manufacturer:

(plural: ‘manufacturers‘)

‘to manufacture’ = to make something from raw material using human labour and machines

a person (or a firm/company/factory) that makes things, using raw material, tools, machines and workers, and sells those things, (usually in combination with a relevant word: ‘gun manufacturer’, ‘cloth manufacturer’, ‘toy manufacturer’, etc.)

Ratan Tata, car manufacturer, India

e.g.

Any manufacturer of motor vehicles must maintain certain safety standards and follow certain safety regulations in order to provide safe and comfortable journey for their customers.

With the advancement in technology and the introduction of global market , the traditional local manufacturers have disappeared, and international manufacturers, who used to be very few in number in the past, are propping up in every corner of the world.

As manufacturers use a lot of raw material, chemicals and power from fossil fuels, they have become the prime target for attack by the environmentalists who conveniently ignore the fact that they too use the same manufactured goods about which they make a lot of fuss.

Compare: maker

For an article that explains what a manufacturer is, please click here, for a news article that reports the unethical practices of gun manufacturers in the USA, please click here, for an article about Chinese toy manufacturers that shows us how we come across this word in our daily browsing, please click here and for a news article about drug manufacturers, please click here.

(medicine manufacturing at a manufacturing unit)

Note 1: ‘Manufacturer’ is also used to refer to people who create sensations or sensational news, usually in a negative sense (with a negative connotation). For example: “Channel News is the best manufacturer of sensational political news.”
Note 2:’Manufacture’, as verb, means to make things — changing raw material into finished goods so that people can use them, e.g. making cars is manufacturing, and giving advice or help in matters of law by a lawyer is not manufacturing, but providing service. Though both people get profit out of doing their jobs, the car maker is called a car ‘manufacturer’ and a lawyer is called a ‘service provider’ or ‘law professional’.