2. Secondary Economic
Activities
Secondary economic activity involves making things.
Secondary economic activities refers to manufacturing
industries.
It usually involves taking raw materials and making them into a
finished product or semi-finished product.
For example, in a sawmill;
Raw Material – a raw material could be the trunk of a tree.
Semi-Finished Product – A semi-finished product could be
planks of wood.
Finished Product - A finished product could be a table or a
door.
7. Secondary Economic
Activities
Secondary economic activity usually takes place in
factories or workshops.
Some factories may only take raw materials and
make them into semi-finished products.
Other factories may only take semi-finished
products and make them into finished products.
Secondary economic activity may be seen as a
system.
Each system has Inputs, Processes, and Outputs.
8. Inputs, Processes, and Outputs
All systems have Inputs, Processes, and Outputs.
Inputs – These are the things that we need to put in at the
start.
Processes – These are the things we do to the Inputs to turn
them into semi-finished or finished products.
Outputs – These are the things we have at the end.
9. Inputs, Processes, and Outputs
Lets take a carpentry factory that makes doors and windows as an example.
Inputs Processes Outputs
Wooden planks Measuring Window frames
Electricity Cutting Doors
Machinery Moulding Off-cuts
Workers Chiselling Sawdust
Gluing
Clamping
Note: Processes involve doing something. These words often end in –ing.
10. Let’s imagine that we own a computer factory.
e.g. PC Pro in Co. Cork
Let’s make a list of all the inputs, processes and
outputs that might be involved.
