Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460): Theme 3.3 – Industry – Study Guide

This guide covers section 3.3 Industry of the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022). Section 3.3 sits in Theme 3: Economic development. Theme content is assessed in Paper 1 Geographical Themes (1 hour 45 minutes, 75 marks), where you answer three 25-mark questions, one from each section. Paper 2 Geographical Skills can also set knowledge questions based on the three themes, so industry data may appear there too.

Use this guide with the Industry revision notes and the Industry practice questions. Track your progress on the Cambridge IGCSE Geography hub and the IGCSE Geography checklist.

What the syllabus asks for

Syllabus reference	What you must know or be able to do (from the document)	Where assessed
3.3	Demonstrate an understanding of an industrial system: inputs, processes and outputs (products and waste)	Paper 1; data may appear in Paper 2
3.3 guidance	Industry types: manufacturing, processing, assembly and high technology industry	Paper 1
3.3	Describe and explain the factors influencing the distribution and location of factories and industrial zones	Paper 1
3.3 guidance	The influence of factors including land, labour, raw materials and fuel and power, transport, markets and political factors	Paper 1
3.3 guidance	Their combined influences on the location, scale of production, methods of organisation and the products of the system	Paper 1
3.3 guidance	Industrial zones and/or factories with respect to locational and siting factors	Paper 1
Case study	An industrial zone or factory	Paper 1 case study parts

The word “including” in the guidance means you must study every listed factor, but you may add others. The syllabus does not name a case study. Your teacher may choose a different one from those below; both are real and checked.

The industrial system

Geographers treat a factory as a system. Things go in, something happens to them, and things come out.

• Inputs: everything the factory needs. Physical inputs include raw materials, water, land and energy. Human inputs include labour, money (capital), machinery, skills, research and government support.
• Processes: what happens inside. Examples are cutting, smelting, mixing, pressing, welding, painting, assembling, testing and packing.
• Outputs: the products that are sold, and waste. Waste can be solid (offcuts, slag), liquid (dirty water) or gas (smoke, carbon dioxide). Heat and noise are also waste.

Profit is often shown as a feedback loop. Some of the money made is reinvested as a new input, such as better machines.

Key terms

• Raw material: a natural material that has not yet been processed, such as iron ore or sugar cane.
• Component: a finished part made in one factory and used in another, such as a car seat.
• Capital: money and equipment invested in production.
• By-product: a secondary output that can be sold or reused, such as sawdust used for chipboard.

Worked example (Paper 1 style, 4 marks). Describe the outputs of an industrial system.

The main output is the product, which is sold to make a profit, for example packed fruit juice. Industry also produces waste. Solid waste such as peel can go to landfill, liquid waste can pollute rivers if untreated, and gases such as smoke are released from chimneys. Some waste can become a by-product, like peel sold as animal feed, which turns a cost into income.

The answer names both kinds of output, gives examples, and adds a developed point about by-products. That last step is analysis, not just a list.

Types of industry

The syllabus names four types. Learn one clear definition and one example of each.

Type	What it does	Example
Processing	Changes a raw material into a more useful product, often with a large loss of weight	Sugar refining, oil refining, fruit-juice making
Manufacturing	Makes finished goods from materials, often in several stages	Steel, textiles, furniture
Assembly	Puts together components made elsewhere	Cars, televisions, mobile phones
High technology	Makes advanced products using research, highly skilled workers and specialist equipment	Microchips, medical devices, software, aerospace parts

The types overlap. A car plant presses steel panels (manufacturing) and fits bought-in parts (assembly). In an answer, explain which part of the process fits which label.

High-tech industry is often footloose. Its products are light and valuable, so transport costs matter less. It can locate where skilled workers want to live. High-tech firms often cluster near universities in science parks. Cambridge Science Park in England is a real example. Trinity College founded it in 1970. It lies about 3 km north of Cambridge city centre, by the A14 road and close to Cambridge North railway station, and its firms have strong links with the University of Cambridge.

Location and site

These two words are not the same, and the syllabus uses both.

• Location is the general area or region where industry is found, such as “near a port” or “in the Midlands of England”. It explains the distribution of industry on a map.
• Site is the actual plot of land a factory stands on: its size, slope, drainage, cost and what is next to it.

A greenfield site has not been built on before. A brownfield site has been used before, for example an old mill or railway yard. An industrial zone (or industrial estate) is an area planned for many firms, with shared roads, power and services.

Factors that influence location

Factor	How it influences location
Land	Large factories need flat, cheap, well-drained land with space to expand. Flat land lowers building costs.
Labour	Firms need enough workers with the right skills. Assembly lines may seek lower wages; high-tech firms need graduates.
Raw materials	If raw materials are bulky and lose weight during processing, it is cheaper to locate near their source.
Fuel and power	In the past, heavy industry located on coalfields. Today electricity reaches most places, so power matters most for very energy-hungry industries such as aluminium smelting.
Transport	Ports, motorways, railways and airports cut the cost and time of moving inputs and products. Ports suit firms that import or export.
Markets	Firms whose products gain weight, are fragile or perishable, or need close contact with customers locate near markets.
Political factors	Governments offer grants, tax breaks, cheap land or free trade zones. They also set planning rules and trade agreements.

Change over time. Better transport and electricity have made raw materials and power less important for most firms. Markets, labour skills and political factors now matter more. Industrial inertia is when industry stays in a place after the original reason has gone, because moving costs too much.

How the factors combine

The guidance asks you to show how factors combine to shape four things.

1. Location: no single factor decides. A port site may be chosen for transport, but only if land and labour are also available.
2. Scale of production: a large market and large, flat sites allow mass production. Cheap transport lets one large plant serve a whole continent.
3. Methods of organisation: small firms may use hand tools and family labour. Large firms use production lines, robots and just-in-time delivery, where parts arrive only when needed. Just-in-time depends on good roads and nearby suppliers.
4. Products: high-skill labour and research lead to high-value products; cheap labour suits simpler, labour-intensive goods.

Siting factors are the local details: the size and slope of the plot, flood risk, access to a road junction, the price of land, and whether neighbours will object to noise.

Case study 1: Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai (an industrial zone)

Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) is at the far western end of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It began operating in 1985 with 19 companies. It now covers about 57 square kilometres and its operator says it hosts more than 11,000 businesses from over 100 countries. Firms work in logistics, electronics, vehicles, food, e-commerce and petrochemicals. The zone is run by DP World.

• Transport (location): Jafza is next to Jebel Ali Port, which opened in 1979. It is the world’s largest man-made harbour and the biggest and busiest port in the Middle East. Al Maktoum International Airport is about 24 km away. Sheikh Zayed Road also serves the area.
• Political factors: as a free zone, Jafza allows foreign firms to own their companies with no foreign ownership restrictions. It is a customs bonded zone, so goods can be imported, stored and re-exported without paying customs duty.
• Markets: Dubai sits between Europe, Asia and Africa. Firms store, assemble or process goods here and send them across the Gulf and beyond.
• Labour: the United Arab Emirates relies heavily on workers from other countries, especially South Asia, so firms can recruit both skilled and less-skilled staff.
• Land (site): flat coastal land with room for expansion, beside the man-made harbour.

Evaluation. Jafza shows that political and transport factors can outweigh raw materials: most firms bring their inputs in by sea. A limitation is that much activity is storage and trade rather than making things, so use examples of factories inside the zone when a question asks about manufacturing.

Case study 2: Toyota, Burnaston, England (a factory)

Toyota’s car plant at Burnaston, Derbyshire, is about 7 km south-west of Derby. It built its first car on 16 December 1992. The engines come from Toyota’s second UK plant at Deeside, North Wales, which opened in September 1992. Processes at Burnaston include stamping, welding, painting, plastic moulding and assembly. It currently builds the Corolla.

• Land and site: the factory covers the site of the former Derby Airport, a large, flat grass airfield. Flat, open land suited a long assembly plant.
• Transport: the plant is beside the A38 dual carriageway, which links to Birmingham. The A38 meets the A50 nearby, and the A50 leads to the M1.
• Markets and political factors: the UK was then a member of the European Community (later the European Union), which charged no customs duties on trade between members. Cars built at Burnaston could be sold in other member countries without the import duties charged on cars shipped in from Japan.
• Labour: Derby has a long history of engineering, including railway works and Rolls-Royce, so skilled workers lived nearby.

Evaluation. Burnaston shows how transport and market access combine with a good site. It also shows political risk: when trade rules change, a plant built to serve one market can face new costs.

Worked example: using a case study

Explain why a named factory was located where it is. (7 marks)

Toyota chose Burnaston, near Derby, partly because of its site. The old Derby Airport gave a large area of flat land, which was cheap to build on and allowed a long production line (knowledge and application). The plant is beside the A38, which joins the A50 and then the M1, so parts arrive and cars leave quickly. This matters because Toyota uses just-in-time delivery, which fails if lorries are delayed (analysis). Being inside the European Community also meant cars could be sold across member countries without import duties. This market access may have mattered more than the site itself, because flat land and good roads could be found in many places (evaluation).

Common errors

• Writing “location” when the question asks about the “site”, or the reverse.
• Listing inputs without saying whether they are physical or human, when the question asks for the type.
• Forgetting waste as an output; the syllabus prints “products and waste”.
• Calling every factory “manufacturing” instead of choosing processing, assembly or high technology.
• Describing a case study with no named place, road, port or date.
• Treating raw materials as the main factor for modern assembly or high-tech firms.
• Saying “good transport” without naming the type of link and why the firm needs it.

Where to go next

• Test yourself with the Industry practice questions.
• See how industry fits the sectors of production and globalisation in the Development study guide.
• Review urban land use, which helps with industrial zones, in the Population and Settlement guide.
• Use the IGCSE Geography checklist to mark 3.3 as done.

Official syllabus

This guide follows the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022), section 3.3 Industry. Check the latest version on the Cambridge International website; your teacher will confirm anything the syllabus does not print.