The location of a factory has to be thought out carefully before a site is finally chosen. These often depend on human and physical factors which include:

Physical Factors

Site and Land: The availability and cost of land is important. Large factories in particular require large areas of cheap flat land. Most industries also try to find areas where there is room to expand once production has become successful.

Raw materials: Factories that require heavy and bulky raw materials such as for example iron and steel which are heavy and bulky and so expensive to transport very often locate as close to these raw materials as possible.

Power – energy: This is needed to work the machines in factories. Early industries were located near fast flowing streams or coalfields. Both sources of energy restricted where industries could locate, as they had to be beside a suitable river or near the coal field. Today, electricity can be transmitted to most locations through the National Grid and so power does not really influence location a great deal.

Natural routes and harbours: The site chosen for a new factory needs to be accessible to facilitate the importation of raw materials and exportation of finished goods. Early industries had to have good access to raw materials through natural routes like rivers to make movement of goods easier. Natural route ways are still important today as many modern roads and railways still follow natural route ways. Natural harbours provide good locations and many factories are located near ports.

Human and Economic factors

Labour: In order to operate factors depend on the supply of labour. Some factories require low-skilled labour and others used highly skilled, specialist workers. Early industries located in the inner cities, so that there was a huge pool of potential workers close by. The largest number of workers live in or near towns. Therefore, factories locate near to towns and cities, often in industrial estates, to be close to workers. Factories owners like to keep the cost of their labour (wages and salaries) as low as possible. Therefore they might locate in a country where wages are low. However, if a factory needs highly skilled workers, the factory might change location to access the skilled labour they need. In fact many of the quaternary industries in the UK are found near the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge, as they wants to attract skilled, knowledgeable graduates for their industry.

Capital: For industries to construct factories and build offices, research and develop new products they need access to money. Money may be available from banks and the government in certain areas.

Markets: For any factory to survive, they need customers. Therefore it is important to locate near their potential customers. Factories often locate close to their market so that the cost of transporting the finished product is reduced. For most factories, this means locating near a town or city. If the factory is exporting its finished product, it may locate near a port or airport so as to access foreign markets easier.

Transport: it is important to be close to good roads and rail links so that industries can receive supplies and distribute goods. Factories need good, quick and efficient transport network to reduce costs. So accessibility to airports, ports, motorways and key railway terminals may be crucial factors for some industries. Factories can choose which transport routes to locate near depending on their raw materials and on what they manufacture. Heavy industry often locates near a sea port where there is plenty of land to store raw materials delivered by ship. Light industry may locate near a motorway or an airport for quicker transport.

Government Policies: Governments can greatly influence the location of industry, by giving tax incentives, cheap rent and other benefits to companies locating in certain areas of the country. Often these are places, which the government wants to develop economically. This helps bring employment to these locations. The government policy also provided industrial estates just outside towns where factories could locate. Some government policies restrict or stop factories from locating in certain places. For example, a chemical factory would not get planning permission to locate in a housing estate.

Environment: To attract any workers it is important to have pleasant surroundings with good leisure facilities.

The following two short video clips will list the factors which are considered important before an industrial site is finally chosen.

Over the past two hundred years, industry has changed remarkably. During the Industrial Revolution factories were located near coalfields or near the coast. Many of the older industries such as coalmines, shipyards and steelworks have closed down. These industries have been replaced by modern industries many of which are hi-tech and associated to electronics. These industries do not need to be near a source of raw materials and have a wider choice of location. These new industries can locate virtually anywhere so long they have suitable transport, energy and communication links. They also seek an attractive environment and some prefer to locate close to universities where the necessary skilled workers are likely to be available. These are known as footloose industries.

• Describe some physical, human and economic factors which affect the location of industry.
• What is a footloose industry?
• Which of the following is an example of a footloose industry? Tick the correct answer.
– Cement factory
– Iron and steelworks
– Computer manufacture
– Shipbuilding