Manufacturing
Industry Overview
Manufacturing, the production of merchandise for use or sale using labor and machines, tools, chemical and biological processing, or formulation, refers to a range of activities, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale. These finished goods may be used for manufacturing other, more complex, products, such as aircraft, household appliances or automobiles, or sold to wholesalers, who in turn sell them to retailers, who then sell them to end users and consumers. At its highest level, manufacturing is directed toward the mass production of products for sale to consumers at a profit. Modern manufacturing can have many, and includes all, intermediate processes required for the production and integration of a product’s components. Some industries, such as semiconductor and steel manufacturers use the term fabrication instead.