We explain what light industry is, where it is located, its characteristics and examples. Also, differences with heavy industry.
What is light industry?
The light industry or consumer goods industry covers those activities that produce goods intended for the final consumer. It differs from other industrial activities such as obtaining raw materials and heavy industry, which produces other types of goods.
Unlike heavy industries, light industries are economic activities that involve lower energy consumption, lower proportions of processed or semi-processed materials and also a much lower environmental impact. Therefore, they can develop within cities and even around residential areas, which does not usually happen with heavy ones.
The most important light industries are usually those of:
- Food and drinks.
- Footwear, textiles and clothing.
- Tobacco.
- Books, magazines and newsprint.
- Medicines.
- Cosmetics.
- Electronics.
See also: Production process
Characteristics of light industry
Unlike heavy industry, light industry produces consumer goods that is, products that go directly to their final consumer through the marketing chain. For this reason are included in the secondary sector of society and the production chain, since its products are usually consumed at a fast and constant rate.
Obviously, this type of industry is much less intensive than heavy industry. That's why, Requires relatively small amounts of capital, labor and materials the latter also rarely being any type of unprocessed raw material.
Examples of light industries
Some examples of light industries are:
- The industries of manufacturing of electronic devices such as cell phones, remote controls, cameras, computers, etc.
- The food industries which produce canned, packaged and bottled or “tetra-brick” beverages.
- The automotive industries or manufacturing vehicle spare parts.
- The printers.
- The carpentry furniture and plumbing parts factories.
Main countries with light industry
light industry is much more democratically distributed in the world than heavy industry. Countries as economically, socially and politically different as Brazil, Guatemala, Canada, Peru, Argentina, the United States and Japan are manufacturing powers in various areas, which may tend towards technology, textiles, beverages and food.
Many of its products, however, are consumed in its domestic market. Therefore, only the large producers of each sector can dedicate themselves to flooding foreign markets with their merchandise, through export.
Heavy industry
Unlike light industry, dedicated entirely to the consumer, heavy industry deals with the transformation of raw materials into products that will later be used by other industries. It can be dedicated to the manufacture of semi-finished materials or machinery.
In some cases, these industries include direct extraction from the environment, and in other cases they obtain raw materials from extractive industries. For example, a metallurgical company dedicated to the manufacture of machinery can buy metal from another company or even import it from another country.
Heavy industry is essential to provide inputs to other subsequent industrial processes. For that reason are located in the primary sector of the productive chain and they are often called “basic industries”, since they are at the base of the economy.
However, this type of industry It is usually accompanied by tremendous environmental impact which is why it is not usually tolerated in residential areas or even within cities. That is why they are usually located directly at the source of the exploited resource, and in any case far from any vulnerable population.
References
- “Light industry” on Wikipedia.
- “Light industry” in Enciclopedia.us.
- “Industrial activities” in ICT Resources.
- “Light Industry” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
