Secondary activities involve the creation process and the building industry. It is concerned with converting raw materials into useful items such as transforming iron ore into steel, creating yarn out of cotton and so on. The secondary sector depends on the primary sector for the raw materials necessary for creation. The value added through the conversion of raw materials into final products generates huge profit in the market resulting in rapid growth in developed countries. People who work in the secondary sector are known as blue-collar employees. These are symmetrically located in manufacturing units that convert raw materials into final goods of high value for price in the community or distant market. The features of the updated large-scale production are as follows:
- It involves the creation of a huge variety of structured parts by each worker doing only one type of work continuously, making the work focused on that talent.
- The industries use machines for the creation process. Automation is the modern stage of automation, wherein cognitive processes during the creation process are not required.
- Updated technology and daily production are conducted via investigation and development techniques for quality control, removing garbage and insufficiency and managing pollution.
- Updated manufacturing is characterised by complex machine technology, enormous estates, and intense specialisation and separation of labour. Huge organisations and executive establishment.
- The production industries are focused on areas rich in minerals and other resources. Updated production industries account for below 10 per cent of the world’s land area and these nations have become the hub of economic and political influence.
Industries must be situated in places where the cost of creation is low in order to increase profits. The following methods affect the industrial areas are as follows:
- Availability to market: Market means people who have a demand for the product and also the ability to buy the products from the shopkeepers at a place. The buying influence of the people in updated areas of Europe and North America and Australia and Japan is very high. The widely populated areas of the south and south-east Asia also offer an excellent market.
- Availability of raw materials: Industries based on economic, substantial and weight-losing items are situated near the origin of raw materials such as sugar, steel and cement industries. Vulnerable goods are also situated near the origin of raw materials, where agricultural commodities and dairy products are made close to the origin of the farm, creating or delivering milk respectively.
- Availability of workers to supply: Worker supply is a necessary component in the area of the industries. But the rise of robotisation, electrification and the adaptability of industrial processes have reduced the requirement of industries for workers.
- Availability of power supply: Industries need more power which is located near the source of energy supply such as the aluminium industry. Coal, hydroelectricity and petroleum are the sources of energy for several industries.
- Availability of carriage and communication facilities: Proper carriage and communication facilities are necessary for the modernisation of the industries. Western Europe and Eastern North America have highly modernised carriage systems which resulted in the rise and modernisation of industries in these regions. The types of industries are as follows:
- Household or Cottage Industries: These are the smallest creating units. Simple instruments and daily raw materials are used by the craftsperson. These items are made at home with the help of family members or part-time workers. Items are used in the same household and sold in local markets or for trade. Food items, handicrafts, fabrics, wall magnets, keyrings, bags, mats and jewellery are created.
- Small-scale industries are operated with easily powered machines and regional raw materials and are labour-intensive. It offers jobs and raise the community's buying power. India, Indonesia, China and Brazil have created labour-intensive small-scale manufacturing units.
- Large-scale industries focus on rapid growth and vast energy, highly skilled workers, modern technology, and huge capital. They are divided into two types traditional large-scale industrial areas which are broadly scattered in a few more modernised countries. High-technology large-scale industrial -technology which are spread to less modernised countries.
- Agro-based industries extract raw materials from the fields and farms which are converted into final products such as fruit juices, oil, beverages, sugar, rubber textiles, etc.
- Mineral-based industries:- Minerals are used as raw materials. Ferrous metallic minerals are used in the iron and steel industries, non-ferrous metallic minerals are used in the aluminium, copper and jewellery industries and non-metallic minerals are used in the cement and pottery industries.
- Forest-Based Industries: Forests offer timber for furniture production, wood, bamboo and grass for the paper industry and lac for the lac industry.
- Animal-based Industries:- Industries that rely on animal products such as leather, woollen textiles, and ivory which is made from the teeth of an elephant.
- Basic Industries: The industries that create raw materials to be used in other industries are called basic industries. For eg iron and steel create the base for other industries and therefore it is called basic industries. It offers raw materials for other industries such as machine instruments used for further creation.
