THE NORTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURING CORE

(CHAPTER 5: PART 2)

MANUFACTURINGCORE

INTRODUCTION

• Economic character of the Manufacturing Core's major cities:– (1) Atlantic coastal cities and their environs– (2) Cities of the interior core, located

between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes • Light industry is more dominant in the

former while heavy industry characterizes the latter.

• Today's lesson focuses on locational factors within the core and the economic character of a few of its major centers.

LIGHT INDUSTRY

• Manufacturing activities that use moderate amounts of partially processed materials

• Produce items of relatively high value per unit weight

LOCATIONAL FACTORS

• Break-in-Bulk Points– Transfer points along a transfer route– Mode of transportation or type of

carrier changes– Large shipments are reduced in size.

• Complementarity - exists at the regional scale when two regions, through an exchange of raw materials and finished products, can specifically satisfy each other's demands.

INDUSTRIAL AGGLOMERATION

•The clustering of manufacturing activities•Businesses and plants benefit from close proximity.•Share the costs of common operating requirements Advantages - Firms can share….

skilled labor pools communications systems utility and power sources transportation networks

Firms may even consume what each other produces.

Economical>>reduces initial construction costs and subsequent operating costs

INDUSTRIAL SITE FACTORS

• Raw materials • Labor • Transportation • Energy sources • Communications networks• An accessible market

INERTIA COSTS OF LOCATION

• Costs born by an activity because it remains located at its original site, even though the distributions of supply and demand have changed

• The costs which a firm must bear when it is no longer situated at the optimum location.

• Examples???

THE EMERGENCE OF CHICAGO

• An urban center which overcame unfavorable characteristics of its site and evolved to prominence based on its situation

• Site Disadvantages– Established on the swampy margins of Lake

Michigan, an ideal habitat for mosquitoes and other pests.

– Poor quality drinking-water– The Chicago River was too small to serve as

an effective transportation link– The city was almost completely destroyed

by fire in 1871

THE EMERGENCE OF CHICAGO

(continued)

•Situational Advantages– The city's location evolved as the

optimum transportation hub as goods were transferred between the Lake Region and the agricultural interior.

– The city became the regional rail hub of the western manufacturing core- benefiting from both manufacturing and agriculture.

ECONOMIC CHARACTER OF CORE CITIES

•New York

•Philadelphia

•Pittsburgh

•Cleveland Detroit

Chicago

•Buffalo Toronto Milwaukee

•Boston

NEW YORK

Major port cityImmigration pointOffice industries prevail

BankingPublishing houses Insurance companies

PHILADELPHIA

Major port cityFood processingShip buildingSteel and metal fabrication

Major inland portIron Steel Light industries Corporate headquarters

PITTSBURGH

CLEVELAND

Major portTransfer pointIron SteelRock & roll

DETROIT

Major port cityAutomotive industry Variety of supporting light industries

CHICAGO

Port cityTransport hubMeat-packing Furniture Clothing Steel

ECONOMIC CHARACTER OF CORE CITIES

•Generalizations concerning the economic character of other major cities of the manufacturing core.

•Boston - initially clothing and leather; since World War II, electronic components and machinery

Buffalo - formerly the continent's premier flour-milling center- more recently, chemical industries, aluminum

Toronto - a variety of light industries Milwaukee - brewing, steel, motor vehicles, food

processing

THE NORTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURING CORE

(CHAPTER 5: PART 2)