Manufacturing has been defined as the use of machines, tools and labour to produce goods for use or sale and includes all intermediate processes required for the production and integration of a product’s components.
The term is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale but some industries, such as semiconductor and steel manufacturers prefer using the term fabrication instead.
These finished goods may be packaged and sold to wholesalers, who in turn sell them to retailers, who then sell them to end users or ‘consumers’. Alternatively, goods may be used in the manufacture of other, more complex products, such as aircraft, household appliances or automobiles.
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