SECONDARY ACTIVITIES

All economic activities, including primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, are fundamentally about acquiring and utilizing resources essential for sustaining life.

Secondary activities play a crucial role in adding value to natural resources through the transformation of raw materials into valuable products. For instance, cotton in its natural state as a boll has limited utility. However, once it undergoes the process of being transformed into yarn, its value increases significantly, making it suitable for manufacturing clothes. Similarly, iron ore, in its raw form from mines, lacks direct usability; yet, once converted into steel, it gains value and can be utilized in crafting various valuable machines and tools, among other applications. This principle holds for materials sourced from farms, forests, mines, and the sea.

Therefore, secondary activities encompass manufacturing, processing, and construction (infrastructure) industries, which contribute substantially to enhancing the value and utility of raw materials, thereby driving economic growth and development.

1. Manufacturing

Manufacturing encompasses a broad range of production activities, from traditional handicrafts to advanced processes like moulding iron and steel, assembling computer components, or manufacturing space vehicles. These activities share common traits such as power application, mass production of standardized products, and specialized labour within factory settings.

Modern Large-Scale Manufacturing Characteristics

• Specialization of Skills/Methods of Production

• Craft method: Produces limited pieces made-to-order, leading to higher costs.
• Mass production: Involves large quantities of standardized parts manufactured by workers specializing in repetitive tasks, reducing costs.

• Mechanization and Automation

• Mechanization: Use of machinery to accomplish tasks, improving efficiency.
• Automation: Advanced stage of mechanization, with automatic factories incorporating feedback and computer-controlled systems.

• Technological Innovation: Research and development focus on quality control, waste reduction, efficiency, and pollution control.
• Organizational Structure and Stratification: Complex machine technology, extreme specialization, large capital investment, and bureaucratic structures characterize modern manufacturing.
• Uneven Geographic Distribution: Major manufacturing concentrations exist in limited areas, covering less than 10% of the world's land area but hosting significant economic and political power centres.

Factors Influencing Industrial Locations

• Access to Market: Proximity to markets with demand and purchasing power influences industrial locations.
• Access to Raw Materials: Industries often locate near sources of raw materials to reduce costs and transportation.
• Access to Labor Supply: Labor availability and skills influence industrial location decisions.
• Access to Energy Sources: Industries requiring significant energy are located near energy sources like hydroelectric or petroleum.
• Access to Transportation and Communication: Efficient transport systems and communication networks are vital for industrial development.
• Government Policies: Governments implement regional policies to promote balanced economic development and set up industries in specific areas.
• Agglomeration Economies: Industries benefit from clustering near related industries, creating cost-saving linkages termed as agglomeration economies.
• Footloose Industries: These industries can be located in diverse areas as they are not tied to specific raw materials and typically produce in small quantities with minimal pollution. Accessibility by road network is crucial for their location.

Classification of Manufacturing Industries: Industries are classified based on size, inputs/raw materials, output/products, and ownership into household/cottage, small-scale, and large-scale industries.

2. Household Industries or Cottage Manufacturing

Products: The range of everyday products includes foodstuffs, fabrics, mats, containers, tools, furniture, shoes, figurines from wood, leather articles, pottery, bricks, jewellery, bamboo and wooden crafts sourced locally.

• Small-scale manufacturing Production techniques and location differentiate small-scale manufacturing from household industries. Operates in workshops outside homes, utilizing local raw materials, simple power-driven machines, and semi-skilled labour. Aims to provide employment and boost local purchasing power, prominent in countries like India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, etc.
• Large-scale manufacturing Involves a large market, diverse raw materials, significant energy, specialized labour, advanced technology, assembly-line mass production, and substantial capital. Developed over the last two centuries, initially in regions like the United Kingdom, northeastern USA, and Europe, now widespread globally.

Classification of Industrial Regions

1. Traditional Large-Scale Industrial Regions are Concentrated in a few highly developed countries with thick clusters of industries.
2. High-technology Large-Scale Industrial Regions Spread to less developed countries, leveraging advanced technology and large-scale manufacturing processes.

3. Industries Based on Inputs/Raw Materials

• Agro-based Industries: Agro-processing involves converting raw materials from agriculture into finished products. Examples include food processing, sugar, pickles, fruit juices, beverages (tea, coffee, cocoa), spices, oils, fats, textiles (cotton, jute, silk), and rubber.
• Mineral-based Industries use minerals as raw materials for various manufacturing processes. Examples include ferrous metallic minerals for iron and steel industries, non-ferrous metallic minerals (aluminium, copper), and non-metallic minerals (cement, pottery).
• Chemical-based Industries use natural chemical minerals and raw materials such as petroleum, salts, sulphur, potash, wood, and coal. Products include synthetic fibres, plastics, petrochemicals, and other chemical compounds.
• Forest-based Industries provide raw materials like timber for the furniture industry, wood, bamboo, and grass for the paper industry, and lac for lac industries.
• Animal-based Industries rely on raw materials obtained from animals such as leather for the leather industry, wool for woollen textiles, and ivory from elephant tusks.

Industries Based on Output/Product

• Basic Industries produce goods used as raw materials for other industries. Example link: Iron/steel machines produced by basic industries are used in the textile industry to manufacture clothes for consumers.
• Consumer Goods Industries produce goods directly consumed by end-users. Examples include breads, biscuits, tea, soaps, toiletries, paper, televisions, and various household items.