123-620: Employment Manufacturing is a vital economic sector in the United States of America . The United States is the world's second-largest manufacturer after the People's Republic of China with a record high real output in 2021 of $ 2.5 trillion. As of December 2016, the U.S. manufacturing industry employed 12.35 million people. A year later, in December 2017, U.S. manufacturing employment grew by 207,000, or 1.7%, employees. Though still
246-481: 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, South Korea , the United States, and Japan. In 2023, the manufacturing industry in
369-652: A U.S. patent in 1938 on their method of securing trailers to a flatcars using chains and turnbuckles. Other components included wheel chocks and ramps for loading and unloading the trailers from the flatcars. By 1953, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy , the Chicago and Eastern Illinois , and the Southern Pacific railroads had joined the innovation. Most of the rail cars used were surplus flatcars equipped with new decks. By 1955, an additional 25 railroads had begun some form of piggyback trailer service. During WWII,
492-565: A capacity of 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) in 890 cubic feet (25 m ), and a second measured 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m) by 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m) by 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m), with a capacity of 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg) in 1,000 cubic feet (28 m ). In November 1932, in Enola, PA , the first container terminal in the world was opened by the Pennsylvania Railroad . The Fitch hooking system
615-481: A capacity of 5,500 kg (12,100 lb), and up to 3.1 by 2.3 by 2 metres (10 ft 2 in × 7 ft 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 in × 6 ft 6 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) size. This became the first post World War II European railway standard UIC 590, known as "pa-Behälter." It was implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark. With
738-674: A college education, particularly for men. The jobs paid well enough so that women did not have to work when they had young children. Unions were strong and owners did not want to risk strikes in their factories due to large capital investments and significant on the job training. Such jobs are much less available in the post-2001 era in the U.S. though they remain available in Germany, Switzerland and Japan, leading to calls to bring those jobs back from overseas, establish protectionism, and reduce immigration. Making it illegal for companies to purchase shares of their own stock has not yet gained traction as
861-669: A decline of about 5.7 million or about one-third even as the U.S.population ballooned from 220 million to 330 million in the same time frame. An estimated 1–2 million of the job losses in manufacturing 1999–2011 were due to competition with China (the China shock ), which entered the World Trade Organization in December 2001. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that the trade deficit with China cost about 2.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2011, including manufacturing and other industries. While U.S. manufacturing employment
984-447: A dedicated double-stack container train service between Los Angeles and Chicago, transport volumes increased rapidly. Containerization greatly reduced the expense of international trade and increased its speed, especially of consumer goods and commodities. It also dramatically changed the character of port cities worldwide. Prior to highly mechanized container transfers, crews of 20 to 22 longshoremen would pack individual cargoes into
1107-566: A large part of the US economy, in Q1 2018 manufacturing contributed less to GDP than the 'Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing' sector, the 'Government' sector, or 'Professional and business services' sector. Manufacturing output recovered from the Great Recession , reaching an all-time high in 2021, but manufacturing employment has been declining since the 1990s, giving rise to what
1230-616: A leased share of the global ocean container fleet reaching 54% by 2020. In 2021, the average time to unload a container in Asia was 27 seconds, the average time in Northern Europe was 46 seconds, and the average time in North America was 76 seconds. There are five common standard lengths: US domestic standard containers are generally 48 ft (14.63 m) and 53 ft (16.15 m) (rail and truck). Container capacity
1353-475: A lengthy and complex series of compromises among international shipping companies, European railroads, US railroads, and US trucking companies. Everyone had to sacrifice something. For example, to McLean's frustration, Sea-Land's 35-foot container was not adopted as one of the standard container sizes. In the end, four important ISO ( International Organization for Standardization ) recommendations standardized containerization globally: Based on these standards,
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#17327803265281476-560: A long-term downward trend. The U.S. manufacturing industry employed 12.4 million people in March 2017, generating output (nominal GDP) of $ 2.2 trillion in Q3 2016, with real GDP of $ 1.9 trillion in 2009 dollars. The share of persons employed in manufacturing relative to total employment has steadily declined since the 1960s. Employment growth in industries such as construction , finance , insurance and real estate , and services industries played
1599-443: A popular way to ship private cars and other vehicles overseas using 20- or 40-foot containers. Unlike roll-on/roll-off vehicle shipping, personal effects can be loaded into the container with the vehicle, allowing easy international relocation. In July, 2020, The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), a non-profit group established to further digitalisation of container shipping technology standards, published standards for
1722-542: A refitted tanker ship, the SS ; Ideal X , and sailed them from Newark, New Jersey to Houston, Texas . Independently of the events in Canada, McLean had the idea of using large containers that never opened in transit and that were transferable on an intermodal basis, among trucks, ships, and railroad cars. McLean had initially favored the construction of "trailerships"—taking trailers from large trucks and stowing them in
1845-458: A remedy for the diversion of operating profits away from reinvestment in equipment and people. Manufacturing continues to evolve, due to factors such as information technology, supply chain innovations such as containerization , companies un-bundling tasks that used to be in one location or business, reduced barriers to trade, and competition from low-cost developing countries such as China and Mexico. Competition from high wage nations such as Germany
1968-575: A result, they make only a reactive contribution. Emerging technologies have offered new growth methods in advanced manufacturing employment opportunities, for example in the Manufacturing Belt in the United States. Manufacturing provides important material support for national infrastructure and also for 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
2091-407: A series of potential policy responses including insights into how the industry is changing, and unemployment. There are several possible explanations for the decline. Bill Lazonick argues that legalization of companies buying their own shares of stock in 1982 has led to sustained stock market bubbles that distorted investment away from physical plant. Others point to automation or developments outside
2214-432: A ship's cargo hold. This method of stowage, referred to as roll-on/roll-off , was not adopted because of the large waste in potential cargo space on board the vessel, known as broken stowage . Instead, McLean modified his original concept into loading just the containers, not the chassis, onto the ship; hence the designation "container ship" or "box" ship. (See also pantechnicon van and trolley and lift van .) During
2337-482: A significant role in reducing manufacturing 's overall share of U.S. employment. In 1990, services surpassed manufacturing as the largest contributor to overall private industry production, and then the finance, insurance and real estate sector surpassed manufacturing in 1991. Since the entry of China into the World Trade Organization in December 2001, the decline in manufacturing jobs has accelerated. The U.S. goods trade deficit (imports greater than exports) with China
2460-543: A smaller, half-size unit of 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) long, 4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) wide and 6 ft 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (2.10 m) high. CONEXes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements. The first major shipment of CONEXes, containing engineering supplies and spare parts, was made by rail from the Columbus General Depot in Georgia to
2583-448: A stone tool, a " 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 choppers or scrapers . 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. The Middle Paleolithic , approximately 300,000 years ago, saw
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#17327803265282706-402: A vehicle from the factory and taken to a port warehouse where they would be offloaded and stored awaiting the next vessel. When the vessel arrived, they would be moved to the side of the ship along with other cargo to be lowered or carried into the hold and packed by dock workers. The ship might call at several other ports before off-loading a given consignment of cargo. Each port visit would delay
2829-728: Is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers , or ISO containers ). Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading , is the process of unitization of cargoes in exports. Containerization is the predominant form of unitization of export cargoes today, as opposed to other systems such as the barge system or palletization. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another— container ships , rail transport flatcars , and semi-trailer trucks —without being opened. The handling system
2952-707: Is also increasing. Between 1980 and 1985, U.S. manufacturing was impacted negatively as Japanese productivity rose at a rapid rate, leading to a fall of 12% in Japanese products, and the increase in U.S. interest rates that led to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. This was the opposite policy from that which a rise in Japanese productivity would have dictated, and the US policy action made Japanese products 30% cheaper than American until 1986. The US machine tool sector never recovered from this body blow. Between 1983 and 2005, U.S. exports grew by 340%, with exports of manufactured goods increasing by 407% over this period. In 1983,
3075-438: Is an important benefit of containerization. Once the cargo is loaded into a container, it is not touched again until it reaches its destination. The cargo is not visible to casual viewers, and thus is less likely to be stolen. Container doors are usually sealed so that tampering is more evident. Some containers are fitted with electronic monitoring devices and can be remotely monitored for changes in air pressure, which happens when
3198-502: Is believed to have originated when the technology of pottery kiln allowed sufficiently high temperatures. The concentration of various elements such as arsenic increase 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. Bronze is an alloy of copper with tin; the latter of which being found in relatively few deposits globally delayed true tin bronze becoming widespread. During
3321-414: Is conducted among globally distributed supply chains, with various stages of production conducted in different countries. For example, automotive parts may be manufactured in the U.S., shipped to Mexico for assembly, then sent back to the U.S. In some cases, the components of the final product cross the border multiple times. An estimated 40% of the value of U.S. imports from Mexico is from content produced in
3444-484: Is conventionally defined by the widespread manufacturing of weapons and tools using iron and steel rather than bronze. 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. During
3567-440: Is down, output was near a record level in 2017 in real GDP terms, indicating productivity (output per worker) has also improved significantly. This is likely due to automation , global supply chains, process improvements, and other technology changes. Economist Paul Krugman argued in December 2016 that "America's shift away from manufacturing doesn't have much to do with trade, and even less to do with trade policy." He also cited
3690-466: Is estimated that 1/3 of U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished in the eight years between 2001 and 2009, and few have returned, the worst period for U.S. manufacturing since the Great Depression . Since 1979, the number of U.S. manufacturing employment has been declining, especially the sharp decline in 2001 and 2007. The way in which employment in the U.S. manufacturing industry has fallen provides
3813-451: Is known as a "jobless recovery," which made job creation or preservation in the manufacturing sector an important topic in the 2016 United States presidential election . Manufacturing jobs helped build out the U.S. middle class following World War II , as the U.S. established pro-labor policies and faced limited global competition. Between 1980 and 1985, and then again 2001 to 2009, there were precipitous declines in US manufacturing jobs; it
Manufacturing in the United States - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-611: Is likely derived from the Middle French manufacture ("process of making") which itself originates from the Classical Latin manū ("hand") and Middle French facture ("making"). Alternatively, the English word may have been independently formed from the earlier English manufacture ("made by human hands") and fracture . Its earliest usage in the English language was recorded in the mid-16th century to refer to
4059-510: Is listed separately), and only 34,299,572 in the United States. In 2005, some 18 million containers made over 200 million trips per year. Some ships can carry over 14,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), such as the Emma Mærsk , 396 m (1,299 ft) long, launched in August 2006. It has been predicted that, at some point, container ships will be constrained in size only by
4182-495: Is mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems. Containerization originated several centuries ago but was not well developed or widely applied until after World War II , when it dramatically reduced the costs of transport, supported the post-war boom in international trade , and was a major element in globalization . Containerization eliminated manual sorting of most shipments and
4305-542: Is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu ). An equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard 20 ft (6.10 m) (length) × 8 ft (2.44 m) (width) container. As this is an approximate measure, the height of the box is not considered. For instance, the 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) high cube and the 4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) half height 20 ft (6.10 m) containers are also called one TEU. 48' containers have been phased out over
4428-561: The Australian Army used containers to more easily deal with various breaks of gauge in the railroads. These non-stackable containers were about the size of the later 20-foot ISO container and perhaps made mainly of wood. During the same time, the United States Army started to combine items of uniform size, lashing them onto a pallet, unitizing cargo to speed the loading and unloading of transport ships. In 1947
4551-499: 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. The Iron Age
4674-575: The Little Eaton Gangway , upon which coal was carried in wagons built at his Butterley Ironwork. The horse-drawn wheeled wagons on the gangway took the form of containers, which, loaded with coal, could be transshipped from canal barges on the Derby Canal , which Outram had also promoted. By the 1830s, railroads were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway in
4797-733: The Port of San Francisco , then by ship to Yokohama, Japan, and then to Korea, in late 1952. Transit times were almost halved. By the time of the Vietnam War the majority of supplies and materials were shipped by CONEX. By 1965 the U.S. military used some 100,000 Conex boxes, and more than 200,000 in 1967. making this the first worldwide application of intermodal containers. After the US Department of Defense standardized an 8-by-8-foot (2.44 by 2.44 m) cross section container in multiples of 10-foot (3.05 m) lengths for military use, it
4920-532: The Transportation Corps developed the Transporter , a rigid, corrugated steel container with a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) carrying capacity, for shipping household goods of officers in the field. It was 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) long, 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), and 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) high, with double doors on one end, mounted on skids, and had lifting rings on
5043-829: The White Pass and Yukon Corporation . Her first trip carried 600 containers between North Vancouver, British Columbia, and Skagway, Alaska, on November 26, 1955. In Skagway, the containers were unloaded to purpose-built railroad cars for transport north to Yukon, in the first intermodal service using trucks, ships, and railroad cars. Southbound containers were loaded by shippers in Yukon and moved by rail, ship, and truck to their consignees without opening. This first intermodal system operated from November 1955 until 1982. The first truly successful container shipping company dates to April 26, 1956, when American trucking entrepreneur McLean put 58 trailer vans later called containers, aboard
Manufacturing in the United States - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-510: The tertiary industry to end users and consumers (usually through wholesalers, who in turn sell to retailers, who then sell them to individual customers). 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 the product design , and materials specification . These materials are then modified through manufacturing to become
5289-422: The 1830s. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam power and water power , the development of machine tools and the rise of the mechanized factory system . The Industrial Revolution also led to an unprecedented rise in the rate of population growth. Textiles were the dominant industry of
5412-478: 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. 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
5535-494: The 1960s, ICC approval was required before any shipper could carry different items in the same vehicle or change rates. The fully integrated systems in the US today became possible only after the ICC's regulatory oversight was cut back (and abolished in 1995). Trucking and rail were deregulated in the 1970s and maritime rates were deregulated in 1984. Double-stacked rail transport , where containers are stacked two high on railway cars,
5658-487: The 1980s, despite large job losses in the manufacturing sector during that same period. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecast in October 2017 that manufacturing employment would fall from 12.3 million in 2016 to 11.6 million in 2026, a decline of 736,000 employees over a decade. As a share of employment, manufacturing was estimated to fall from 7.9% of the total U.S. economy in 2016 to 6.9% of it in 2026, continuing
5781-536: The 8th century. Papermaking technology was spread to Europe by the Umayyad conquest of Hispania . 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. Due to
5904-661: The American and then the international standard for corner fittings for shipping containers. This began international standardization of shipping containers. The first vessels purpose-built to carry containers had begun operation in 1926 for the regular connection of the luxury passenger train between London and Paris, the Golden Arrow / Fleche d'Or . Four containers were used for the conveyance of passengers' baggage. These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to
6027-638: 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. 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. A total of 3.2 million – one in six U.S. manufacturing jobs – have disappeared between 2000 and 2007. In
6150-902: The European Union) with a record high real output in Q1 2018 of $ 2.00 trillion (i.e., adjusted for inflation in 2009 Dollars) about one percent above the 2007 peak before the Great Recession of $ 1.95 trillion. The U.S. manufacturing industry employed 12.35 million people in December 2016 and 12.56 million in December 2017, an increase of 207,000 or 1.7%. Historically, manufacturing has provided relatively well-paid blue-collar jobs, although this has been affected by globalization and automation. Manufacturing continues to evolve, due to factors such as information technology, supply chain innovations such as containerization , companies un-bundling tasks that used to be in one location or business, reduced barriers to trade, and competition from low-cost developing countries such as China and Mexico. Manufacturing
6273-559: The Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output and capital invested. The textile industry was also the first to use modern production methods. Rapid industrialization first began in Britain, starting with mechanized spinning in the 1780s, with high rates of growth in steam power and iron production occurring after 1800. Mechanized textile production spread from Great Britain to continental Europe and
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#17327803265286396-731: The International Chamber of Commerce in Paris in Venice on September 30, 1931, on one of the platforms of the Maritime Station (Mole di Ponente), practical tests assessed the best construction for European containers as part of an international competition. In 1931, in the U.S., B. F. Fitch designed the two largest and heaviest containers in existence. One measured 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m) by 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m) by 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m) with
6519-621: The Mediterranean basin. Early construction techniques used by the Ancient Egyptians made use of bricks composed mainly of clay, sand, silt, and other minerals. 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
6642-493: The Southern US than other areas, but he did not anticipate that containerization might make it cheaper to import such goods from abroad. Most economic studies of containerization merely assumed that shipping companies would begin to replace older forms of transportation with containerization, but did not predict that the process of containerization itself would have a more direct influence on the choice of producers and increase
6765-827: The U.S., the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway carried motor carrier vehicles and shippers' vehicles loaded on flatcars between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. Beginning in 1929, Seatrain Lines carried railroad boxcars on its sea vessels to transport goods between New York and Cuba. In the mid-1930s, the Chicago Great Western Railway and then the New Haven Railroad began " piggyback " service (transporting highway freight trailers on flatcars) limited to their own railroads. The Chicago Great Western Railway filed
6888-1012: The U.S.; this figure is 25% for Canada but only 4% for China. This "production sharing" is an indication of the integrated nature of the supply chains between the U.S., Mexico and Canada in the NAFTA region. During 2016, the U.S. exported $ 1,051 billion in manufactured goods and imported $ 1,920 billion, a manufacturing goods deficit of $ 868 billion. The largest exports were transportation equipment ($ 252B), Chemicals ($ 174B), Computers and Electronic Products ($ 116B) and "Machinery-Except Electrical" ($ 109B). As of 2019, durable and nondurable goods manufacturing account for $ 3.1t and $ 3t of gross output of GDP, respectively. However, 2023 research from McKinsey states that GDP numbers don't accurately capture manufacturing's economic impact. In its findings, while manufacturing accounted for 11 percent of US GDP and 8 percent of direct employment, it drove 20 percent of capital investment, 30 percent of productivity growth, 60 percent of
7011-850: The UK and "CIWL Pullman Golden Arrow Fourgon of CIWL" in France. At the Second World Motor Transport Congress in Rome, September 1928, Italian senator Silvio Crespi proposed the use of containers for road and railway transport systems, using collaboration rather than competition. This would be done under the auspices of an international organ similar to the Sleeping Car Company, which provided international carriage of passengers in sleeping wagons. In 1928 Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) started regular container service in
7134-491: The UK was one of these, making use of "simple rectangular timber boxes" to convey coal from Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where a crane transferred them to horse-drawn carriages. Originally used for moving coal on and off barges, "loose boxes" were used to containerize coal from the late 1780s, at places like the Bridgewater Canal . By the 1840s, iron boxes were in use as well as wooden ones. The early 1900s saw
7257-590: 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. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), China is the top manufacturer worldwide by 2023 output, producing 28.7% of the total global manufacturing output, followed by the United States of America , Germany , Japan , and India . UNIDO also publishes
7380-420: The UK, the Port of London and Port of Liverpool declined in importance. Meanwhile, Britain's Port of Felixstowe and Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands emerged as major ports. In general, containerization caused inland ports on waterways incapable of receiving deep- draft ship traffic to decline in favor of seaports , which then built vast container terminals next to deep oceanfront harbors in lieu of
7503-518: The United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Brazil , the Netherlands, and Singapore . With the exception of the Netherlands, exports to all of these countries increased in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same quarter in 2009. Notably, exports to Canada increased by 22 percent, Mexico by 28 percent, and China by 47 percent over this period. Exports to the two NAFTA partners accounted for nearly one-third (32%) of U.S. merchandise trade in
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#17327803265287626-551: 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. 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. These are the top 50 countries by total value of manufacturing output in U.S. dollars for its noted year according to World Bank : Containerization Containerization
7749-474: The United States in the early 19th century, with important centres of textiles, iron and coal emerging in Belgium and the United States and later textiles in France. 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
7872-411: The United States, such as the rise of China, globalized free trade, and supply chain innovation. These have arguably resulted in the off-shoring of thousands of U.S. manufacturing facilities and millions of manufacturing jobs to lower-wage countries. Meanwhile, technological innovation has increased productivity significantly, meaning that manufacturing output in the United States has increased by 80% since
7995-577: The adoption of closed container boxes designed for movement between road and rail. On 17 May 1917, Louisville, Kentucky native Benjamin Franklin "B. F." Fitch (1877–1956) launched commercial use of "demountable bodies" in Cincinnati, Ohio , which he had designed as transferable containers. In 1919, his system was extended to over 200 containers serving 21 railway stations with 14 freight trucks. In 1919, Stanisław Rodowicz, an engineer , developed
8118-496: The aim of selecting the best solution for Western Europe. Present were representatives from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy and the United States. The system chosen for Western Europe was based on the Netherlands' system for consumer goods and waste transportation called Laadkisten (literally, "loading bins"), in use since 1934. This system used roller containers that were moved by rail, truck and ship, in various configurations up to
8241-445: 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 laws. Across
8364-520: 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. The stocking frame , which was invented in 1598, increased a knitter's number of knots per minute from 100 to 1000. The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States from 1760 to
8487-568: The concept of "focus", 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. 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". The theory of "trade offs" has subsequently being debated and questioned, but Skinner wrote in 1992 that at that time "enthusiasm for
8610-451: The concepts of 'manufacturing strategy' [had] been higher", noting that in academic papers , executive courses and case studies , levels of interest were "bursting out all over". Manufacturing writer Terry Hill has commented that manufacturing is often seen as a less "strategic" business activity than functions such as marketing and finance , and that manufacturing managers have "come late" to business strategy-making discussions, where, as
8733-534: The container revolution. On January 29, 1963, McLean's company SeaLand released its patent rights, so that Tantlinger's inventions could become "the basis for a standard corner fitting and twist lock". Tantlinger was deeply involved in the debates and negotiations which in back-to-back votes in September 1965 (on September 16 and 24, respectively) led to the adoption of a modified version of the Sea-Land design as
8856-467: The country's exports, and garnered 70 percent of business research and development funding. The Congressional Research Service reported in January 2017 that: Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor , machines , tools , and chemical or biological processing or formulation . It is the essence of the secondary sector of
8979-670: The delivery of other cargo. Delivered cargo might then have been offloaded into another warehouse before being picked up and delivered to its destination. Multiple handling and delays made transport costly, time-consuming and unreliable. Containerization has its origins in early coal mining regions in England beginning in the late 18th century. In 1766 James Brindley designed the box boat 'Starvationer' with ten wooden containers, to transport coal from Worsley Delph (quarry) to Manchester by Bridgewater Canal . In 1795, Benjamin Outram opened
9102-768: The depth of the Straits of Malacca , one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, linking the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This so-called Malaccamax size constrains a ship to dimensions of 470 m (1,542 ft) in length and 60 m (197 ft) wide. Few foresaw the extent of the influence of containerization on the shipping industry . In the 1950s, Harvard University economist Benjamin Chinitz predicted that containerization would benefit New York by allowing it to ship its industrial goods more cheaply to
9225-399: The desired product. Contemporary manufacturing encompasses all intermediary stages involved in producing and integrating components of a product. Some industries, such as semiconductor and steel manufacturers, use the term fabrication instead. The manufacturing sector is closely connected with the engineering and industrial design industries. The Modern English word manufacture
9348-512: The digital exchange of operational vessel schedules (OVS). Contrary to ocean shipping containers owned by the shippers, a persisting trend in the industry is for (new) units to be purchased by leasing companies. Leasing business accounted for 55% of new container purchases in 2017, with their box fleet growing at 6.7%, compared to units of transport operators growing by just 2.4% more TEU, said global shipping consultancy Drewry in their 'Container Census & Leasing and Equipment Insight', leading to
9471-433: The dockfront warehouses and finger piers that had formerly handled break bulk cargo. With intermodal containers, the jobs of packing, unpacking, and sorting cargoes could be performed far from the point of embarkation. Such work shifted to so-called " dry ports " and gigantic warehouses in rural inland towns, where land and labor were much cheaper than in oceanfront cities. This fundamental transformation of where warehouse work
9594-840: The doors are opened. This reduced thefts that had long plagued the shipping industry. Recent developments have focused on the use of intelligent logistics optimization to further enhance security. The use of the same basic sizes of containers across the globe has lessened the problems caused by incompatible rail gauge sizes. The majority of the rail networks in the world operate on a 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge track known as standard gauge , but some countries (such as Russia, India, Finland, and Lithuania) use broader gauges , while others in Africa and South America use narrower gauges . The use of container trains in all these countries makes transshipment between trains of different gauges easier. Containers have become
9717-470: The economy . The term may refer to a range of human activity , from handicraft to high-tech , but it is most commonly applied to industrial design , in which raw materials from the primary sector are transformed into finished goods on a large scale. Such goods may be sold to other manufacturers for the production of other more complex products (such as aircraft, household appliances , furniture, sports equipment or automobiles ), or distributed via
9840-597: The first TEU container ship was the Japanese Hakone Maru [ de ; jp ] from shipowner NYK, which started sailing in 1968 and could carry 752 TEU containers. In the US, containerization and other advances in shipping were impeded by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which was created in 1887 to keep railroads from using monopolist pricing and rate discrimination, but fell victim to regulatory capture . By
9963-503: The first 20 years of containerization, many container sizes and corner fittings were used. There were dozens of incompatible container systems in the US alone. Among the biggest operators, the Matson Navigation Company had a fleet of 24-foot (7.32 m) containers, while Sea-Land Service, Inc used 35-foot (10.67 m) containers. The standard sizes and fitting and reinforcement norms that now exist evolved out of
10086-662: The first draft of the container system in Poland . In 1920, he built a prototype of the biaxial wagon. The Polish-Bolshevik War stopped development of the container system in Poland. The U.S. Post Office contracted with the New York Central Railroad to move mail via containers in May 1921. In 1930, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad began shipping containers between Chicago and Milwaukee. Their efforts ended in
10209-417: The first quarter of 2009, with manufactured goods exports increasing by 20 percent. As in 2009, the highest export commodities were transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, chemicals, machinery (except electrical), agricultural products, and miscellaneous manufactured commodities. In the first quarter of 2010, the primary markets for U.S. merchandise exports were Canada, Mexico, China, Japan,
10332-480: The first quarter of 2010. The panel chart in this section includes four diagrams describing manufacturing labor, output, and productivity historical trends through 2016: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected in October 2017 that: U.S. manufacturing employment has declined steadily as a share of total employment, from around 28% in 1960 to 8% in March 2017. Manufacturing employment has fallen from 17.2 million persons in December 2000 to 12.4 million in March 2017,
10455-481: The globe, manufacturers can be subject to regulations and pollution taxes to offset the 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
10578-613: 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. 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. Egyptian paper made from papyrus , as well as pottery , were mass-produced and exported throughout
10701-407: The hold of a ship. After containerization, large crews of longshoremen were not necessary at port facilities, and the profession changed drastically. Meanwhile, the port facilities needed to support containerization changed. One effect was the decline of some ports and the rise of others. At the Port of San Francisco , the former piers used for loading and unloading were no longer required, but there
10824-602: 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 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
10947-407: The industry in the United States and other countries. According to a "traditional" view of manufacturing strategy, there are five key dimensions along which the performance of manufacturing can be assessed: cost, quality , dependability , flexibility and innovation . In regard to manufacturing performance, Wickham Skinner , who has been called "the father of manufacturing strategy ", adopted
11070-802: The introduction of the prepared-core technique , where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone. Pressure flaking , in which a wood, bone, or antler punch could be used to shape a stone very finely was developed during the Upper Paleolithic , beginning approximately 40,000 years ago. During the Neolithic period, polished stone tools were manufactured from a variety of hard rocks such as flint , jade , jadeite , and greenstone . The polished axes were used alongside other stone tools including projectiles , knives, and scrapers, as well as tools manufactured from organic materials such as wood, bone, and antler. Copper smelting
11193-405: The large-scale manufacture of machine tools and the use of increasingly advanced machinery in steam-powered factories. Building on improvements in vacuum pumps and materials research, incandescent light bulbs 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. Shoe production
11316-555: The leading export commodity, which grew by 410%. Though agricultural products exports grew by 26% during this period, its share of overall merchandise exports fell from 12% in 1983 to 4% in 2005. In 1983, the top trading partners for U.S. exports were Canada (21% of total merchandise exports), Japan (11%), United Kingdom (5%), Mexico (4%), Germany (4%), the Netherlands (4%), Saudi Arabia (3%), France (3%), South Korea (3%), and Belgium and Luxembourg (2%). In 2005,
11439-640: The making of products by hand. Human ancestors manufactured objects using stone and other tools long before the emergence of Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago. The earliest methods of stone tool making, known as the Oldowan " industry ", date back to at least 2.3 million years ago, with the earliest direct evidence of tool usage found in Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley , dating back to 2.5 million years ago. To manufacture
11562-727: The market towards end customers . This relative cost reduction towards the market, is how manufacturing firms secure their profit margins . Manufacturing has unique health and safety challenges and has been recognized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a priority industry sector in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) to identify and provide intervention strategies regarding occupational health and safety issues. Surveys and analyses of trends and issues in manufacturing and investment around
11685-589: The need for dock front warehouses, while displacing many thousands of dock workers who formerly simply handled break bulk cargo . Containerization reduced congestion in ports, significantly shortened shipping time, and reduced losses from damage and theft. Containers can be made from a wide range of materials such as steel, fibre-reinforced polymer, aluminum or a combination. Containers made from weathering steel are used to minimize maintenance needs . Before containerization, goods were usually handled manually as break bulk cargo . Typically, goods would be loaded onto
11808-666: The northeast U.S. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 in New York and the subsequent Great Depression, many countries were without any means to transport cargo. The railroads were sought as a possibility to transport cargo, and there was an opportunity to bring containers into broader use. In February 1931 the first container ship was launched. It was called the Autocarrier, owned by Southern Railway UK. It had 21 slots for containers of Southern Railway. Under auspices of
11931-423: 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. From a financial perspective, the goal of the manufacturing industry is mainly to achieve cost benefits per unit produced, which in turn leads to cost reductions in product prices for
12054-627: The period, such as the increasing adoption of locomotives, steamboats and steamships, 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 steel making processes , mass-production , assembly lines , electrical grid systems,
12177-583: The popularization of the larger ISO containers, support for pa containers was phased out by the railways. In the 1970s they began to be widely used for transporting waste. In 1952 the U.S. Army developed the Transporter into the CONtainer EXpress or CONEX box system. The size and capacity of the Conex were about the same as the Transporter, but the system was made modular , by the addition of
12300-551: The ports of Dover or Calais. In February 1931 the first container ship in the world was launched. It was called the Autocarrier, owned by Southern Railway UK. It had 21 slots for containers of Southern Railway. The next step was in Europe after WW II. Vessels purpose-built to carry containers were used between UK and Netherlands and also in Denmark in 1951. In the United States, ships began carrying containers in 1951, between Seattle , Washington and Alaska. None of these services
12423-702: The primary export commodities of the U.S. was transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, agricultural products, machinery (except electrical), chemicals, and food and kindred products. Together these commodities totaled 69 percent of total U.S. exports. By 2005, the primary export commodities were largely the same: computer and electronic products, transportation equipment, chemicals, machinery (except electrical), miscellaneous manufactured commodities, and agricultural products. Together these commodities accounted for 69 percent of total U.S. merchandise exports. Between 1983 and 2005, exports of computer and electronic products grew by 493%, overtaking transportation as
12546-527: 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. 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. It
12669-462: The shipping industry "was moving cargo, not sailing ships". He visualized and helped to bring about a world reoriented around that insight, which required not just standardization of the metal containers themselves, but drastic changes to every aspect of cargo handling. In 1955, McLean and Tantlinger's immediate challenge was to design a shipping container that could efficiently be loaded onto ships and would hold securely on sea voyages. The result
12792-456: The spring of 1931 when the Interstate Commerce Commission disallowed the use of a flat rate for the containers. In 1926, a regular connection of the luxury passenger train from London to Paris, Golden Arrow / Fleche d'Or , by Southern Railway and French Northern Railway , began. For transport of passengers' baggage four containers were used. These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to ports, Dover or Calais, on flat cars in
12915-437: 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 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
13038-581: The top four corners. During the Korean War the Transporter was evaluated for handling sensitive military equipment and, proving effective, was approved for broader use. Theft of material and damage to wooden crates convinced the army that steel containers were needed. In April 1951, at Zürich Tiefenbrunnen railway station , the Swiss Museum of Transport and Bureau International des Containers (BIC) held demonstrations of container systems, with
13161-435: The top markets for U.S. exports were Canada (24%), Mexico (13%), Japan (6%), China (5%), United Kingdom (4%), Germany (4%), South Korea (3%), the Netherlands (3%), France (2%), and Taiwan (2%). Between 1983 and 2005, exports to Mexico increased by 1,228%, allowing it to replace Japan as the second-largest market for U.S. exports. In the first quarter of 2010, overall U.S. merchandise exports increased by 20 percent compared to
13284-423: The total volume of trade. The widespread use of ISO standard containers has driven modifications in other freight-moving standards, gradually forcing removable truck bodies or swap bodies into standard sizes and shapes (though without the strength needed to be stacked), and changing completely the worldwide use of freight pallets that fit into ISO containers or into commercial vehicles. Improved cargo security
13407-417: The work of other economists indicating that the declines in manufacturing employment from 1999 to 2011 due to trade policy generally and trade with China specifically were "less than a fifth of the absolute loss of manufacturing jobs over the period" but that the effects were significant for regions directly impacted by those losses. The United States is the world's third largest manufacturer (after China and
13530-431: The world focus on such things as: 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. On June 26, 2009, Jeff Immelt ,
13653-486: Was 354 million TEUs , of which 82 percent were handled by the world's top 100 container ports. As of 2009 , approximately 90% of non- bulk cargo worldwide is moved by containers stacked on transport ships; 26% of all container transshipment is carried out in China. For example, in 2009 there were 105,976,701 transshipments in China (both international and coastal, excluding Hong Kong), 21,040,096 in Hong Kong (which
13776-494: Was an 8 feet (2.44 m) tall by 8 ft (2.44 m) wide box in 10 ft (3.05 m)-long units constructed from 2.5 mm ( 13 ⁄ 128 in) thick corrugated steel. The design incorporated a twistlock mechanism atop each of the four corners, allowing the container to be easily secured and lifted using cranes. Several years later, as a Fruehauf executive, Tantlinger went back to McLean and convinced him to relinquish control of their design to help stimulate
13899-419: Was approximately $ 350 billion in 2016. However it is possible that the import of goods from China is a result rather than a cause. The US stock market also ended a sustained fourteen year bubble in 2001, and the ensuing job loss pushed a significant portion of US population below the poverty line. The Economist reported in January 2017 that manufacturing historically created good paying jobs for workers without
14022-407: Was established. In June 1933, the B.I.C. decided on obligatory parameters for containers used in international traffic. Containers handled by means of lifting gear, such as cranes, overhead conveyors, etc. for traveling elevators (group I containers), constructed after July 1, 1933. Obligatory Regulations: In April 1935 BIC established a second standard for European containers: From 1926 to 1947 in
14145-857: 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. 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. The other article, by Toyota authors in an international journal, provided additional details. Finally, those and other publicity were translated into implementations, beginning in 1980 and then quickly multiplying throughout
14268-531: Was introduced in the US. The concept was developed by Sea-Land and the Southern Pacific railroad. The first standalone double-stack container car (or single-unit 40-ft COFC well car) was delivered in July 1977. The five-unit well car, the industry standard, appeared in 1981. Initially, these double-stack railway cars were deployed in regular train service. Ever since American President Lines initiated in 1984
14391-534: Was little room to build the vast holding lots needed for storing and sorting containers in transit between different transport modes. As a result, the Port of San Francisco essentially ceased to function as a major commercial port, but the neighboring Port of Oakland emerged as the second largest on the US West Coast. A similar fate occurred with the relationship between the ports of Manhattan and New Jersey . In
14514-426: Was mechanized during the mid 19th century. Mass production of sewing machines and agricultural machinery such as reapers occurred in the mid to late 19th century. The mass production of bicycles started in the 1880s. Steam-powered factories became widespread, although the conversion from water power to steam occurred in England earlier than in the U.S. Electrification of factories, which had begun gradually in
14637-483: 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 laborers for moving heavy loads across the factory. Mass production was popularized in the late 1910s and 1920s by Henry Ford 's Ford Motor Company , which introduced electric motors to
14760-477: Was particularly successful. First, the containers were rather small, with 52% of them having a volume of less than 3 cubic metres (106 cu ft). Almost all European containers were made of wood and used canvas lids, and they required additional equipment for loading into rail or truck bodies. The world's first purpose-built container vessel was Clifford J. Rodgers , built in Montreal in 1955 and owned by
14883-843: Was performed freed up valuable waterfront real estate near the central business districts of port cities around the world for redevelopment and led to a plethora of waterfront revitalization projects (such as warehouse districts ). The effects of containerization rapidly spread beyond the shipping industry. Containers were quickly adopted by trucking and rail transport industries for cargo transport not involving sea transport. Manufacturing also evolved to adapt to take advantage of containers. Companies that once sent small consignments began grouping them into containers. Many cargoes are now designed to precisely fit containers. The reliability of containers made just in time manufacturing possible as component suppliers could deliver specific components on regular fixed schedules. In 2004, global container traffic
15006-416: Was rapidly adopted for shipping purposes. In 1955, former trucking company owner Malcom McLean worked with engineer Keith Tantlinger to develop the modern intermodal container . All the containerization pioneers who came before McLean had thought in terms of optimizing particular modes of transport. McLean's "fundamental insight" which made the intermodal container possible was that the core business of
15129-535: Was used for reloading of the containers. The development of containerization was created in Europe and the U.S. as a way to revitalize rail companies after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , which had caused economic collapse and reduction in use of all modes of transport. In 1933 in Europe, under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Container Bureau (French: Bureau International des Conteneurs , B.I.C.)
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