History has entered the modern industrial society, and the metal-hardware industry has developed rapidly. The hardware industry has played an invaluable role in the development of the national economy. Hardware products have also become an indispensable industrial link in industrial manufacturing.
It is used as an accessory product for industrial manufacturing, a semi-finished product, and a tool for the production process. Only a small portion of daily-use hardware products are essential consumer goods for people's lives.
In the national economic industry classification of the National Bureau of Statistics, manufacturing is the third largest category of industry. These include: the production of living materials, such as: agricultural and sideline products, food and beverage, tobacco, textile and garment leather, wood furniture, printing and stationery, and pharmaceutical manufacturing; manufacturing of production materials, such as: petrochemical, chemical fiber, rubber plastic , non-metal products manufacturing, metal smelting and processing, metal products manufacturing, general equipment manufacturing, industry-specific equipment manufacturing, and transportation equipment manufacturing, electrical equipment, communications electronics, etc.
The related products in the classification of metal products in the manufacturing industry and general-purpose parts in the manufacture of general-purpose equipment constitute a "small hardware" in the usual sense. It can be seen that ‘small hardware’ is not an existing industry category, but a cross-combination of several metal products – hardware products. In the entire manufacturing industry, ‘small hardware’ is responsible for providing parts and manufacturing tools to manufacturing companies, not as industry-specific equipment for end use. Nevertheless, we can't deny the important role of "hardware" in the social production process: "hardware" and manufacturing are inseparable wholes.
