Industrial Studies

 

Contents

 

Ind1-Industrial Structure (see below)

 

Ind 2-Changes in Heavy Industry

 

Ind 3-Footloose Industry (light Industry)

 

Ind 4 Map Reading skills and Industry

 

 

 

1.1 Industrial classification and structure

Industry can be classified into FOUR sectors

 

primary-ie extractive, taking raw materials from the earth (mining, forestry, quarrying, fishing, farming)

 

secondary-ie manufacturing (steel, electronics, cars, plastics, clothes)

 

tertiary-ie services (law, education, medicine, retail, offices)

 

quaternary- high tech "intelligence" or "knowledge" economy-web design, software, bio-engineering

 

 

1.2 Structure refers to the proportion of people who work in each sector of the economy. In developed countries (ie EMDCs), the biggest proportion work in tertiary, whereas in poor countries, a much higher proportion work in primary eg in many African countries and Asia most people are still farmers.

In the UK, about 70% work in the tertiary sector on average, although different regions/townshave higher or lower percentages

 

 

1.3 Gathering and processing information about industrial structure

 

 

Gathering techniques:

 

• Using internet, obtain data for individual council wards or towns on percentage of people employed in each sector because this will be reasonably up to date and very specific for particular areas. You can compare one area with another using the same data.
• Interview workers/employers.managers to get first hand, up to date information; you can ask more speciifc questions and get more detail than in a questionnaire
• distribute a questionnaire to a representative sample of people; questionnaires allow you to gather multiple answers to pre-determined questions

 

Processing technique

 

• draw up divided bar graph as this can be subdivided into segments to show the relative proportion of people in each sector
• multiple  divided bar graphs could be used, with one graph per country/region; this allows comparisons to be made
• As this data is usually expressed in percentages, pie charts can be drawn; each segment of the pie is proportional to the percentage for each sector.
• put the information on Excel spreadsheet -this allows raw data to be collated and patterns can be idnetified

 

 

To take you further:Click here

 

Ind 2

 

Heavy Industry in the British Isles

 

 

2.1 Heavy Industry-general term to describe large scale manufacturing that involves bulky raw materials and end products. Usually associated with large factories, mass labour and noise/pollution.

 

2.2 Location of heavy industry

 

Raw materials -eg coalfields, iron, limestone supplies

Power-coal, running water

Flat land, valleys, near running water-for power or for disposal of effluent (waste)

Labour-people moved from surrounding areas to work in factories

 

2.3 Main clusters of heavy industry in Britain were/are:

 

South Wales-steelworks

Central Scotland-steel, shipbuilding

West Midlands-metal manufacturing

NE England-shipbuilding, petrochemicals (eg Teeside)

NW England-textiles (eg Manchester)

 

 

Most areas have undergone significant change: decline in traditional heavy industry:

 

Causes

 

• Supply of coal, other raw materials has diminished and has become uneconomical to mine. Many mines have closed and industry has relocated from coalfields to coastal locations to take advantage of imports of cheaper coal, e.g. South Wales.
• The failure to modernise shipyards e.g. on the Mersey and Clyde meant that they could not compete with the East Asian shipyards, e.g. in S Korea. This caused shipyards to close, causing unemployment.
• Heavy industry has undergone rationalisation, e.g. British Steel. Plants have closed to focus on a few locations with more modern technology, e.g. Teesside. This caused job losses.
• Poor sites – inner-city areas were congested with poor-quality housing and pollution due to a century of uncontrolled industrial development.
• Lack of investment – industries were unable or unwilling to modernise and therefore lost business especially to industries in newly-industrialising countries such as S. Korea.
• Foreign competition – cheaper labour and newer, more-efficient factories in LEDCs and the EU, e.g. Germany enjoyed post-war prosperity, and industrialisation was occurring rapidly in countries such as Malaysia..
• Canal and rail-side locations were no longer attractive as road transport became dominant in the 20th century. Industry was now locating on more accessible Greenfield sites at the edge of towns.

 

Effect

 

• high unemployment
• people move away, looking for new jobs
• areas become run down, unattactive to new business/housing
• old, derelict factory buildings, canals, wasteground
• spoli heaps and abandoned mine workings

• outdated transport -eg poor roads, no high speed rail links

 

Solutions

 

• siubstantial Government support to attract new industry
• Roads built /upgraded to improve communications
• New Industrial estates built
• Relocation of Government functions from London to Wales-Dispersal Policy
• Boom in electronics and trelated industry in 1990s, often from Far East, eg
• > Chungwa Pictue Tubes in Central Scotland, LG in South wales (both now gone)
• Recent decline in Far East investment-competition from emerging countries
• Emphasis on niche markets, eg tourism, leisure, retail, call centre
• Growth in cheap flights has helped regional centres to grow, eg Prestwick