Editing Factory (section)

{{short description|Facility where goods are industrially made, or processed}}
{{About|places of manufacture}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
[[File:Wolfsburg VW-Werk.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Volkswagen]] factory in [[Wolfsburg]], Germany]]

A '''factory''', '''manufacturing plant''' or '''production plant''' is an [[Industry (manufacturing)|industrial]] facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with [[Outline of industrial machinery|machinery]], where workers [[manufacturing|manufacture]] items or operate machines which [[Process Manufacturing|process]] each item into another. They are a critical part of modern [[Production (economics)|economic production]], with the majority of the world's [[goods]] being created or processed within factories.

Factories arose with the introduction of machinery during the [[Industrial Revolution]], when the [[Capital (economics)|capital]] and space requirements became too great for [[Putting-out system|cottage industry]] or workshops. Early factories that contained small amounts of machinery, such as one or two [[spinning mule]]s, and fewer than a dozen workers have been called "glorified workshops".<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Unbound Prometheus]]: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present |last=Landes |first= David. S.|year= 1969|publisher =Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|location= Cambridge, New York|isbn=  0-521-09418-6}}</ref>

Most modern factories have large [[warehouse]]s or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for [[assembly line]] production. Large factories tend to be located with access to multiple modes of transportation, some having [[Rail transport|rail]], [[highway]] and water loading and unloading facilities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hozdić |first1=Elvis |title=Smart Factory for Industry 4.0: A review |journal=International Journal of Modern Manufacturing Technologies |date=2015 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=28–35 }}</ref> In some countries like Australia, it is common to call a factory building a "[[Shed]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.assetbuilding.com.au/industrial-commercial-buildings/industrial-sheds/|title=What Are Industrial Sheds?|website=Asset Building|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310223303/https://www.assetbuilding.com.au/industrial-commercial-buildings/industrial-sheds/|archive-date=10 March 2020}}</ref>

Factories may either make discrete [[Product (business)|product]]s or some type of [[continuous production|continuously produced]] material, such as [[chemical]]s, [[pulp and paper]], or refined [[Petroleum product|oil products]]. Factories manufacturing chemicals are often called ''[[Chemical plant|plants]]'' and may have most of their equipment – [[Storage tank|tank]]s, [[pressure vessel]]s, [[chemical reactor]]s, pumps and piping – outdoors and operated from [[control room]]s. [[Oil refinery|Oil refineries]] have most of their equipment outdoors.

Discrete products may be [[final good]]s, or parts and sub-assemblies which are made into final products elsewhere. Factories may be supplied parts from elsewhere or make them from [[raw material]]s. Continuous production industries typically use heat or [[electricity]] to transform streams of raw materials into finished products.

The term ''mill'' originally referred to the [[Gristmill|milling of grain]], which usually used natural resources such as water or wind power until those were displaced by [[Steam engine|steam power]] in the 19th century. Because many processes like spinning and weaving, [[Rolling (metalworking)|iron rolling]], and paper manufacturing were originally powered by water, the term survives as in ''steel mill'', ''paper mill'', etc.
[[File:Zilina zapalkaren.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Reconstructed historical factory in [[Žilina]] ([[Slovakia]]) for production of safety matches. Originally built in 1915 for the business firm ''Wittenberg and son''.]]