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{{Short description|Industrial activity producing goods for sale using labor and machines}}
{{For|the functional constituency in Hong Kong|Manufacturing (constituency)}} <!--WP:SIMILAR-->
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{{Economic sectors}}
{{Manufacturing}}

'''Manufacturing''' is the creation or [[Production (economics)|production]] of [[goods]] with the help of equipment, [[Work (human activity)|labor]], [[machine]]s, [[tool]]s, and [[Chemical process|chemical]] or [[biological process]]ing or [[formulation]]. It is the essence of the [[secondary sector]] of the economy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kenton |first=Will |title=Manufacturing |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/manufacturing.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117184723/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/manufacturing.asp |archive-date=November 17, 2020 |access-date=January 16, 2021 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=March 2023}} The term may refer to a range of [[Human behavior|human activity]], from [[handicraft]] to [[High tech|high-tech]], but it is most commonly applied to [[industrial design]], in which [[raw material]]s from the [[primary sector of the economy|primary sector]] are transformed into [[finished good]]s on a large scale. Such goods may be sold to other manufacturers for the production of other more complex products (such as aircraft, [[Home appliance|household appliances]], [[furniture]], [[sports equipment]] or [[automobiles]]), or distributed via the [[tertiary sector]] to [[end user]]s and consumers (usually through wholesalers, who in turn sell to retailers, who then sell them to individual customers).

[[File:New Horizons on work stand.jpg|thumb|Manufacturing of [[New Horizons|New Horizons space probe]] at [[NASA|NASA Research Laboratory]]]]
[[Manufacturing engineering]] is the field of engineering that designs and optimizes the '''manufacturing process''', or the steps through which raw materials are transformed into a [[final product]]. The manufacturing process begins with [[product design]], and [[Bill of materials|materials specification]]. These materials are then modified through manufacturing to become the desired product.

Contemporary manufacturing encompasses all intermediary stages involved in producing and integrating components of a product. Some industries, such as [[Fabrication (semiconductor)|semiconductor]] and [[Fabrication (metal)|steel]] manufacturers, use the term '''fabrication''' instead.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thadani |first1=Akhil |last2=Allen |first2=Gregory C. |date=2023-05-30 |title=Mapping the Semiconductor Supply Chain: The Critical Role of the Indo-Pacific Region |url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/mapping-semiconductor-supply-chain-critical-role-indo-pacific-region |journal=CSIS |language=en}}</ref>

The manufacturing sector is closely connected with the engineering and industrial design industries.

==Etymology==
The [[Modern English]] word ''manufacture'' is likely derived from the [[Middle French]] ''[[wikt: manufacture#Middle French|manufacture]]'' ("process of making") which itself originates from the [[Classical Latin]] ''[[wikt:manu#Latin|manū]]'' ("hand") and the Middle French ''[[wikt: facture|facture]]'' ("making"). Alternatively, the English word may have been independently formed from the earlier English ''manufacture'' ("made by human hands") and ''fracture''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0199571123 |editor-last=Stevenson |editor-first=Angus |edition=3rd |location=Oxford |chapter=manufacture, ''n.'' |doi=10.1093/acres/9780199571123.001.0001|doi-broken-date=July 12, 2025 }}</ref> Its earliest usage in the English language was recorded in the mid-16th century to refer to the making of products by hand.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Srivatsan |first1=T. S. |title=Manufacturing Techniques for Materials: Engineering and Engineered |last2=Manigandan |first2=K. |last3=Sudarshan |first3=T. S. |publisher=CRC Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1138099265 |editor-last=Srivatsan |editor-first=T. S. |location=Boca Raton |pages=436–437 |chapter=Use of Conventional Manufacturing Techniques for Materials |editor-last2=Sudarshan |editor-first2=T. S. |editor-last3=Manigandan |editor-first3=K.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Youssef |first1=Helmi A. |title=Machining Technology: Machine Tools and Operations |last2=El-Hofy |first2=Hassan |publisher=CRC Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1420043396 |location=Boca Raton |page=1}}</ref>

==History and development==
===Prehistory and ancient history===
{{See also|Industry (archaeology)|Prehistoric technology|Ancient technology}}

[[File:Stone Core for Making Blades - Boqer Tachtit, Negev, circa 40000 BP (detail).jpg|thumb|Flint stone core for making blades in [[Negev]], Israel, {{circa}} 40000 [[Before Present|BP]]]]
[[File:Sword bronze age (2nd version).jpg|thumb|A late [[Bronze Age sword]] or dagger blade now on display at the [[National Archaeological Museum, France|National Archaeological Museum]] in France]]
Human ancestors manufactured objects using stone and other tools long before the emergence of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' about 200,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Ancestors Hall: Homo sapiens |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501000000/http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2009 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]}}</ref> The earliest methods of [[stone tool]] making, known as the [[Oldowan]] "[[Industry (archaeology)|industry]]", date back to at least 2.3&nbsp;million years ago,<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1999 |title=Ancient 'Tool Factory' Uncovered |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/336555.stm |url-status=live |access-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318192530/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/336555.stm |archive-date=March 18, 2007}}</ref> with the earliest direct evidence of tool usage found in [[Ethiopia]] within the [[Great Rift Valley, Kenya|Great Rift Valley]], dating back to 2.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heinzelin |first1=Jean de |last2=Clark |first2=JD |last3=White |first3=T |last4=Hart |first4=W |last5=Renne |first5=P |last6=Woldegabriel |first6=G |last7=Beyene |first7=Y |last8=Vrba |first8=E |date=April 1999 |title=Environment and Behavior of 2.5-Million-Year-Old Bouri Hominids |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=284 |issue=5414 |pages=625–629 |bibcode=1999Sci...284..625D |doi=10.1126/science.284.5414.625 |pmid=10213682}}</ref> To manufacture a stone tool, a "[[lithic core|core]]" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as [[flint]]) was struck with a [[hammerstone]]. This flaking produced sharp edges that could be used as tools, primarily in the form of [[chopper (archaeology)|choppers]] or [[scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]].<ref name="ea_archaeology">{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Ariane |title=Archaeology |url=http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Americana]]}}</ref>{{New archival link needed|date=April 2026}} These tools greatly aided the early humans in their [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle to form other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Plummer |first=Thomas |year=2004 |title=Flaked Stones and Old Bones: Biological and Cultural Evolution at the Dawn of Technology |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |publisher=[[Yearbook of Physical Anthropology]] |volume=Suppl 39 |issue=47 |pages=118–64 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.20157 |pmid=15605391 |bibcode=2004AJPA..125S.118P }}</ref> The [[Middle Paleolithic]], approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the [[prepared-core technique]], where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone.<ref name="ea_archaeology" /> [[Pressure flaking]], in which a wood, bone, or antler [[punch (engineering)|punch]] could be used to shape a stone very finely was developed during the [[Upper Paleolithic]], beginning approximately 40,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haviland |first=William A. |title=Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge |publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-534-62487-3 |page=77}}</ref> During the [[Neolithic]] period, polished [[stone tool]]s were manufactured from a variety of hard rocks such as [[flint]], [[jade]], [[jadeite]], and [[Greenschist|greenstone]]. The polished axes were used alongside other stone tools including [[Projectile point|projectiles]], knives, and scrapers, as well as tools manufactured from organic materials such as wood, bone, and antler.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tóth |first=Zsuzsanna |title=Bone, Antler, and Tusk tools of the Early Neolithic Körös Culture |publisher=BAR International Series 2334 |year=2012 |editor-last=Anders |editor-first=Alexandra |location=Oxford |chapter=The First Neolithic Sites in Central/South-East European Transect, Volume III: The Körös Culture in Eastern Hungary |editor-last2=Siklósi |editor-first2=Zsuzsanna}}</ref>

Copper [[smelting]] is believed to have originated when the technology of pottery [[kiln]] allowed sufficiently high temperatures.<ref name="Tylecote_1992">{{Cite book |last=Merson |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers |title=The Genius That Was China: East and West in the Making of the Modern World |publisher=The Overlook Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-87951-397-9 |location=Woodstock, NY |page=69 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The concentration of various elements such as arsenic increases with depth in copper ore deposits and smelting of these ores yields [[arsenical bronze]], which can be sufficiently work-hardened to be suitable for manufacturing tools.<ref name="Tylecote_1992" /> [[Bronze]] is an alloy of copper with tin; the latter of which being found in relatively few deposits globally delayed true tin bronze from becoming widespread. During the [[Bronze Age]], bronze was a major improvement over stone as a material for making tools, both because of its mechanical properties like strength and ductility and because it could be cast in molds to make intricately shaped objects. Bronze significantly advanced shipbuilding technology with better tools and bronze nails, which replaced the old method of attaching boards of the hull with cord woven through drilled holes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paine |first=Lincoln |title=The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World |publisher=Random House, LLC |year=2013 |location=New York}}</ref> The [[Iron Age]] is conventionally defined by the widespread manufacturing of weapons and tools using iron and steel rather than bronze.<ref name="waldbaum">{{Cite book |last=Jane C. |first=Waldbaum |title=From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean |date=1978 |publisher=Paul Aström |isbn=91-85058-79-3 |pages=56–58 |oclc=1146527679}}</ref> Iron smelting is more difficult than tin and copper smelting because smelted iron requires hot-working and can be melted only in specially designed furnaces. The place and time for the discovery of iron smelting is not known, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing metal extracted from nickel-containing ores from hot-worked meteoritic iron.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Photos |first=E. |year=1989 |title=The Question of Meteoritic versus Smelted Nickel-Rich Iron: Archaeological Evidence and Experimental Results |journal=World Archaeology |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=403–421 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1989.9980081 |jstor=124562 |s2cid=5908149}}</ref>

During the growth of the ancient civilizations, many ancient technologies resulted from advances in manufacturing. Several of the six classic [[simple machines]] were invented in Mesopotamia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moorey |first=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |date=1999 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |isbn=978-1575060422}}</ref> The Mesopotamians have been credited with the invention of the wheel. The [[wheel and axle]] mechanism first appeared with the [[potter's wheel]], invented in [[Mesopotamia]] (modern Iraq) during the 5th millennium BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potts |first=D. T. |title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East |year=2012 |page=285}}</ref> Egyptian paper made from [[papyrus]], as well as [[pottery]], were mass-produced and exported throughout the Mediterranean basin. Early construction techniques used by the Ancient Egyptians made use of bricks composed mainly of clay, sand, silt, and other minerals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trzciński |first1=Jerzy |last2=Zaremba |first2=Małgorzata |last3=Rzepka |first3=Sławomir |last4=Welc |first4=Fabian |last5=Szczepański |first5=Tomasz |date=2016-06-01 |title=Preliminary Report on Engineering Properties and Environmental Resistance of Ancient Mud Bricks from Tell El-Retaba Archaeological Site in the Nile Delta |journal=Studia Quaternaria |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=47–56 |doi=10.1515/squa-2016-0005 |s2cid=132452242 |s2cid-access=free |issn=2300-0384|doi-access=free |bibcode=2016StudQ..33...47T }}</ref>

===Medieval and early modern===
[[File:Stocking Frame.jpg|thumb|A stocking frame at Ruddington Framework Knitters' Museum in [[Ruddington]], England]]

The [[Middle Ages]] witnessed new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. [[Papermaking]], a 2nd-century Chinese technology, was carried to the Middle East when a group of Chinese papermakers were captured in the 8th century.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191735516.timeline.0001 | chapter=Timeline: 8th century | isbn=978-0191735516 | title=8th century | access-date=July 15, 2021 | archive-date=August 25, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825213937/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191735516.timeline.0001 | url-status=live }}</ref> Papermaking technology was spread to [[Europe]] by the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=de Safita |first=Neathery |date=July 2002 |title=A Brief History Of Paper. |url=http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/paper/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822144311/http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/paper/ |archive-date=August 22, 2018 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |website=[[St. Louis Community College]]}}</ref> A paper mill was established in Sicily in the 12th century. In Europe the fiber to make pulp for making paper was obtained from linen and cotton rags. [[Lynn Townsend White Jr.]] credited the spinning wheel with increasing the supply of rags, which led to cheap paper, which was a factor in the development of printing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marchetti |first=Cesare |year=1978 |title=A Postmortem Technology Assessment of the Spinning Wheel: The Last 1000 Years, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 13; pp. 91–93 |url=http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/scan/MARCHETTI-079.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502152013/http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/scan/MARCHETTI-079.pdf |archive-date=May 2, 2016 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |journal=Technological Forecasting and Social Change }}</ref> Due to the casting of cannon, the [[blast furnace]] came into widespread use in France in the mid 15th century. The blast furnace had been used in China since the 4th century BC.<ref name="Tylecote_1992" /> The [[stocking frame]], which was invented in 1598, increased a knitter's number of knots per minute from 100 to 1000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosen |first=William |title=The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention |publisher=University Of Chicago Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-226-72634-2 |page=237}}</ref>

===First and Second Industrial Revolutions===
{{main|Industrial Revolution|Second Industrial Revolution}}

[[File:Powerloom weaving in 1835.jpg|thumb|An 1835 illustration of a [[Roberts Loom]] weaving shed]]

The [[Industrial Revolution]] was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the [[United States]] from 1760 to the 1830s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Industrial History of European Countries |url=https://www.erih.net/how-it-started/industrial-history-of-european-countries |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623201807/https://www.erih.net/how-it-started/industrial-history-of-european-countries |archive-date=June 23, 2021 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |website=European Route of Industrial Heritage |publisher=Council of Europe}}</ref> This transition included going from [[craft production|hand production methods]] to machines, new [[chemical manufacturing]] and [[Puddling (metallurgy)|iron production]] processes, the increasing use of [[steam power]] and [[water power]], the development of [[machine tool]]s and the rise of the [[mechanization|mechanized]] [[factory system]]. The Industrial Revolution also led to an unprecedented rise in the rate of population growth. Textiles were the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output and [[capital (economics)|capital]] invested. The [[textile industry]] was also the first to use modern production methods.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969">{{Cite book |last=Landes |first=David S. |title=The Unbound Prometheus |date=1969 |publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-09418-4}}</ref>{{rp|40}} Rapid industrialization first began in Britain, starting with mechanized spinning in the 1780s,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Gupta |first=Bishnupriya |title=Cotton Textiles and the Great Divergence: Lancashire, India and Shifting Competitive Advantage, 1600–1850 |url=http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/papers/broadberry-gupta.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910075425/http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/papers/broadberry-gupta.pdf |archive-date=September 10, 2016 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |website=International Institute of Social History |publisher=Department of Economics, University of Warwick}}</ref> with high rates of growth in steam power and iron production occurring after 1800. [[Textile industry|Mechanized textile production]] spread from Great Britain to continental Europe and the United States in the early 19th century, with important centres of textiles, iron and coal emerging [[#Belgium|in Belgium]] and the United States and later textiles in France.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969" />

An economic recession occurred from the late 1830s to the early 1840s when the adoption of the Industrial Revolution's early innovations, such as mechanized spinning and weaving, slowed down and their markets matured. Innovations developed late in the period, such as the increasing adoption of locomotives, steamboats and steamships, [[Hot blast|hot blast iron smelting]] and new technologies, such as the [[electrical telegraph]], were widely introduced in the 1840s and 1850s, were not powerful enough to drive high rates of growth. Rapid economic growth began to occur after 1870, springing from a new group of innovations in what has been called the [[Second Industrial Revolution]]. These innovations included new [[Bessemer process|steel making process]]es, [[mass-production]], [[assembly line]]s, [[electrical grid]] systems, the large-scale manufacture of machine tools and the use of increasingly advanced machinery in steam-powered factories.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=George Rogers |title=The Transportation Revolution, 1815–1860 |year=1951 |publisher=Rinehart |isbn=978-0-87332-101-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Roe |first=Joseph Wickham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X-EJAAAAIAAJ |title=English and American Tool Builders |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1916 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |lccn=16011753 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414155300/https://books.google.com/books?id=X-EJAAAAIAAJ |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |url-status=live}} Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 ({{LCCN|27024075}}); and by Lindsay Publications, Inc., Bradley, Illinois, ({{ISBN|978-0-917914-73-7}})</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=Louis C. |title=A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930, Vol. 2: Steam Power |publisher=University Press of Virginia |year=1985 |location=Charlottesville |page=18}}</ref>

Building on improvements in vacuum pumps and materials research, [[incandescent light bulb]]s became practical for general use in the late 1870s. This invention had a profound effect on the workplace because factories could now have second and third shift workers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nye |first=David E. |title=Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology |publisher=The MIT Press |year=1990 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and London, England}}</ref> Shoe production was mechanized during the mid 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=Ross |url=https://archive.org/details/pathtomechanized00thom |title=The Path to Mechanized Shoe Production in the United States |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8078-1867-1}}</ref> Mass production of [[sewing machine]]s and [[agricultural machinery]] such as reapers occurred in the mid to late 19th century.<ref name="hounshell-1984">{{Hounshell1984}}</ref> The mass production of bicycles started in the 1880s.<ref name="hounshell-1984" /> Steam-powered factories became widespread, although the conversion from water power to steam occurred in England earlier than in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=Louis C. |title=A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930, Vol. 2: Steam Power |publisher=University Press of Virginia |year=1985 |location=Charlottesville}}</ref>

===Modern manufacturing===
[[File:Airacobra P39 Assembly LOC 02902u.jpg|thumb|[[Bell Aircraft]]'s assembly plant in [[Wheatfield, New York]] in 1944]]

[[Electrification]] of factories, which had begun gradually in the 1890s after the introduction of the practical [[DC motor]] and the [[AC motor]], was fastest between 1900 and 1930. This was aided by the establishment of electric utilities with central stations and the lowering of electricity prices from 1914 to 1917.<ref name="Jerome 1934">{{Cite book |last=Jerome |first=Harry |title=Mechanization in Industry, National Bureau of Economic Research |year=1934 |page=xxviii}}</ref> [[Electric motor|Electric motors]] allowed more flexibility in manufacturing and required less maintenance than line shafts and belts. Many factories witnessed a 30% increase in output owing to the increasing shift to electric motors. Electrification enabled modern mass production, and the biggest impact of early mass production was in the manufacturing of everyday items, such as at the [[Ball Brothers]] [[Ball Corporation|Glass Manufacturing Company]], which electrified its [[mason jar]] plant in [[Muncie, Indiana]], U.S. around 1900. The new automated process used glass blowing machines to replace 210 craftsman glass blowers and helpers. A small electric truck was now used to handle 150 dozen bottles at a time whereas previously used hand trucks could only carry 6 dozen bottles at a time. Electric mixers replaced men with shovels handling sand and other ingredients that were fed into the glass furnace. An electric overhead crane replaced 36 [[day labor]]ers for moving heavy loads across the factory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nye |first=David E. |title=Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |year=1990 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England |pages=14, 15}}</ref>

Mass production was popularized in the late 1910s and 1920s by [[Henry Ford]]'s [[Ford Motor Company]],<ref name="hounshell-1984" /> which introduced electric motors to the then-well-known technique of chain or sequential production. Ford also bought or designed and built special purpose machine tools and fixtures such as multiple spindle [[Drill#Drill press|drill presses]] that could drill every hole on one side of an engine block in one operation and a multiple head [[milling machine]] that could simultaneously machine 15 engine blocks held on a single fixture. All of these machine tools were arranged systematically in the production flow and some had special carriages for rolling heavy items into machining positions. Production of the [[Ford Model T]] used 32,000 machine tools.<ref name="Hounshell1984p288">{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=288}}</ref>

[[Lean manufacturing]], also known as just-in-time manufacturing, was developed in Japan in the 1930s. It is a production method aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ohno |first=Taiichi |title=Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production |date=1988 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-915299-14-0}}</ref><ref name="Shingo">{{Cite book |last=Shingō |first=Shigeo |title=A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System |date=1985 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=0-915299-03-8 |oclc=12255263 }}</ref> It was introduced in Australia in the 1950s by the British Motor Corporation (Australia) at its Victoria Park plant in Sydney, from where the idea later migrated to Toyota.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 30, 1999 |title=Site of BMC/Leyland Australia Manufacturing Plant: Nomination as an Historic Engineering Marker |url=https://portal.engineersaustralia.org.au/system/files/engineering-heritage-australia/nomination-title/BMC_Plant_Nomination.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904201027/https://portal.engineersaustralia.org.au/system/files/engineering-heritage-australia/nomination-title/BMC_Plant_Nomination.pdf |archive-date=September 4, 2021 |access-date=July 30, 2021 |publisher=The Institution of Engineers, Australia}}</ref> News spread to western countries from Japan in 1977 in two English-language articles: one referred to the methodology as the "Ohno system", after [[Taiichi Ohno]], who was instrumental in its development within Toyota.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ashburn |first=A. |date=July 1977 |title=Toyota's "famous Ohno system" |journal=American Machinist |pages=120–123}}</ref> The other article, by Toyota authors in an international journal, provided additional details.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sugimori |first1=Y. |last2=Kusunoki |first2=K. |last3=Cho |first3=F. |last4=Uchikawa |first4=S. |year=1977 |title=Toyota Production System and Kanban System: Materialization of Just-in-time and Respect-for-human System |journal= International Journal of Production Research|volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=553–564 |doi=10.1080/00207547708943149 |issn=0020-7543 |doi-access=free |bibcode=1977IJPR...15..553S }}</ref> Finally, those and other publicity were translated into implementations, beginning in 1980 and then quickly multiplying throughout the industry in the United States and other countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=2001 |title=The Founding of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence: Summarized at a Meeting of its Founders, February 2, 2001 |url=https://www.ame.org/sites/default/files/target_articles/01-17-3-Founding_AME.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Target |publisher=Association for Manufacturing Excellence |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=23–24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309053843/https://www.ame.org/sites/default/files/target_articles/01-17-3-Founding_AME.pdf |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |access-date=July 15, 2021}}</ref>

{{anchor|WCM}}
The concept of '''world-class manufacturing''' is associated with excellence in the manufacturing field.<ref>Encyclopedia of Management, [https://www.encyclopedia.com/management/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/world-class-manufacturer World-Class Manufacturer], accessed on 20 June 2025</ref> The term has been promoted by author Richard J. Schonberger,<ref>Schonberger, R. J. (2008: first published in 1986), [https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/World_Class_Manufacturing/vZVUoYqs3KoC World Class Manufacturing: The Lessons of Simplicity Applied], New York: Free Press, accessed on 17 May 2025</ref> although Flynn ''et al.'' note that the term was initially used by R H Hayes and [[Steven C. Wheelwright]],<ref>Hayes, R.H., and Wheelwright, S.C. (1985), ''Restoring our Competitive Edge: Competing through Manufacturing'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY</ref> before being taken up by Schonberger.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Flynn | first1=Barbara B. | last2=Schroeder | first2=Roger G. | last3=Flynn | first3=E. James | last4=Sakakibara | first4=Sadao | last5=Bates | first5=Kimberly A. | title=World-class manufacturing project: Overview and selected results | journal=International Journal of Operations & Production Management | date=1997 | volume=17 | issue=7 | pages=671–685 | doi=10.1108/01443579710175592 | url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01443579710175592/full/html | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In many manufacturing industries, production requires not only raw material supply chains but also the installation of large industrial machinery. 

==Manufacturing strategy==
According to a "traditional" view of manufacturing strategy, there are five key dimensions along which the performance of manufacturing can be assessed: cost, [[Quality (business)|quality]], [[dependability]], flexibility and [[innovation]].<ref>Hayes, R. H., Wheelwright, S. C. and Clark, K. B. (1988), ''Dynamic Manufacturing'', New York: The Free Press, quoted in Wassenhove, L. van and Corbett, C. J., [https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/inseadwp1991/91-25.pdf "Trade-Offs? What Trade Offs? (A Short Essay on Manufacturing Strategy]", p. 1, ''[[INSEAD]]'', published April 6, 1991, accessed September 27, 2023</ref>

In regard to manufacturing performance, [[Wickham Skinner]], who has been called "the father of [[manufacturing#Manufacturing strategy|manufacturing strategy]]",<ref>R. Sarmiento, G. Whelan, M. Thürer and F. A. Bribiescas-Silva, [https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=buschmanart "Fifty Years of the Strategic Trade-Offs Model: In Memory and Honor of Wickham Skinner"], in IEEE Engineering Management Review, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 92–96, 1 Second Quarter, June 2019, {{doi|10.1109/EMR.2019.2915978}}, accessed August 22, 2023</ref> adopted the concept of "focus",<ref>Skinner, W., "[https://store.hbr.org/product/focused-factory/74308 Focused Factory]", ''[[Harvard Business Review]]'', published May 1, 1974.</ref> with an implication that a business cannot perform at the highest level along all five dimensions and must therefore select one or two competitive priorities. This view led to the theory of "trade offs" in manufacturing strategy.<ref name=wass>Wassenhove, L. van and Corbett, C. J., [https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/inseadwp1991/91-25.pdf "Trade-Offs? What Trade Offs? (A Short Essay on Manufacturing Strategy)]", p. 2, ''[[INSEAD]]'', published April 6, 1991, accessed September 27, 2023</ref> Similarly, Elizabeth Haas wrote in 1987, about the delivery of value in manufacturing for customers in terms of "lower prices, greater service responsiveness or higher quality".<ref>Haas, E. A., "Breakthrough Manufacturing", ''Harvard Business Review'', March/April 1987, pp. 75–81</ref> The theory of "trade offs" has subsequently being debated and questioned,<ref name=wass /> Colin New noted that by 1991 it had become "somewhat fashionable" to abandon the trade-off approach,<ref>New, C., [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/137432.pdf SWP 57191 "World Class Manufacturing verses Strategic Trade-Offs"], 6th International Conference of the Operations Management Association of the UK, [[University of Aston]], June 1991, accessed on 10 July 2025</ref> whereas Skinner wrote in 1992 that at that time "enthusiasm for the concepts of 'manufacturing strategy' [had] been higher", noting that in [[academic paper]]s, executive courses and [[case studies]], levels of interest were "bursting out all over".<ref>Skinner, W., "Missing the Links in Manufacturing Strategy" in Voss, C. A. (ed) (1992), ''Manufacturing Strategy – Process and Content'', Chapman and Hall, pp. 12–25</ref> 

Manufacturing writer [[Terry Hill]] has commented that manufacturing is often seen as a less "strategic" business activity than functions such as marketing and [[Strategic financial management|finance]], and that manufacturing managers have "come late" to business strategy-making discussions, where, as a result, they make only a reactive contribution.<ref>Hill, T., [https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4266/1/WRAP_THESIS_Hill_1990.pdf Manufacturing Strategy: Developments in Approach and Analytics], University of Warwick, 1990, accessed 28 September 2023</ref><ref>Hill, T. (1993), ''Manufacturing Strategy'', second edition, Macmillan, chapter 2</ref>

Ken Platts and Mike Gregory devised a manufacturing audit scheme intended to support the process of formulating a manufacturing strategy.<ref>Platts, K. and Gregory, M., [https://www.emerald.com/ijopm/article-abstract/10/9/5/148491/Manufacturing-Audit-in-the-Process-of-Strategy Manufacturing Audit in the Process of Strategy Formulation], ''International Journal of Operations & Production Management'', Volume 10, Issue 9, published on 1 September 1990, accessed on 2 November 2025</ref> This was popularised in ''Competitive Manufacturing: A Practical Approach to the Development of a Manufacturing Strategy'' in 1998, whose publication was supported by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry.<ref>Platts, K. and Gregory, M. (1998), [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Competitive-Manufacturing-Practical-Approach-Development/dp/1854230107 Competitive Manufacturing: A Practical Approach to the Development of a Manufacturing Strategy], Kempston, Bedford, UK: IFS Ltd.</ref>

There are two main methods used for manufacturing control strategies, push manufacturing and pull manufacturing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Olhager |first=Jan |last2=Östlund |first2=Björn |date=April 13, 1990 |title=An integrated push-pull manufacturing strategy |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/037722179090180J |journal=European Journal of Operational Research |series=OR for Engineers Expert Systems and Decision-Aid |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=135–142 |doi=10.1016/0377-2217(90)90180-J |issn=0377-2217|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Push manufacturing involves manufacturing according to a forecast, and so batch processing and lot sizes are important considerations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Hessing |first=Ted |last2=PV |first2=Ramana |date=August 25, 2018 |title=Push-Pull System |url=https://sixsigmastudyguide.com/push-pull-system/ |access-date=April 28, 2026 |website=Six Sigma Study Guide |language=en-US}}</ref> Pull manufacturing focusses on replenishment of goods, so what is produced is connected to the work demands of the next stage in a product's [[value chain]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pull manufacturing and Kanban |url=http://www.managementsupport.com/nl/pull_kanban.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051018082134/http://www.managementsupport.com/nl/pull_kanban.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2005 |access-date=April 28, 2026 |website=www.managementsupport.com}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Industrial policy==
{{main|Industrial policy}}

===Economics of manufacturing===
[[File:CNT-FAI Cooperative Barcelona.jpg|thumb|[[CNT-FAI]] worker [[cooperative]] in [[Barcelona]] producing wood and steel products]]

[[Emerging technologies]] have offered new growth methods in advanced manufacturing employment opportunities, for example in the [[Rust Belt|Manufacturing Belt]] in the United States. Manufacturing provides important material support for national infrastructure and also for [[defense (military)|national defense]].

On the other hand, most manufacturing processes may involve significant social and environmental costs. The clean-up costs of [[hazardous waste]], for example, may outweigh the benefits of a product that creates it. Hazardous materials may expose workers to health risks. These costs are now well known and there is effort to address them by improving [[efficiency]], reducing waste, using [[industrial symbiosis]], and eliminating harmful chemicals.

The negative costs of manufacturing can also be addressed legally. Developed countries regulate manufacturing activity with [[labor laws]] and [[Environmental policy|environmental]] laws. Across the globe, manufacturers can be subject to regulations and [[Ecotax|pollution taxes]] to offset the [[Environmental impact of manufacturing|environmental costs of manufacturing activities]]. Labor unions and [[craft guilds]] have played a historic role in the negotiation of worker rights and wages. Environment laws and labor protections that are available in developed nations may not be available in the [[third world]]. [[Tort law]] and [[product liability]] impose additional costs on manufacturing. These are significant dynamics in the ongoing process, occurring over the last few decades, of manufacture-based industries relocating operations to "developing-world" economies where the costs of production are significantly lower than in "developed-world" economies.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Manufacturing reshoring and sustainable development goals: A home versus host country perspective|first1=Cristina|last1=Di Stefano|first2=Luciano|last2=Fratocchi|first3=Carmen|last3=Martínez-Mora|first4=Fernando|last4=Merino|date=August 2, 2023|journal=Sustainable Development|volume=32 |pages=863–875 |doi=10.1002/sd.2710|doi-access=free|hdl=10045/136803|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

=== Finance ===
From a financial perspective, the goal of the manufacturing industry is mainly to achieve [[cost-benefit analysis|cost benefits]] per unit produced, which in turn leads to cost reductions in product prices for the market towards [[end user|end customers]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Julie |title=Unit Cost Definition |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unitcost.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520060438/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unitcost.asp |archive-date=May 20, 2022 |access-date=May 20, 2022 |website=investopedia.com |publisher=Investopedia}}</ref>{{unreliable source|date=January 2024}} This relative [[cost reduction]] towards the market, is how manufacturing firms secure their [[profit margins]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spence |first=Michael |year=1984 |title=Cost Reduction, Competition, and Industry Performance |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1911463 |url-status=live |journal=Econometrica |publisher=Econometrica – Journal of the Economic Society, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jan. 1984) |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=101–121 |doi=10.2307/1911463 |jstor=1911463 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305234525/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1911463 |archive-date=March 5, 2022 |access-date=May 20, 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Safety ===
The manufacturing sector is identified as a priority industry by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) within the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). This designation facilitates the identification of occupational health and safety challenges and the development of intervention strategies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=PPC-R01.2N-N-V2-FW {{!}} PPC Controllers {{!}} Indramat Controls |url=https://indramat-usa.com/series/indramat-controls/ppc-controllers/ppc-r01.2n-n-v2-fw |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=Indramat USA }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 11, 2019 |title=Manufacturing Program |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/manuf/default.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403174921/https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/manuf/default.html |archive-date=April 3, 2019 |access-date=March 14, 2019 |publisher=Centres for Disease Control and Prevention |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 4, 2019 |title=National Occupational Research Agenda for Manufacturing |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/manuf/researchagenda.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618084046/https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/manuf/researchagenda.html |archive-date=June 18, 2019 |access-date=March 14, 2019 |publisher=Centres for Disease Control and Prevention |language=en-us}}</ref>

===Location and scale===
Some local economic development plans address the location and labour supply needs of manufacturing industries and make provision for sites to be available and serviced. For example in the UK, [[Leeds City Council]]'s local economic development plan refers to the needs of "modern manufacturing" in this regard.<ref>Leeds City Council, [https://www.leeds.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/leeds-local-plan-2040/economic-development Leeds Local Plan 2040: Scoping Consultation], published in February 2023, accessed on 4 March 2026</ref> Changes in production volumes and methods may at times require manufacturing relocation: heavy equipment such as presses, injection molding machines, and CNC tools may need to be moved during plant upgrades, facility relocations, or decommissioning projects. These processes involve specialized logistics, including rigging, tilt-and-load transport, forklifts, and oversize-load permitting. In North America, industry associations such as the [https://www.scranet.org/ Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA)] provide safety standards and best practices for heavy transport and machinery moving. Independent guides on machinery relocation planning offer strategies for minimizing downtime, such as phasing moves, off-hours relocation, buffer inventory, and detailed site assessments to maintain production continuity during equipment moving.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-04 |title=How To Plan A Machinery Move Without Halting Production? - Solid Hook Inc. |url=https://solidhook.ca/how-to-plan-a-machinery-move-without-halting-production/ |access-date=2025-09-07 |language=en-CA}}</ref>

===Manufacturing and investment===
[[File:KapaAuslUSABRDEngl.png|thumb|Capacity use in manufacturing in Germany and the United States]]
Surveys and analyses of trends and issues in manufacturing and investment around the world focus on such things as:
* The nature and sources of the considerable variations that occur cross-nationally in levels of manufacturing and wider industrial-economic growth;
* Competitiveness; and
* Attractiveness to foreign direct investors.

In addition to general overviews, researchers have examined the features and factors affecting particular key aspects of manufacturing development. They have compared production and investment in a range of Western and non-Western countries and presented case studies of growth and performance in important individual industries and market-economic sectors.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Manufacturing and Investment Around the World: An International Survey of Factors Affecting Growth and Performance |date=2002 |publisher=Industrial Systems Research |isbn=0-906321-25-5 |edition=2nd |location=Manchester |oclc=49552466}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4H07TL4rvyYC |title=Manufacturing and Investment Around the World: An International Survey of Factors Affecting Growth and Performance |date= 2002 |isbn=978-0-906321-25-6 |access-date=November 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401100940/https://books.google.com/books?id=4H07TL4rvyYC |archive-date=April 1, 2021 |url-status=live|last1=Research |first1=Industrial Systems |publisher=Industrial Systems Research }}</ref>

On June 26, 2009, [[Jeff Immelt]], the CEO of [[General Electric]], called for the United States to increase its manufacturing base employment to 20% of the workforce, commenting that the U.S. has outsourced too much in some areas and can no longer rely on the financial sector and [[consumer spending]] to drive demand.<ref name="Immelt">{{Cite news
 |date         = 26 June 2009
 |author1      = David Bailey
 |author2      = Soyoung Kim
 |url          = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-immelt/ges-immelt-says-u-s-economy-needs-industrial-renewal-idUSTRE55P4ZT20090626
 |language     = en-GB
 |work       = Reuters
 |title        = GE's Immelt says U.S. economy needs industrial renewal
 |access-date  = March 6, 2023
 |archive-date = December 12, 2020
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20201212184050/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-immelt/ges-immelt-says-u-s-economy-needs-industrial-renewal-idUSTRE55P4ZT20090626
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref> Further, while U.S. manufacturing performs well compared to the rest of the U.S. economy, research shows that it performs poorly compared to manufacturing in other high-wage countries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 2012 |title=Why Does Manufacturing Matter? Which Manufacturing Matters? |url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/2/22%20manufacturing%20helper%20krueger%20wial/0222_manufacturing_helper_krueger_wial |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008093333/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/2/22%20manufacturing%20helper%20krueger%20wial/0222_manufacturing_helper_krueger_wial |archive-date=October 8, 2012}}</ref> A total of 3.2&nbsp;million&nbsp;– one in six U.S. manufacturing jobs&nbsp;– have disappeared between 2000 and 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Martin Crutsinger |date=2007 |agency=Associated Press |title=Factory Jobs: 3 Million Lost Since 2000 |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-04-20-4155011268_x.htm |access-date=March 6, 2023 |website=USA Today |archive-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204013007/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-04-20-4155011268_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In the UK, [[EEF the manufacturers organisation]] has led calls for the UK economy to be rebalanced to rely less on financial services and has actively promoted the manufacturing agenda.

==Major manufacturing nations==
{{See also|Outline of manufacturing#By country}}

According to the [[United Nations Industrial Development Organization]] (UNIDO), [[Manufacturing in China|China]] is the manufacturer with the highest output worldwide in 2023, producing 28.7% of the total global manufacturing output, followed by the [[Manufacturing in the United States|United States of America]], [[Manufacturing in Germany|Germany]], [[Manufacturing in Japan|Japan]], and [[Manufacturing in India|India]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNIDO Statistics Data Portal |url=https://stat.unido.org/cip/?_ga=2.165931005.250164366.1633426210-602870229.1633426210 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005095041/https://stat.unido.org/cip/?_ga=2.165931005.250164366.1633426210-602870229.1633426210 |archive-date=October 5, 2021 |access-date=October 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name="www2.deloitte.com">{{Cite web |date=July 15, 2021 |title=Leading Manufacturing Nations |url=https://www.safeguardglobal.com/resources/top-10-manufacturing-countries-in-the-world-2023/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304232728/https://globalupside.com/top-10-manufacturing-countries-in-the-world/ |archive-date=March 4, 2022 |access-date=March 14, 2022}}</ref>

UNIDO also publishes a Competitive Industrial Performance (CIP) Index, which measures the competitive manufacturing ability of different nations. The CIP Index combines a nation's gross manufacturing output with other factors like high-tech capability and the nation's impact on the world economy. Germany topped the 2020 CIP Index, followed by China, [[Manufacturing in South Korea|South Korea]], the United States, and Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNIDO's Competitive Industrial Performance Index 2020: Country Profiles |url=https://www.unido.org/news/unidos-competitive-industrial-performance-index-2020-country-profiles-published |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406093836/https://www.unido.org/news/unidos-competitive-industrial-performance-index-2020-country-profiles-published |archive-date=April 6, 2022 |access-date=June 21, 2022 |website=unido.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Competitive Industrial Performance Index 2020: Country Profiles ( Report) |url=https://stat.unido.org/content/publications/competitive-industrial-performance-index-2020%253a-country-profiles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110161808/https://stat.unido.org/content/publications/competitive-industrial-performance-index-2020%253a-country-profiles |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |access-date=June 21, 2022 |website=stat.unido.org}}</ref>

In 2023, the manufacturing industry in the United States accounted for 10.70% of the total national output, employing 8.41% of the workforce. The total value of manufacturing output reached $2.5 trillion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2022 United States Manufacturing Facts |url=https://nam.org/state-manufacturing-data/2022-united-states-manufacturing-facts/?form=MG0AV3 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=NAM |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=All Employees, Manufacturing/All Employees, Total Nonfarm*100 {{!}} FRED {{!}} St. Louis Fed |url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_id=347814&rn=3405 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=fred.stlouisfed.org}}</ref> In 2023, Germany's manufacturing output reached $844.93 billion, marking a 12.25% increase from 2022. The sector employed approximately 5.5 million people, accounting for around 20.8% of the workforce.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Employment in manufacturing in January 2023: +1.5% year on year |url=https://www.destatis.de/EN/Press/2023/03/PE23_107_421.html?form=MG0AV3 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=}}</ref>

=== List of countries by manufacturing output ===
These are the top 50 countries by total value of manufacturing output in U.S. dollars for its noted year according to [[World Bank Group|World Bank]]:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manufacturing, Value Added (Current US$) |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.MANF.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107135049/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.MANF.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true |archive-date=January 7, 2020 |access-date=July 14, 2021 |publisher=[[World Bank]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Top 10 Manufacturing Countries in 2024 |url=https://www.safeguardglobal.com/resources/blog/top-10-manufacturing-countries-in-the-world/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=Safeguard Global |date=January 3, 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ {{sronly|List of countries by manufacturing output}}
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Country or region
! scope="col" | Value<br>(millions of US$)
! scope="col" | %<br>of the world
! scope="col" | Year
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:#ff0000
|−||{{noflag}}''[[Gross world product|World]]''||16,641,200||100%||2024
|-
|1||{{flag|China}}||4,661,441||28.0%||2024
|-
|−||''{{flag|European Union}}''||4,289,130||26.7%||2024
|-
|2||{{flag|United States}}||2,497,132||15.0%||2021
|-
|3||{{flag|Japan}}||867,114||5.06%||2023
|-
|4||{{flag|Germany}}||843,721||4.93%||2024
|-
|5||{{flag|South Korea}}||499,190||2.99%||2024
|-
|6||{{flag|India}}||492,981||2.91%||2024
|-
|7||{{flag|Mexico}}||367,593||2.16%||2024
|-
|8||{{flag|Italy}}||352,923||2.11%||2024
|-
|9||{{flag|France}}||342,343||1.81%||2024
|-
|10||{{flag|United Kingdom}}||324,331||1.78%||2024
|-
|11||{{flag|Canada}}||288,112||1.71%||2021
|-
|12||{{flag|Brazil}}||269,825||1.60%||2024
|-
|13||{{flag|Indonesia}}||265,073||1.58%||2024
|-
|14||{{flag|Turkey}}||218,580||1.30%||2023
|-
|15||{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}||192,669||1.14%||2024
|-
|16||{{flag|Russia}}||187,161||1.11%||2021
|-
|17||{{flag|Spain}}||184,495||1.09%||2024
|-
|18||{{flag|Switzerland}}||165,689||0.98%||2024
|-
|19||{{flag|Ireland}}||157,117||0.93%||2024
|-
|20||{{flag|Poland}}||140,903||0.83%||2024
|-
|21||{{flag|Netherlands}}||128,213||0.76%||2024
|-
|22||{{flag|Thailand}}||128,038||0.76%||2024
|-
|23||{{flag|Vietnam}}||116,383||0.69%||2024
|-
|24||{{flag|Bangladesh}}||98,544||0.58%||2024
|-
|25||{{flag|Australia}}||96,227||0.57%||2024
|-
|26||{{flag|Argentina}}||95,540||0.57%||2024
|-
|27||{{flag|Malaysia}}||94,928||0.56%||2024
|-
|28||{{flag|Singapore}}||89,403||0.53%||2024
|-
|29||{{flag|Sweden}}||84,145||0.50%||2024
|-
|30||{{flag|Austria}}||80,140||0.48%||2024
|-
|31||{{flag|Iran}}||78,543||0.46%||2023
|-
|32||{{flag|Philippines}}||72,368||0.43%||2024
|-
|33||{{flag|Denmark}}||72,218||0.43%||2024
|-
|34||{{flag|Belgium}}||70,932||0.42%||2024
|-
|35||{{flag|Czech Republic}}||69,130||0,41%||2024
|-
|36||{{flag|Israel}}||60,139||0.36%||2024
|-
|37||{{flag|Venezuela}}||58,236||0.34%||2014
|-
|38||{{flag|United Arab Emirates}}||55,761||0.33%||2023
|-
|39||{{flag|Puerto Rico}} ([[United States|US]])||55,632||0.33%||2024
|-
|40||{{flag|Egypt}}||54,053||0.32%||2024
|-
|41||{{flag|South Africa}}||51,224||0.30%||2024
|-
|42||{{flag|Pakistan}}||48,912||0.29%||2024
|-
|43||{{flag|Romania}}||43,687||0.26%||2024
|-
|44||{{flag|Colombia}}||42,279||0.25%||2024
|-
|45||{{flag|Finland}}||41,543||0.24%||2024
|-
|46||{{flag|Portugal}}||35,597||0.21%||2023
|-
|47||{{flag|Peru}}||35,587||0.21%||2023
|-
|48||{{flag|Hungary}}||35,238||0.21%||2023
|-
|49||{{flag|Kazakhstan}}||34,482||0.20%||2023
|-
|50||{{flag|Norway}}||29,936||0.17%||2024
|-
|}

==See also==
{{portal|Business|Manufacturing}}
* [[Discrete manufacturing]]
* [[Outline of manufacturing]]
* [[Process manufacturing]]
* [[3D printing]]
* [[Urban manufacturing]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last1=Kalpakjian |first1=Serope |title=Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology |last2=Steven Schmid |date= 2005 |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |isbn=978-0-13-148965-3 |pages=22–36, 951–988}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Commons category|Manufacturing}}
{{Wikiquote}}
<!-- NOTE: Please do not insert a link to a website unless it has useful information for learning about manufacturing. Links to manufacturers and suppliers would be useful for those who work in the manufacturing industry, not encyclopedia readers. Also, the site should be reliable and you should not have any connection to it. Inappropriate links will be removed. -->
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Manufactures|short=x}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121223115538/http://www.eef.org.uk/default.htm EEF, the manufacturers' organisation – industry group representing uk manufacturers ]
* [https://www.nist.gov/el/msid/infotest/digital-thread-manufacturing.cfm Enabling the Digital Thread for Smart Manufacturing]
* [https://www.metalworkingsuppliers.com/mw/manufacturing-history/, Evidences of Metal Manufacturing History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501134215/https://www.metalworkingsuppliers.com/mw/manufacturing-history/, |date=May 1, 2021 }}
* [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160517091852/http://www.internationalbusinessreport.com/files/ibr2008_manufacturing_lo.pdf Grant Thornton IBR 2008 Manufacturing industry focus]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181119095041/http://manufacturing.stanford.edu/ How Everyday Things Are Made]: video presentations
* [https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/manuf/default.html Manufacturing Sector] of the [[National Occupational Research Agenda]], US, 2018.

{{Industries|state=expanded}}
{{Human impact on the environment|state=expanded}}
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[[Category:Manufacturing| ]]
[[Category:Production (economics)]]