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The location of secondary industries in MEDCs
Industries choose to locate their factories based upon a large range of factors, but the ultimate choice is based upon how much money can be made. Industries must account for the costs of their INPUTS (the raw materials going in) and PROCESSES (what they need to do to process those raw materials) and how much money can be made for the OUTPUT or finished product.
Heavy Industries which have very heavy raw materials will locate close to the source of those raw materials. Traditionally, this meant that heavy industries such as Iron and steel would locate close to the raw materials of Limestone, Coal and Iron Ore. Alternatively, the industry could locate close to the cheapest method of transport for those raw materials, e.g. The Corus steel works on Teesside profits from a local deepwater port. For a wider range of case studies see s-cool.
There are several factors that influence the location of an industry including :
1.Energy – often needed in manufacture of goods
2.Labour – the skill level and cost of workers is important.
3.Capital – businesses need money in order to get started.
4.Land – for secondary industry large areas of flat cheap land are often needed. Room to expand is also preferred.
5.Raw materials – if these are heavy (e.g. coal, limestone ad iron ore) then the factory needs to be close to raw materials.
6.Transport – roads, rivers and rail offer ways for businesses to move inputs and finished products.
7.Government policy – the British government used to give money to companies (e.g. Nissan) to locate in depressed areas (Sunderland!).
8.Markets – fragile goods need to be produced close to their market, bulky goods must also be close because of the cost of transport.
Activities
Our case study for this is Sunderland's Nissan car plant, use the resources below to find out more. Print the map and aerial photo below and add the following labels to the boxes on that map.
Labels for the photo
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This major transport axis is good for workers and the movement of finished products and components.
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The river Wear offers another transport option
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The Nissan plant occupies a site of over 2miles2
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The room for expansion is clear here
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The room for expansion is clear here
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The Nissan site was built on a greenfield site, close to farming areas
Labels for the map
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This is the Nissan plant, attracted to the NE by government grants and a strong tradition of engineering in the region.
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Additional land is available for expansion.
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The site is close to the major cities of Newcastle and Sunderland, a handy and skilled workforce.
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The A 19 offers a major north-south transport route for the shipping in of components needed to build the cars and the export of the finished product to a European market.
Click here for full screen version
YouTube footage of Sunderland's Nissan plant