Historical photo of a factory in Lodz (Poland), probably taken 1877 or 1878.

In economics, different kinds of manufacturing and services are broken down into groups called industries. The word comes from a Latin word meaning "working diligently at a task". There are many different industries, like mining, farming and logging. The industrial revolution made new industries.

An industry produces goods or services which are of a common set of qualities and which are indistinguishable (called homogeneous, in economics). It uses standardised processes for production, mass production and divison of labor.