor Roger and Me This 1989 film chronicles the effects of GM plant closures in Flint, Michigan as the job losses ripple through the city, resulting in economic depression. Students might be assigned the film as an out-of-class paper project or shown part of the film in class. 69

5 The Urban Game Instructor Manual for the Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography, 10e The Urban Game, developed by Larry Treadwell of Ft. Lauderdale (Florida) High School, provides students with a hands-on simulation of the development and industrialization of urban areas in the first 100 years of the industrial revolution. A full round of the game will take students about 1-1/2 to two hours, but stages may be combined to speed the process. Consider modifying the game into an assignment or breaking the class into small groups to accomplish the activity. Office of the United States Trade Representative The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative serves as a bulldog for American trade policy. This website promotes U.S. trade policy, defending everything from the North American Free Trade Agreement to development through trade: This site is also relevant to Chapter 9. U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics This web site provides enough statistics on labor and industry to last a lifetime, including detailed statistics on labor, job markets, inflation, productivity, unemployment, and much more. Connections between Chapters Back to Chapters 9 and 10 Industry and agriculture are not closely related. However, when agricultural workers leave their farms to work in industries, the country s food supply may be changed as factory workers can no longer grow their own food. This relates to a country s attempts to develop, referring back to Chapter 9. Forward to Chapter 12 As industrial employment declines in developed countries, job losses are usually made up in the service sector. However, some services are now being outsourced to off-shore locations. This issue serves as the case study for Chapter