What is the difference between factory and plant?

Answer 1

It might just be semantics. The words can pretty much be interchanged (and often are), but the difference is probably that a factory may have several plants within its manufacturing complex. A car factory might have an engine plant and an assembly plant as well as a bunch more other plants, each of which puts together a subassembly of the vehicle. It is not surprising that if the definition of each work is looked up, the other word is often applied in that definition of that word.

Answer 2

The difference is that a factory must have a plant, the physical buildings that house its machinery and manufacturing operations; but a plant, for example a power generating station, need not have a factory.

Answer 3

The words factory and plant often mean the same thing. Although the word 'plant' as several meanings, in this answer we will just deal with its use when referring to 'industrial' matters. But first we will consider 'factory'. A FACTORY is a building or buildings where something is manufactured, i.e. where manufacturing processes are carried out. (from Latin factor, 'maker') PLANT, in the industrial/manufacturing sense, has two meanings: # machinery, equipment, and often the buildings etc., used in industrial processes, e.g. 'a manufacturing plant', # or, a factory! The first recorded use of the word plant to mean 'the building for an industrial process', was in 1789. It was used in the sense of a building being placed or 'planted' in that place for that task. For more information, see Related links below.