Industrial Directory

An industrial directory cannot but be a substantial volume. Industry is defined as production of goods and the variety of goods are bewilderingly large. A directory can claim to be an industrial directory only if it covers all major sectors.

Speaking of sectors, NAICS - North American Industry Classification System - classifies economic activity in United States, Canada and Mexico. We look at this system in the next section.

Industry

NAICS has allotted a sector number to each sector (listed in the first column below).

11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
21 Mining
22 Utilities
23 Construction
31-33 Manufacturing
42 Wholesale Trade
44-45 Retail Trade
48-49 Transportation and Warehousing
51 Information
52 Finance and Insurance
53 Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
54 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
55 Management of Companies and Enterprises
56 Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services
61 Education Services
62 Health Care and Social Assistance
71 Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
72 Accommodation and Food Services
81 Other Services (except Public Administration)
92 Public Administration

Each of these sectors is subdivided into sub-sectors by using additional digits in the sector number, as illustrated below:

32 Manufacturing
326 Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing
3261 Plastics Product Manufacturing
32611 Plastics Packaging Materials and Unlaminated Film and Sheet Manufacturing
326111 Plastics Bag and Pouch Manufacturing
326112 Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing

You would notice that even under the lowest classifications, such as Plastic Bag and Pouch above, there could be several specialized activities. A detailed and complete list of industries would thus be a very big list indeed.

We take a look at some sample categories in a reputed industrial directory in the section below.

Industrial Directories

Adhesives & Sealants Adhesives, Adhesive Tapes, Pressure Sensitive Tapes, Tapes, Adhesive Dispensing Equipment, more...

Automation & Electronics Automation Equipment, Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), Electronic Enclosures, Clean rooms, EMI/RFI Shielding, more...

Chemicals Coatings, Corrosion Resistant Coatings, Desiccants, Optical Coatings, Teflon Coatings, more...

Custom Manufacturing & Fabricating Metal Fabrication, CNC Machining, Metal Stampings, Screw Machine Products & Turned Parts, Tube Fabricating & Bending Services, more...

Electrical & Power Generation Transformers, Batteries, Magnets, Custom Transformers, Neodymium Magnets, more...

(Source: http://www.thomasnet.com/ )

We have not included several more major categories in the partial list above. As you see from the extract above, the sub-categories are large enough for this industrial directory to take recourse to "more..." when listing the sub-categories.

Regional Directories

Industrial development is a major policy objective of all countries, and regions within countries. And you would find regional industrial directories not only for developed countries for also for developing economies.

Conclusion

Industry is a very broad field and an industrial directory would have to cover many major sectors and numerous sub-sectors to be worthy of its name. Governments have tried to implement meaningful classifications and sub-classifications of industrial sectors, to facilitate data gathering and other purposes. In the case of industrial directories, there is a proliferation of regional directories as each region seeks to publicize its industrial capabilities and seek more business.