From the block.

The process, in words

The same eight steps, written out — for reading rather than scrolling.

1. 01

   Before the shift

   The hall comes up before the shift does: hydraulic pressure first, then air, then light. Nothing is machined for another forty minutes.

   How we do this: Machines
2. 02

   The floor

   Machining centres down one side, turning centres down the other, a marking cell at the end. The layout follows the part, not the floor plan.

   How we do this: Machines
3. 03

   Clamping

   A 400 × 300 × 200 billet of 42CrMo4, 188 kilograms, set into a hydraulic vice against a ground datum. Every dimension that follows is referenced from that face.

   How we do this: Series production
4. 04

   The cut

   Roughing at 10,000 rpm with a 63 mm face mill, two millimetres depth of cut, coolant through the spindle. The heat leaves with the chip — get that wrong and the tolerance is gone before the finishing pass begins.

   How we do this: Five-axis milling
5. 05

   The part appears

   Three passes with a tool change between each. Roughing takes the mass off, semi-finishing leaves 0.3 mm standing, and the finishing pass holds ±0.005 mm in the bore and 0.4 µm Ra on the sealing face.

   How we do this: Five-axis milling
6. 06

   Nine components

   The component is one of nine in an assembly, and its tolerances are not its own — they are a share of a stack that has to close. That is why the drawing comes before the quote.

   How we do this: Engineering
7. 07

   Measurement

   Coordinate measuring on granite in a room held at 20 °C, plus a laser line scan across the ribbed faces. Each part carries its own report; nothing ships on a sample.

   How we do this: Quality
8. 08

   Out of the door

   Packed into cut foam by the same cell that unloaded the machine, sealed, palletised and gone. Most of it is on a truck somewhere in Europe within a day.

   How we do this: Sectors