Engineering Industries of Japan: Since 1933, the Government of Japan has been taking all possible steps to make the country self-sufficient in respect of industrial machines. As a result, there has been remarkably rapid progress in the field of engineering industries during the last three decades. Today Japan produces innumerable varieties of machineries including the most complex ones like marine engines, steam and water turbines, locomotives, automobiles, electric dynamos and motors.
Although individual engineering works are scattered throughout Japan, they tend to be concentrated in the Tokyo-Yokohama and the Kobe-Osaka industrial areas and to a smaller extent in North Kyushu and in the districts around Nagoya.
The USA is the leading manufacturer of all kinds of machine tools and machinery of all kinds. Chicago, Philadelphia Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles are the main centres. Russia is second in the world with Moscow and St Petersburg as the two most important centres for the manufacture of machinery and machine tools. Other centres are located in the iron and steel producing regions Russia.
In Europe, Great Britain was the main producer in the past, with Birmingham as the main centre. Boston and Coventry were other major centres. At present Germany is the largest producer in Europe for machinery with centres at Cologne, Dusseldorf and Essen. Other centres of machine tools industry in Europe are Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden in East Germany, Berne in Switzerland, Paris and Toulouse in France, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. Amsterdam and Groginger in the Netherlands, Bologna in Italy, Copenhagen in Denmark and Lisbon in Portugal.
Japan, China and India are leading producers of machinery in Asia. Japanese centres of machine tools making coincide with iron and steel making centres in Tokyo-Yokohama area, Osaka-Kobe area and Nagoya region. China has a number of centres producing machinery of all kinds. The large centres are at Shanghai, Canton, Harbin and Tientsin. In India, machine tools and machinery manufacturing centres are widespread. Some of them are Ranchi, Bangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Hyderabad, Durgapur, Calcutta, Bhopal and Allahabad.
Aircraft industry: Aircraft manufacturing industry needs huge capital investment and highly skilled labour and facilities for manufacturing needed components. The industry is concentrated in industrially developed countries of the world. The USA is the largest producer of aircraft both in terms of number and variety. Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Diego, Wichita hind Hartford are main centre of aeroplane production. There are 30 firms of aircraft manufacturing of which Lockheed, Boeing and Douglas over are the most important. Wichita in Kansas State produces a variety of small aircraft.
United Kingdom, with centres at London, Bristol, Yeovil, France, West Germany and Italy are manufacturers of aircraft. Japan also has three centres of manufacturing in the major industrial regions.
Ship building industry: Large quantities of steel are needed for the shipbuilding industry. The world's largest shipbuilding nation is Japan. The stress is on the construction of bulk carriers and tankers. In 1984, Japan launched 8.4 million Gross Registered Tonnage of vessels, accounting for 53% of world total. Coastal location of steel mills and the availability of large harbors are favorable factors. The Republic of South Korea stands second with 2.5 million G.R.T. of vessels or 14.2% of world total. Other countries are far behind Japan and South Korea. European countries together accounted for about 18% of the world total. The United States accounted for less than 1% of total tonnage of ships built in the world. Great Britain, which was once a leading nation, has declined in importance.
Shipbuilding is one of the chief industries of Great Britain and her yards produce the world's finest ships. Until World War II, she maintained her leadership in shipbuilding. But, with the development of shipbuilding in other countries Britain's share of world's output has declined. In 1985 British shipyards built 4% of world's total tonnage of merchant vessels. In 1985 Japan produced 17.6 million G.R.T. and Britain produced 1.3 million G.R.T.
Quincy (Massachusetts), Kearney and Camden (New Jersey), Chester (Pennsylvania), Newport News (Virginia) and Portland (Oregon) are major centre in U.S.A for shipbuilding.
As in other engineering industries, Japan has made tremendous progress in the field of shipbuilding. Japan has surpassed even Great Britain and is now the world's leading producer of ships.
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