Industrial Systems (Cambridge International IGCSE Geography)

Spec point — 3.3.1 · Demonstrate an understanding of an industrial system; inputs, processes and outputs (products & waste)

Industrial Systems

• Industrial systems have inputs, processes and outputs

  • Inputs: basic items needed to begin the process

    • Raw materials, labour, energy, capital, land, buildings, etc.

  • Processes: activities that take place to make a finished product (goods)

    • Cutting, sewing, welding, brewing, painting, steel moulding, etc.

  • Outputs: finished products, by-products, products for continued manufacturing elsewhere and waste

    • Finished products such as cars, clothing, beer, shoes, etc.
    • By-product such as Marmite from beer brewing
    • Continued manufacturing (part manufacturing) such as cleaning wool or cotton, weaving wool or cotton for material, material made into clothes for a finished product, etc.
    • Waste is produced with all manufacturing; it has no value but creates a cost for disposal

• Manufacturing can be classified as:

  • Heavy: iron and steel manufacturing is heavy industry as it uses large, bulky raw materials on a huge scale, producing big items
  • Light: computer manufacturing, smart phone assembly, clothing, microbrewing, etc.

• Some industries need a lot of processes or processing, and this can lead to heavy pollution

Specialised steel production

• Input: alloys such as chromium and cobalt
• Processes: electric arc furnace, oxygen furnace, rolling and cutting
• Output: steel slabs, ingots, sheets, waste, slag and gases
• Impact: noise, dust, air pollution, smell and water pollution

Iron production

• Input: iron ore, coke, limestone to separate iron from impurities, water and recycled scrap iron

• Processes: blast furnace to melt iron ore, coke oven, rolling into sheets and cutting into lengths

• Output: cast iron, pig iron, slag, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, water and heat

• Impact: large building, noise, air pollution, smell, water pollution, contaminated cooling water, scrubber waste, risk of fire and explosions

• The sectors of industry are interrelated, and an individual industry will often use more than one sector to produce products

High-tech industry

• Fastest-growing industry in the world
• Most MEDCs and NICs have at least one hub of high-tech industry
• The industry has a high degree of research and development to maintain a competitive edge
• Manufacturing is mostly computer-automated
• Outputs include precision instrumentation, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, mobile phones, vaccines, etc.

Worked Example In which sector would the following people who are employed in a factory work?

[3 Marks]

• Primary

• Secondary

• Tertiary

• Quaternary

  1. Workers who carry out research and use it to design new machines
  2. Drivers of lorries transporting products from a factory
  3. People operating machines in a factory

Final answer: Answers

1. Quaternary
2. Tertiary
3. Secondary