The Size of U.S. Precision Machining Industry

 
The Precision Machined Products Association is proud to serve its member companies in the precision machining industry.

We know the value that is added by our  industry to our everyday lives:  Ground and Aerospace Transportation, Safety,  Appliances, Food Packaging, Tools, Off Road Equipment, Medical Devices- all of these markets rely on products made by precision machining shops to make their technologies work.
We are excited to provide information, resources, and networking opportunities that advance and sustain our members.
 The precision machining industry is known to the statisticians in Washington, D.C. as NAICS 332721: Precision Machining.
Precision machining is defined this way: “This U.S. industry comprises establishments known as precision turned manufacturers primarily engaged in machining precision products of all materials on a job or order basis. Generally precision turned product jobs are large-volume using machines such as automatic screw machines, rotary transfer machines, computer numerically controlled (CNC) lathes or turning centers.”
The last year for which the U.S. Census shows data for our industry is 2006. That year, there were 2,528 firms and 2,582 establishments. The figures tell us  that there are few multi-site precision machining companies in the United States.
Our industry employed  about 76,640 men and women to make highly engineered, precision products in 2006. Our products typically are components of some other device (like a car, airplane, satellite, appliance or cell phone). They are not finished products that you would expect to buy at a store. Our parts are the technologies that make the other technologies work. That’s because we can produce to high precision and in the needed quantities.
What is the bottom line for this industry? The latest data for Value of Product Shipments of NAICS 332721 is for 2005. The precision machining industry created $9,791,795,000 of product shipments that year.
That’s $9.8 billion of sales.
For more info, read our article in Production Machining  Magazine here.