What is the manufacturing industry?

We explain what the manufacturing industry is, how it is classified and various examples. In addition, the manufacturing industry in Mexico.

1. What is the manufacturing industry?

The manufacturing industry is dedicated to the transformation of semi-processed goods or raw materials directly into final consumer goods , ready for immediate commercialization through distributors and other mechanisms that approximate them to their public consumers.

Manufacturing and light industry can be more or less synonymous, since both are considered part of the secondary sector of a nation’s economy , differentiated from the primary sector , responsible for obtaining and processing the raw material.

The word manufacturing comes from two Latin words: manus (hand) and factus (fact, elaborated), given that its original concept referred to manual work, characteristic of handicraft work, in which many people were employed working with their hands or with hand tools.

However, in the contemporary industrial context, after the Industrial Revolution , this term refers to the process of transforming raw material into goods produced on a large scale. It requires the use of machines and energy consumption , instead of manual labor.

That is why today the word “artisanal” is preferred for those who still use manual labor in their production methods.

2. Types of manufacturing industry

Judging by its positioning within the economic goods production chain, we can establish three types of manufacturing industry:

• Traditional , which converts the raw material into products ready for commercialization and final consumption.
• Intermediates , which manufacture semi-finished goods to feed other manufacturing industries, such as parts for assembly.
• Mechanics , whose final product are tools and machinery necessary for industrial processes of other types, whether or not they are from the secondary sector.
• Residuals , which use surpluses and waste from other industrial processes as raw material.

3. Examples of manufacturing industry

Some examples of manufacturing industry are as follows:

• Printers and publishing companies, which produce books, brochures, magazines or newspapers.
• Assemblers for technological devices, electronics or even vehicles.
• Factories of parts, supplies or tools of all kinds.
• Footwear, textiles, clothing industries.
• Food , beverage and tobacco industries .
• Furniture factories
• The electronic and photographic industry .
• Wood or paper industries.
• Recycling plants for cans, bottles, cartons, etc.

4. Manufacturing industry in Mexico

The manufacturing industry in Mexico is mostly in the central states of the nation, such as Coahuila, Querétaro, State of Mexico, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Puebla and San Luis Potosí; and in these regions its contribution to GDP is one of the most important of all local industries.

At the 2011 census, the food, tobacco and beverage industries produced 27.9% of Mexican manufacturing . On the other hand, the production of machinery and tools reached 26.9%.

Another fundamental sector is export maquiladoras, in which numerous products are assembled or manufactured whose final destination is not to be consumed in Mexico, but in nearby or distant foreign markets.