Traditional hardware products are also called "small hardware". It refers to various metal devices made of iron, steel, aluminum and other metals through forging, rolling, cutting, etc. physical processing. For example, hardware tools, hardware parts, daily hardware, construction hardware and security supplies, etc. Most of the small hardware products are not final consumer goods. Rather, they are used as supporting products for industrial manufacturing, semi-finished products, tools used in the production process, etc. Only a small part of daily hardware products are consumer tools necessary for people's lives.
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In the national economic industry classification of the National Bureau of Statistics, manufacturing is the third largest industry. These include: production and manufacturing of daily necessities, such as agricultural and sideline products, food and beverages, tobacco, textiles, clothing and leather, wood furniture, printing and cultural and sports supplies, and pharmaceutical manufacturing; manufacturing of production materials, such as petrochemicals, chemical fibers, rubber and plastics , non-metallic product manufacturing, metal smelting and processing, metal product manufacturing, general equipment manufacturing, industry-specific equipment manufacturing, and transportation equipment manufacturing, electrical equipment, communication electronics, etc.

Related products in categories such as metal products in manufacturing and general parts and components in general equipment manufacturing constitute "small hardware" in the usual sense. It can be seen that ‘small hardware’ is not an existing industry category, but a cross combination of the above-mentioned metal products-hardware products. In the entire manufacturing industry, the responsibility of ‘small hardware’ is to provide parts and production tools to manufacturing companies, rather than as industry-specific equipment for final use. Despite this, we cannot deny the important role of "small hardware" in the social production process: "small hardware" and manufacturing are an inseparable whole that is intertwined with each other.

(edit：admin)