2. Tools and people
Toolmaking requires a wide range of skills, most of them related to metallurgy.
All tool shop operators are highly skilled professionals. Indeed, tooling is a short-run product (a single mold can, on the other hand, manufacture hundreds of thousands of parts), with very high added value (some stamping or die-casting tools are worth 8 to 10 million Euros).
The tools are made of high-precision components (often to the nearest 100 mm) machined from noble materials.
The machines needed to machine such components (milling machines or CNC machining centers, heat treatment furnaces, presses) are complex and costly.
Example: In 2005, the operating cost of a large-scale NC machining center in France ranged...
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Tools and people
The future of tooling
