Secondary Economic Activities

Secondary economic activities

• Secondary economic activities involve

making or manufacturing something.

• Secondary economic activities work as a

system of inputs, processes and outputs.

• Processes involve doing something. These

words often end in –ing.

Inputs

• These are the things that we need to put in

at the start.

• Examples:

– Workers
– money/capital
– raw materials

Processes

• These are the things we do to the inputs to

turn them into semi-finished or finished
products.

• Examples:

– carving
– assembling

Outputs

• These are the things we

have at the end. They can
be semi- finished
products which go on to
form inputs again, such as
a plank of wood.

• They can also be finished

products which are ready
for the market.

• Example: Furniture

Secondary economic activities

• The following table shows how the system works in The

Wood Factory, a furniture manufacturing company in Co.
Dublin.

Manufacturing in Ireland

• There are over 4,000 manufacturing companies

employing more than 200,000 people directly in
the manufacturing sector in Ireland. A further
400,000 people are employed indirectly (e.g.
solicitors, accountants, IT consultants). Exports
from the manufacturing sector in Ireland in 2016
were worth €117 billion

Factors that influence the location of
a factory

• When

locating and
building a
factory there
are a number
of factors that
have to be
taken into
consideration:

Image: The factors that influence factory location

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Raw materials

•If the raw materials
needed by a factory are
big and heavy (e.g.
steel), the factory may
need to be located close
to them to make the
transportation of the
raw materials easier and
less expensive. If raw
materials are small and
light, transportation is
not as difficult or
expensive.

Image: Copper is an important raw

material in the electronics and

construction industries

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Markets

•Markets are where
factories sell their
products. Factories
located close to their
markets can transport
their products quickly
and they have lower
transportation costs.
For example in Ireland,
many companies locate
near Dublin because of
the large market

Image: The countries of the European
Union are a market for Ireland’s beef

and dairy products

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Transport facilities

•All factories need to
transport their finished
products to the market.
If the products are to be
sold in the same country
as they are made, then
good road or rail
transport is required. If
the company is
exporting products it
may also need to be
close to an airport or a
port. This reduces
transportation costs and
makes the movement of
goods faster.

Image: Train carrying cargo in containers that

have arrived at a port by ship

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Labour force

•A factory’s labour
force are the people
who work in the
factory. Factories must
be built where there
are enough workers,
usually near towns
and cities. Some
factories may locate
next to universities or
colleges if they need
highly skilled
graduates. Boston
Scientific is located in
Galway for this
reason.

Image: Workers in a clothing factory

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Services

•Factories need access to
services like electricity,
water, sewage
treatment, waste
disposal, telephone,
broadband and Wi-Fi.
This is why industrial
estates are attractive to
companies and why it is
more difficult to get
companies to locate in
rural areas.

Images: Services such as banks are

necessary for industry

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Government policy

•Governments do many
things to encourage
companies to set up in
their country. The Irish
government gives grants
to help companies to set
up here. The Industrial
Development Authority
(IDA) works to attract
industry to locate here.
Ireland also has a low
corporation tax rate,
which attracts
companies.

Image: Government grants and tax

relief attract industry

Factors that influence the location of a factory:
Personal preferences

• Some people may set up a factory in an area where they

come from or an area they like. Ford in Ireland was located
in Cork because the father of the company’s founder,
Henry Ford, was born there

Types of manufacturing industry

• The function (purpose) of a manufacturing

industry is to change raw materials into a
product that the customer wants. What a
factory does depends on what exactly it aims
to produce. We will now examine different
types of manufacturing industries.

Heavy industry

• Both the raw

materials and the
products being made
in a heavy industry
are big and heavy.
Iron and steel
making are examples
of heavy industry.

Image: When raw materials are heavy, they are

more expensive to transport

Light industry

• Products being made

in a light industry are
small and light.
Electronic products
and healthcare
products are
examples of products
made in light
industries.

Image: Electronic products

are produced by light industry

Footloose industry

• In the past, manufacturing industries had to set up near

coal fields as this was the only source of energy. Now that
there are new sources of energy, this is no longer the case.

• These days, many manufacturing industries can set up in a

variety of locations. They are not tied to one place and so
they are called footloose industries.

• Footloose industries are usually light industries and they

often locate in industrial estates or business parks close to
large cities.

Industrial estates

•Industrial estates are sites at the edge of urban areas that are
set aside to be used by industries. Here land is cheaper than in
the middle of towns and cities, so there is space to build on and
expand. Industrial estates also provide a high level of services
such as water, waste and high-speed broadband connection.
Industrial estates are located within easy access of routeways
such as motorways, providing quick transport to airports, ports
and markets.

•Manufacturers are often beside other industries that can
provide semi-finished products for them.

•Examples of industrial estates are Citywest Business Park in
Dublin, Raheen Industrial Estate in Limerick and Ballybrit
Business Park in Galway.

Industrial inertia

• When an industry does not relocate, even though it might

make economic sense to do so, it is called industrial
inertia. This generally occurs when the industry has strong
historical links to a particular area.

• An example of this is Sheffield in England. The area has a

long- standing reputation for steel production, so even
though the coal mines have closed, the steel factories have
remained there. In order to survive, they have changed
their approach. They now use new energy sources and
they also producing new products, such as surgical
instruments.

Multinational corporations (MNCs)

• Multinational corporations make their products in many

different countries. Their headquarters are located in one
country and then they have branches in other countries
throughout the world. Because of globalisation, it is a lot
easier for big companies to move to different countries. It
makes it easier to buy and sell across all areas of the
world.

Industries on Ordnance Survey maps

1. Give the four-figure grid reference for an industrial estate

on the map extract below.

2. Give two reasons why an industry might locate in this

industrial estate.

3. State two reasons why the industrial estate has

developed at its current location

Industries on Ordnance Survey maps

Image: Ordnance Survey map of Naas, Co. Kildare

Industry and conflict

• Conflict may arise between factory owners and the

inhabitants of the surrounding area. People may fear that
gas and smoke emissions from factories could damage
their health and the environment. An example of this in
Ireland would be the huge controversy surrounding the
location of incinerators, such as the one built by Covanta
in Poolbeg, Co. Dublin. You can find out more about this at
www.dublinwastetoenergy.ie.

Incinerators

• Incinerators are

factories that
burn waste.
Everywhere
they are built,
local people
protest against
them.

Image: Poolbeg incinerator

Positives of incinerators:

•Landfill sites are filling up and there is little room left to

dump waste. Incinerators are seen as a sustainable
solution to waste management. Many countries in the EU
use incinerators as a way of getting rid of waste and
rubbish.

• They can provide electricity for the surrounding area while

also attracting other industries to the region. This provides
a sustainable energy source.

• Jobs can be created from the building and maintenance of

an incinerator.

Negatives of incinerators:

• They can be seen as an easy option for getting rid of

rubbish. This can mean that more environmentally friendly
solutions, like recycling, are not explored enough.

• People living in the surrounding areas fear that the fumes

from the incinerators can be poisonous and carcinogenic.
A carcinogen is a cancer-causing substance that can lead
to people developing various types of cancer.

• Like other factories, smoke and other emissions from

incinerators could contribute to smog, acid rain and the
greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.