Meaning & use
manufacturing plant
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Meaning
nouncountable
a building or group of buildings where goods are made in large amounts, usually by machines
Grammar: Countable: you can say a manufacturing plant or two manufacturing plants.
Patterns
- a manufacturing plant for something
- work at a manufacturing plant
- build/open/close a manufacturing plant
The company opened a new manufacturing plant outside the city.
Hundreds of people work at the manufacturing plant.
The old manufacturing plant was closed and later turned into apartments.
Word forms
| plural | manufacturing plants |
|---|
Common combinations
- a car manufacturing plant
- A car manufacturing plant can produce thousands of vehicles a day.
- open a manufacturing plant
- The firm plans to open a manufacturing plant in the region next year.
- close a manufacturing plant
- They decided to close the manufacturing plant and move production abroad.
- work at a manufacturing plant
- She works at a manufacturing plant that makes electrical parts.
- a large manufacturing plant
- A large manufacturing plant needs a lot of water and electricity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- factory
- Factory is the everyday word; manufacturing plant sounds more formal and is common in business news.
- mill
- A mill is a factory that processes materials such as paper, cloth or steel, so it is narrower than manufacturing plant.
- works
- Works is a British term for a factory or industrial site; it is often used in names, like 'the gas works'.
Word family
- manufacture verb
- to make goods in large amounts, usually using machines.
- manufacturer noun
- a company or person that makes goods.
- manufacturing noun
- the business or process of making goods in large amounts.
Commonly confused: manufacturing plant or power plant? manufacturing plant or factory floor?
manufacturing plant vs power plant
A power plant produces electricity, while a manufacturing plant makes goods. Both are industrial sites, so the words are easy to mix up.
manufacturing plant vs factory floor
The factory floor is the area inside a factory where people and machines work, not the whole building.
Practice
The company is building a new manufacturing plant ___ electric cars.
Choose one answer.
We say a plant for something when we mean what it produces: 'a plant for electric cars.' 'To' would need a verb, as in 'a plant to make electric cars.'
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “manufacturing plant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.