A guide to the Pyramid of Industries
Learn · IndustriesA guide to the Pyramid of Industries
Three minutes to read the pyramid like a map of the economy: which industries rest on which, where the chokepoints are, and how every value chain reaches down to the same materials and energy.
Industries 36 in 7 strata Enterprise types 408 across all value chains Chokepoints 31 rated 5 of 51. What the pyramid shows
At the base sit the two foundations: the material world (commodities and chemicals) and the energy system. Above them, seven strata of industries stack by dependence. The first stratum turns matter and energy into usable inputs such as metal products, building materials and plastics. Each higher stratum combines what lies below it, up to public administration, which draws on 27 of the other 35 industries. The number on each industry counts the industries it depends on, directly or through its suppliers.
2. How to read a value chain
Click any industry to open its value chain, ordered from upstream to the customer in four to seven stages. Each stage holds one or more types of enterprise, such as contract foundries or cold-chain operators. For each one you see the work it does, the technologies it uses, real example companies, how critical it is to the chain, and what it depends on: commodities, chemicals and energy tiles (which open those tiles) and other industries.
3. The criticality scale
5 · Chokepoint Few suppliers or one country, no near-term substitute 4 · Critical Concentrated or hard to replace 3 · Important Several suppliers, switching takes months 2 · Supporting Competitive supply, switching in weeks 1 · Commodity service Widely available, easily replacedA rating is about the chain, not the economy: a 5 means the chain stops without that player and nothing can replace it soon.
4. Three ways to use it
- Follow a dependency. Select an industry and the pyramid lights up what it buys from, directly and through suppliers, and who buys from it.
- Hunt for chokepoints. Look for red bars in each chain: these are the few suppliers or single countries that can halt an industry.
- Trace a material upward. The panel "What the whole chain draws on" lists every commodity, chemical and energy tile a chain needs, with how many enterprise types rely on each.