noun
1
BAD : The wheat is collected and sent to the flour factory.
GOOD : The wheat is collected and sent to the flour mill.
BAD : The brick factory was closed down during the recession.
GOOD : The brick works was closed down during the recession.
BAD : Just outside the town there is a large chemical factory.
GOOD : Just outside the town there is a large chemical plant.
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COMPANY · FACTORY · INDUSTRY · MILL · PLANT · WORKS
Company an organization that makes or sells goods or that sells services: ‘My father works for an insurance company.’ ‘IBM is one of the biggest companies in the electronics industry.’
Factory a place where goods such as furniture, carpets, curtains, clothes, plates, toys, bicycles, sports equipments, drinks and packaged food are produced: ‘The company’s UK factory produces 500 golf trolleys a week.’
Industry (1) all the people, factories, companies etc involved in a major area of production: ‘the steel industry’, the clothing industry’
(2) all industries considered together as a single thing: ‘Industry has developed rapidly over the years at the expense of agriculture.’
Mill (1) a place where a particular type of material is made: ‘a cotton mill’, ‘a textile mill’, a paper mill’ (2) a place where flour is made from grain: ‘a flour mill’
Plant a factory or building where vehicles, engines, weapons, heavy machine, drugs or industrial chemicals are produced, where chemical processes are carried out, or where power is generated:‘Vauxhall-Opel’s UK car plants’, ‘Honda’s new engine plant at Microconcord, Swindon’, ‘a sewage plant’, ‘a wood treatment plant’. ‘ICI’s £100m plant’, ‘the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria’
Works an industrial building where materials such as cement, steel, and bricks are produced, or where industrial processes are carried out: ‘The drop in car and van sales has led to redundancies in the country’s steel works.’
2
BAD : They intend to build either a sports centre or a factory of shoes.
GOOD : They intend to build either a sports centre or a shoe factory.
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Put factory after the thing that is produced: 'a bottle factory', 'a clothing factory'.