The evolution of industry and industrial activities can be studied under the following stages

The evolution of industry and industrial activities can be studied under the following stages.

a. Handicraft Stage

b. Guild System Stage

c. Domestic System Stage

d. Factory System Stage

e. Industrial Revolution Stage

f. Automation Stage

Handicraft Stage:

The Handicraft Stage can be traced as the origin of production of required tools and implements in a simple manner. Machines were not used but crude and inexpensive tools and implements were made with the help of manual labour. The emergence of this stage finds its origin in the Agricultural Stage of the evolution of commercial activities of business, where the agriculturists needed tools and implements for the purpose of cultivation.

Guild System Stage:

The second stage of the industrial development was the establishments of guilds (or gilds). Artisans and traders belonging to the same locality organized themselves into an association in order to protect the interests of the members of the guilds.

The guilds also helped in providing training facilities for new workers and settlement of disputes among members of the guilds.

The Domestic System Stage:

Under this stage, the domestic systems of industrial operations were noticed. The artisans and merchants started taking the help of middle men for the supply of raw materials to artisans and the finished goods to the merchants.

Merchants also started organising the production activity by procuring the raw material themselves and appointed the artisans as workers to produce the goods and marketed them with the support of middlemen.

The Factory System Stage:

The capitalistic tendency that developed at the domestic system gained more importance at the factory system where the entrepreneur aimed at maximizing his profits by minimising his costs. In this stage an organised system of production under a single roof came to be identified as a factory.

Large scale operation with the use of mechanised production processes resulted in producing good quality products at cheaper rates. The production not only catered to the needs of the domestic uses but also to the international demands. Standardisation of work, production of varieties of goods and improved quality output was needed to meet international requirements.

The Industrial Revolution Stage:

The second half of the 18^th century marked the beginning of the revolution in industries. Then owed a series of fundamental and remarkable changes in industries. Machines driven by power replaced the hand driven johns. The industrial revolution first occurred in the British pastry and quickly spread to all the countries of the world, fording to Knowles, “The so-called Industrial Revolution six great changes or developments all of which were pendent”. These changes were: development of Engineering revolution in iron making of steam power in textiles the of chemical industries development of coal mining ^ Solution in transport.