HSC Geography · People, Patterns and Processes · 7.5

Patterns of Economic Activity — Industrial Production

The spatial pattern of manufacturing — where it is, why it keeps shifting, and who wins & loses · NESA Syllabus 2022

Where we're going

By the end you can…

Describe the global pattern of manufacturing & its four major concentrations
Explain how the pattern has changed over ~50 years
Account for the decline of the US Rust Belt
Explain the rise of Zhengzhou, China
Define economic restructuring & the new international division of labour

7.5.1

The changing pattern

7.5.1 The big picture

Manufacturing ≈ 15–17% of global GDP (World Bank)

Shifting map

Over ~50 years, production has moved from Western heartlands to emerging economies, esp. East & South Asia.

China = No.1

The world's largest manufacturer by output; manufacturing ≈ 26–28% of China's own GDP.

Drivers: labour cost · technology · access to markets & materials · policy.

7.5.2

Major concentrations

7.5.2 The four great clusters

North America · NW Europe · East Asia · South Asia

NW Europe's core is the "Blue Banana" — N England & Benelux → the Rhinelands → N Italy.

7.5.3

Evolution of manufacturing

7.5.3 How & where change together

Craft → Industrial Rev. → mass production → automation → global

Containers + automation + global supply chains let firms split production across the world.

7.5.4

The Rust Belt & decline

7.5.4 Case study — decline

The US Manufacturing Belt → "Rust Belt"

Pittsburgh (steel) · Detroit (cars) · Great Lakes

The US industrial core for ~a century. From the 1960s–80s it lost output & jobs — deindustrialisation.

Drivers: overseas competition · automation · decline of steel & coal.

7.5.5

Case study: Zhengzhou

7.5.5 Case study — emergence

Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

"iPhone City"

The huge Foxconn complex assembles a large share of the world's iPhones — hundreds of thousands of workers at peak.

Why here

Industrial zones & the Airport Economy Zone; central rail/air hub & Zhengzhou–Europe freight; cross-border e-commerce zone.

The destination of production that left regions like the Rust Belt.

7.5.6

Restructuring & the NIDL

7.5.6 The process behind the map

Economic restructuring & the new international division of labour

Routine production → lower-cost economies; design, finance & management often stay in the West.

End of 7.5

Recap

Manufacturing ≈15–17% of global GDP · four concentrations (incl. NW Europe's "Blue Banana") · pattern shifting West → emerging economies · Rust Belt decline vs Zhengzhou's rise · economic restructuring & the new international division of labour.