10.2 Industry requirements
People living in industrial societies tend to ignore some aspects of the natural world, so let's look briefly at some basic environmental factors and the way they influence the location of manufacturing. Climate and geographic considerations influence the distribution of the earth's population and the nature of agriculture, lumbering, grazing and fishing, although they do not completely explain the nature and dispersion of economic activity. Given suitable climate and physical features, industries will locate their manufacturing plants in areas that provide the greatest advantages in the assembly, production and distribution of the final product.
Major factors to be considered are:
- availability of raw materials
- skilled but (preferably) inexpensive labour
- sources of energy
- transportation facilities.
Other factors are:
- perishability of the product
- value-to-weight ratio
- weight loss in processing (for example, canned fruit, oil products)
- available services (for example, transportation, power)
- location of competitors; and
- location of complementary producers
Requirements of specific industries are as follows.
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