Thread: What's the difference between producer and manufacturer?

Is there any difference between producer and manufacturer?

My guess:
A manufacturer is someone who makes products in a factory like cars, boats, bikes, computers etc.

A producer is someone who makes products NOT in a factory like food.
Producers also make TV shows, movies, radio shows, media.

Producer is a much more general term. A manufacturer can manufacturer OR produce something. A producer doesn't necessarily have to manufacture something. Shadow is right -- all those things are produced, but it's just as useful a term for a factory or whatever. It's perfectly normal for instance to say "The local tractor factory produces three hundred tractors a month."

it's more of a sense than a precise definition

manufacturer- think industry, assembly lines, factories, nuts and bolts

producer - think of everything else that is made

Sorry for But could you tell me whether I can abbreviate "ought to" to "outta" or not...
I.e. does it sound natyral "I outta do it" ???

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Sorry for But could you tell me whether I can abbreviate "ought to" to "outta" or not...
I.e. does it sound natyral "I outta do it" ???

"I oughta" ... but use it sparingly.


You don't wanna use "outta", because most people would take that as "out of". eg: "Are you outta your mind?"

Thanks!!!

One more question: I'm quite unsure about this sentence : "As I have written earlier, they already have been added! " - It was written by my colleague....
I think It must be "As I wrote earlier, they already have been added! "

Who is right ?

The difference is not too well defined here; they can mean the same thing (although as people already noted 'producer' is more general).
If they are used in the same text to differentiate things, my guess (not knowing the context) would be that 'manufacturer' is the company that is actually running the production plant, and 'producer' is the company that is selling the product (they are quite often different).
But I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by Chuvak

One more question: I'm quite unsure about this sentence : "As I have written earlier, they already have been added! " - It was written by my colleague....
I think It must be "As I wrote earlier, they already have been added! "

Who is right ?

Both are fine, as far as I know. I don't really know how to explain it.

And just FYI, "oughta" is of course very informal -- I'm not sure if you realized that or not. It's really only ok to use in speech -- in written form it's typically just used to quote someone, I'd say (it's a fairly ugly looking word ). Marc told me "You oughta buy me some cheese too!" Then he pulled out a gun and robbed the clerk.

Originally Posted by Chuvak

One more question: I'm quite unsure about this sentence : "As I have written earlier, they already have been added! " - It was written by my colleague....
I think It must be "As I wrote earlier, they already have been added! "

Who is right ?

You are definately correct on this. For "have written" to be correct the second clause would need to be in the present tense. "As I have written earlier, we are all doomed" is ok. The past perfect form implies relevance to the present. Simple past goes with past.

You may now feel good about your English

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Sorry for But could you tell me whether I can abbreviate "ought to" to "outta" or not...
I.e. does it sound natyral "I outta do it" ???

I wouldn't abbreviate it. Problem is that this type of abbreviation is supposed to sound like real speech e.g. gonna but "ought to" when spoken sounds like otta not oughta.