“This shop assembled standard machine tools and components into a process for flexible production of a series of complex hydraulic cylinder components – all machined from solid, all accurate in some dimensions to +/-0.025 mm – in quantities that can exceed 3,000 per day, using only two operators per shift to shepherd this production from bar stock to shipping container.

First off, let me say that this is not a complete blueprint for reproducing the Youngers & Sons process. The contract machine shop, located in Viola, Kansas, asked that a few of its trade secrets remain exactly that. So suffice it to say this much about the process as a whole: No one turnkeyed this job, and no supplier custom-designed any hardware, including the tooling. Instead, Youngers & Sons assembled standard machine tools and components into a process for flexible production of a series of complex hydraulic cylinder components—all machined from solid, all accurate in some dimensions to ±0.025 mm—in quantities that can exceed 3,000 per day, using only two operators per shift to shepherd this production from bar stock to shipping container.”