raw materials
Manufacturing's starting ingredients
Raw materials are the basic substances from which products are made—wood for furniture, ore for steel, cotton for textiles.
The term applies broadly to any unprocessed or minimally processed inputs: The factory imports raw materials from overseas.
Figuratively, raw materials can be the basic elements of any creative or intellectual work: Her childhood memories became raw materials for the novel.
- oreMetal-bearing rock
- logSectioned tree trunk
- stoneSolid earth fragment
- cottonPlant fiber for textiles
- timberWood for construction
raw lumber · pulp · hides · animal skins · supply chain · iron ore · base metals · wool · cash crops · bauxite · inventory · supply depot · ingredients · renewable resources · clay · gravel · unprocessed · shell
- supplysupply, supplies, stock, provisions, stockpile
- ecosystem servicespollination, carbon sequestration, water purification, climate regulation, air purification
- perfumerymusk, middle notes, vanilla, essential oils, fragrance oils
- Factory Metricsthroughput, production lines, finished goods, work stations
- brushmakingbristles, ferrules, filling, tufting, handles
- production economicsinputs, outputs, output, labor, fixed costs
raw materialsfinished products
Manufactured items ready for use
end products · finished goods · consumer goods · commodities · consumer products
raw materialssynthetic materials
Human-manufactured, non-natural substances
material, materials, materialize, rawness, materiality, raw material