Industry
Industry, a group of productive enterprises or organizations that produce or supply goods, services, or sources of income. In economics, industries are customarily classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary; secondary industries are further classified as heavy and light.
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clothing and footwear industry
Clothing and footwear industry, factories and mills producing outerwear, underwear, headwear, footwear, belts, purses, luggage, gloves, scarfs, ties, and household soft goods such as drapes, linens, and...
pharmaceutical industry
Pharmaceutical industry, the discovery, development, and manufacture of drugs and medications (pharmaceuticals) by public and private organizations. The modern era of the pharmaceutical industry—of isolation...
manufacturing
Manufacturing, any industry that makes products from raw materials by the use of manual labour or machinery and that is usually carried out systematically with a division of labour. (See industry.) In...
automotive industry
Automotive industry, all those companies and activities involved in the manufacture of motor vehicles, including most components, such as engines and bodies, but excluding tires, batteries, and fuel. The...
materials testing
Materials testing, measurement of the characteristics and behaviour of such substances as metals, ceramics, or plastics under various conditions. The data thus obtained can be used in specifying the suitability...
aerospace industry
Aerospace industry, assemblage of manufacturing concerns that deal with vehicular flight within and beyond Earth’s atmosphere. (The term aerospace is derived from the words aeronautics and spaceflight.)...
industry
Industry, group of productive enterprises or organizations that produce or supply goods, services, or sources of income. In economics, industries are generally classified as primary, secondary, tertiary,...
Industry Subcategories
![The diagrams show how detergent removes oil droplets often contained in dirt. When the detergent dissolves in water, detergent molecules group themselves around an oil droplet (a). The water-repelling part of the molecules (light area) projects into the droplet, while the water-soluble part (dark area) remains in the water (b). The oil is held in suspension by the emulsifying action of the detergent and is carried away with the dirty water (c).](https://cdn.britannica.com/71/94571-004-7DE8ED64/detergent-oil-droplets-water-diagrams-dirt-droplet.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Although nature provides us with a staggering amount of natural resources, humankind has also made use of a great variety of man-made compounds and substances. The chemical industry converts raw materials such as fossil fuels, water, salt, limestone, and sulfur into primary, secondary, and tertiary products.
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![Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra).](https://cdn.britannica.com/15/141215-050-3159F117/Kapok-tree.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Before the era of plastics and the creation of countless other man-made compounds, industrious humans depended on naturally occurring resources. Unprocessed or minimally processed products are still important to today’s modern industry.
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fur
animal skin
- man-made fibre
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lace
textile