Industrial Processes: Types, Factors, and Global Distribution
The Industrial Process
The industrial sector is a formal series of activities transforming raw materials into semi-elaborated or elaborated products. Four essential elements intervene: raw materials, energy, labor, and capital.
Industry Types
According to the products obtained, industries can be classified into three major categories:
- Primary or Basic Industries: Transform raw materials into semi-elaborated products.
- Capital Goods Industries: Transform semi-elaborated products into finished products.
- Consumer Goods Industries: Produce articles for direct use by the population from natural or semi-elaborated raw materials.
Raw Materials
Raw materials are the primary element of basic industrial production. According to their origin, they can be mineral, animal, vegetable, or chemical.
Mineral Products
A large part of raw materials are mineral products. Of the metallic minerals, the most important is iron, the basic element of the steel and metallurgical industries. Of the non-metallic minerals, phosphates, used as fertilizers, present a larger operating volume. Diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies are the most valued and are known as precious stones.
Energy Sources
In the process of transforming raw materials into other products, energy is needed. This energy is obtained from energy sources. In the pre-industrial stage, energy came exclusively from muscle strength, wind, water, and wood combustion. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, these forms of energy lost importance to the increasing use of coal, primarily, then electricity, and later oil and natural gas. In recent decades, nuclear energy has entered the energy scene, and very slowly, renewable or alternative energies, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal energy.
Raw Materials and Energy: Conflict
Developed countries have deployed diverse strategies throughout modern history to have control over raw materials. Primarily they used colonial force, and later, when the colonies became independent, they made agreements with the new states. Control over mineral and energy resources is one of the main foreign policy objectives of developed countries and underlies some of the wars and crises that have occurred in the 20th and early 21st centuries in countries with significant reserves of natural resources.
Fossil Fuels and Radioactive Minerals
Energy minerals include fossil fuels – coal, natural gas, and oil – and radioactive minerals. Energy minerals constitute 75% of the total value of world mineral production, while metallic minerals represent 20% and non-metallic minerals only 5%.
Coal
Coal was the first mineral used as an energy source. Coal is formed by the slow decomposition and petrification of large forest masses over millions of years. Anthracite is the oldest coal and has the highest calorific power; lignite is of more recent formation and has less calorific power. The steel industry and thermal power plants for electricity production are large consumers of coal. Starting in 1960, coal production began to decrease as a consequence of the depletion of the best deposits and competition from oil. However, the oil crisis of 1973 highlighted the drawbacks of depending almost exclusively on a single energy source and allowed for the exploitation of coal mines.
Oil
Oil is a dark and thick liquid fuel that formed millions of years ago from the fermentation of plant and animal accumulations at the bottom of lakes and seas. Currently, oil is the main source of energy in the world and is the raw material of the important petrochemical industry. The main oil-producing countries are Saudi Arabia, the United States, Russia, and Iran.
Nuclear Energy
Controlling the fission process of the uranium atom in nuclear reactors allows for an enormous amount of heat energy to be used to produce electricity. Decades ago, it was thought that nuclear energy could replace oil as the main energy source. Subsequently, when the great risks involved were seen, many countries abandoned or restricted the development of their plants.
Natural Gas
Natural gas has the same origin as oil and is often associated with oil deposits, where it forms a bag in the upper layers. It is used in thermal power plants, in the chemical and metallurgical industries, and in homes.
Electricity Production
Electricity is not a source of energy, but a form of energy. To produce electricity on a large scale, five different energy sources are used: water, coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium. There are also power plants that use alternative energies: wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal. Wind energy harnesses the force of the wind through wind turbines installed in wind farms. Solar energy can be harnessed as heat energy using solar ovens, or as light, with photovoltaic panels. Geothermal energy harnesses the heat from the interior of the Earth. Tidal energy harnesses the driving force of the seas.
Power Plants
Hydroelectric power plants harness the power of rivers and water from lakes in unevenness to move turbines that produce electricity. Thermoelectric power plants use the heat energy released from the combustion of coal, oil derivatives, natural gas, and the fission of the uranium atom.
Physical Factors of Industrial Location
The proximity of energy sources and raw materials are two physical factors of industrial location. Proximity to an energy source was essential in the first stage of the Industrial Revolution. The most important concentrations of factories occurred near coal deposits and along rivers, where water could be used as an energy source. Proximity to raw materials is very important when they are heavy or of low unitary value.
Human Factors of Industrial Location
Among the human factors of industrial location, the following should be highlighted:
- The existence of a large nearby market that absorbs much of the production.
- Availability of abundant skilled labor.
- Good communication flow that facilitates the arrival of goods.
- Financial infrastructure and public services that facilitate basic supplies.
- Existence of industrial infrastructure that favors the installation of new industries, which can complement the existing ones.
Industrial Space
Industrial development began in the 18th century, creating its own forms of territorial occupation. Industrial centers are isolated points of industrial activity that have developed around a specific location factor, but lack the complexity of industrial complexes. Industrial complexes are formed by complementary industries. Industrial regions present a denser and more diverse industrial fabric than industrial complexes. Technology parks are a new form of industrial space where cutting-edge industries are located, in which scientific and technological research plays an important role. Business parks are spaces dedicated to offices and advanced technology industries.
Industrial Landscapes
The emergence of these different industrial spaces defines a country’s industrial landscapes. The classic and characteristic landscapes of industrial centers and complexes of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, when coal was the energy source that heated blast furnaces and operated machinery. The urban industrial landscape was formed around large urban centers. Industries such as consumer goods and transformation, more recent, use electricity or oil derivatives and are endowed with modern industrial buildings, organized in industrial estates. The rural landscape responds to the proximity factor of raw materials.
The Distribution of Industry
Most industries are concentrated in a few regions of Europe, North America, and Asia. The industrialization process began in England during the 18th century. Throughout the 19th century, around coal, it spread throughout the European continent and reached the United States. In Japan, the investment of foreign capital, the abundance of disciplined labor, and the adoption of Western technologies were the factors that, by the end of the 19th century, initiated rapid industrialization and made it one of the world leaders. During the 1980s, industrialized countries moved their activities to Southeast Asian countries. Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea became”workshop countries” More recently, there has been a shift of industrial activity to countries in Latin America and North Africa. The next great industrial power of the 21st century will be China, with high productivity, low labor costs, and a large domestic market.
Industry in Developed Countries
Developed countries continue to control most of the industrial capital, research, and development of new technologies. Transformation companies are merging with a tendency towards concentration and the creation of large multinationals. These companies almost always have their headquarters in a developed country. However, subsidiary companies dealing with the production of raw materials are increasingly moving to Third World countries with a double objective: to avoid the environmental legislation of rich countries and to benefit from the hiring of cheap labor.
Industry in Underdeveloped Countries
In underdeveloped countries, industrialization has a very low level. Domestic industry is scarce and is equipped with machinery imported from developed countries. The most important companies are subsidiaries of large multinationals.
Industry in Europe
Industrialization began in the 18th century near the coal-producing mines. Around these, large industrial concentrations of transformation of imported raw materials and the production of capital goods also emerged.
Industry in Spain
In Spain, the industrialization process began in the mid-19th century in a slow and very localized manner. Starting in 1993, the full incorporation into the European Union expanded the Spanish industrial market, but also had to face the competition that the entry of European products represented. Currently, there are four important industrial regions: the Basque Country, Asturias, Catalonia, and Madrid.
Industrialization in Catalonia
Catalonia is the industrial engine of Spain. Catalan industrialization began very early, in the late 18th century, following the English model of mechanization of cotton work, but the lack of raw materials and energy sources forced Catalan industry to specialize in the production of capital and consumer goods. Currently, the main industrial region of the state has a degree of industrialization similar to that of the large European industrial regions. Catalan industrial production represents more than a quarter of the state total.
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
In industry, small and medium-sized enterprises predominate. However, this characteristic is a drawback when it comes to competing with multinationals. Also, the globalization of the world economy has caused the phenomenon of industrial relocation.
Construction
Construction is one of the engines of the Catalan economy. Construction activity can be divided into four groups:
- Rehabilitation of old housing.
- Construction of new housing.
- Construction of non-residential buildings.
- Civil works.