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Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materialsare transformed into finished goods on a large scale. Such finished goods may be used for manufacturing other, more complex products, such as aircraft, household appliances or automobiles, or sold to wholesalers, who in turn sell them toretailers, who then sell them to end users – the "consumers".
Manufacturing takes turns under all types of economic systems. In a free market economy, manufacturing is usually directed toward the mass production of products for sale to consumers at a profit. In a collectivist economy, manufacturing is more frequently directed by the state to supply a centrally planned economy. In free market economies, manufacturing occurs under some degree of government regulation.
Modern manufacturing includes all intermediate processes required for the production and integration of a product's components. Some industries, such as semiconductor and steel manufacturers use the term fabrication instead.
The manufacturing sector is closely connected with engineering and industrial design. Examples of major manufacturers in the North America include General Motors Corporation, General Electric, and Pfizer. Examples in Europe includeVolkswagen Group, Siemens, and Michelin. Examples in Asia include Toyota, Samsung, and Bridgestone.
for details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing
Due to the rapid advancement of technology such as pervasive or ubiquitous wireless and internet networks, connective product marking technologies like RFID and emerging standards for the use of these defining specific locations using Global Location Number(s), the basic supply chain is rapidly evolving into what is known as a Supply Chain Network.
All organizations have or can purchase the components to build a supply chain network, it is the collection of physical locations, transportation vehicles and supporting systems through which the products and services your firm markets are managed and ultimately delivered.
Physical locations included in a Supply Chain Network can be manufacturing plants, storage warehouses, carrier crossdocks, major distribution centres, ports, intermodal terminals whether owned by your company, your suppliers, your transport carrier, a third-party logistics provider, a retail store or your end customer.
Transportation modes that operate within a Supply Chain Network can include the many different types of trucks, trains for boxcar or intermodal unit movement, container ships or cargo planes.
The many systems which can be utilized to manage and improve a Supply Chain Network include Order Management Systems, Warehouse Management System, Transportation Management Systems, Strategic Logistics Modeling, Inventory Management Systems, Replenishment Systems, Supply Chain Visibility, Optimization Tools and more.
Emerging technologies and standards such as the RFID and the GS1 Global Standards are now making it possible to automate these Supply Chain Networks in a real time manner making them more efficient than the simple supply chain of the past.
for details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_network
International trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories.[1] In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has been present throughout much of history (see Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries.
Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing are all having a major impact on the international trade system. Increasing international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade, nations would be limited to the goods and services produced within their own borders.
International trade is in principle not different from domestic trade as the motivation and the behavior of parties involved in a trade do not change fundamentally regardless of whether trade is across a border or not. The main difference is that international trade is typically more costly than domestic trade. The reason is that a border typically imposes additional costs such as tariffs, time costs due to border delays and costs associated with country differences such as language, the legal system or culture.
Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of production such as capital andlabour are typically more mobile within a country than across countries. Thus international trade is mostly restricted to trade in goods and services, and only to a lesser extent to trade in capital, labor or other factors of production. Then trade in goods and services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of production.
Instead of importing a factor of production, a country can import goods that make intensive use of the factor of production and are thus embodying the respective factor. An example is the import of labor-intensive goods by the United States from China. Instead of importing Chinese labor the United States is importing goods from China that were produced with Chinese labor. One report in 2010 suggested that international trade was increased positively when a country hosted a network of immigrants, but the trade effect was weakened when the immigrants became assimilated into their new country.[2]
International trade is also a branch of economics, which, together with international finance, forms the larger branch of international economics.
for details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_trade