ABSTRACT
In the past, manufacturing has been organised primarily on a local level, in towns and cities. With the development of transport facilities and logistic distribution-shipping nets, both the market and production have widened their scope of connection to suppliers and customers on a regional level, country and, eventually, continent (Walters, 1997). The growth of information and communication technologies has also contributed to this large change in manufacturing processes. Boundaries are no longer limited by continents and products are now crossing the continents frontiers to be present around the world.
