What makes development of a world-class shop possible and necessary? The spirit of the age the times we live in.

This book contains examples of world-class elements from many shops that I have visited. Being world-class is certainly not a cut and dried thing, but the elements included are based on my judgment of what is important for competition in this world of ours, and is an attempt to provide criterion for evaluation of machine shops.

Historical happenings in the world of machining and manufacturing have played a major role in my collection of world-class traits for machine shops. I have visited several places of greatness in fabrication including Henry Ford's Highland Park, Michigan, plant. No, it wasn't running when I visited, but it still smells like a factory. I have visited the Precision Museum [of Machining] in Windsor Vermont the birthplace and museum of many of the world's precision machinery concepts. I visit and read about places of greatness in our field of machining and manufacturing to see the roots of our machining and manufacturing technology.

In this book, I venture upon a purely personal definition of world-class as it relates to shops that machine airframe parts with a focus on milling titanium alloys. I base this book, Creating and Maintaining a World-Class Machine Shop, upon my belief that understanding and appreciating elements of world-class fabrication is the best mode for achieving and maintaining a great shop.

I dream of inventing great machine shops. Emerson, in his essay "Quotation...