Over the past couple of years I’ve noticed advertisements offering FREE CNC (Computer Numerical Control) Precision Manufacturing Training at local community colleges such as the Nashua Community College in Nashua, New Hampshire, and the Center for Manufacturing Technology, in Woburn, Massachusetts. In fact, all over New England, and apparently the entire United States, the U.S. military and U.S. military contractors are funding and working directly with local community colleges to create and offer FREE Precision Manufacturing CNC Programs to train local young people in this growing trade, which the aerospace and military industries rely on to produce components for their weapons and supporting systems.
By Gabriela Gavrilov
Computer Numerical Control (CNC) refers to a numeric code that is written and inserted into an automated machine in order to manufacture a particular shaped component, like a ball bearing or missile wing. CNC machines are often not much bigger than the average mid-sized car and operate using pre-programmed software and codes, which tell each machine the exact movements to produce a component from a raw piece of material—everything from titanium to plastic. Some work on flat surfaces; other are lathes that spin. The operator simply inserts the raw material, closes the door, and initiates the CNC program. The part is formed with various interchangeable drill bits and a continuous shower of lubricant while the operator monitors the progress through a window. The operation is controlled by the machine’s computer and a keypad used by the operator. Workers simply stand in front of the machine monitoring the repetitive part-making process for 8-12 hours a day.
Many local machining companies are small businesses, some with as few as 20 employees, but they support the huge aerospace industry by manufacturing integral components for weapons systems on a contract basis. Some, like Manchester, New Hampshire’s Granite State Manufacturing, have grown into large businesses which have 100-300 ton tables big enough to park a tractor-trailer on to produce missile doors for nuclear submarines and whose revenue according to growjo.com was $36.3 million last year. Not bad for a company with only about 150 employees.
The Precision Manufacturing Industry
According to IBIS World, as of 2023 there were 16,581 machine shops in the United States. That’s over 330 machine shops for every state in the union.
According to Grandview Research, in 2023, the global precision machining market was estimated at $107.06 billion and is expected to grow another 7.8% between 2024 and 2030.
Source: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-machining-market-report
According to Data USA, “The [U.S.] workforce of machinists in 2022 was 346,803 people, composed of 4.26% women, and 95.7% men.”
Vice Admiral Pappano of the U.S. Navy oversees Granite State Manufacturing’s work and the affiliated Nashua Community College’s Precision Manufacturing Program. The program is so desperate for workers that they are offering Free Welding Training and other machining related boot camps for anyone willing to make military components — if you’re ok with waking up to news one day that some hundreds of people were murdered with the missile that you made parts for last month.
Not only are there tens of machine shops in the New England area busy filling orders for the large military contractors to produce everything from the wings of Patriot Missiles to the missile doors of Virginia/SSN-774 class nuclear submarines, but there are thousands of small military contractors in nearly every small town in the United States now doing the same thing.
I visited one of them, located just a mile from our house in a secluded warehouse, in a tiny dilapidated industrial park on the edge of our bucolic town of just 12,000 flannel-shirt and muck-boot wearing farmers. The owners of this machine shop, whom I met personally, are young men, giddy with their sudden self-importance of being “military contractors” and their resulting burgeoning bank accounts. Their business was started just a few years ago and suddenly now they have fast cars and lots of expensive tattoos. They’re not even the only ones in town; there’s another machine shop on the other side of the same industrial park.
In nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Millenium Precision headlines its website with the banner: “Military Industry Manufacturing and Machining, Millennium Precision is proud to support the U.S. military industry and consistently provides precise Swiss Style CNC machined components and military machining with high quality and craftsmanship.” Some examples of their military industry products are “Imaging systems, Camera systems, Couplings, Weapon components, Custom pins and fasteners, Electronic housing, Aircraft engine components, Satellite and radio components in small batch and large production runs.”
Some companies like Peerless Precision in Westfield, Massachusetts only have 20 employees but display the logos of Curtiss-Wright (leading edge sensors, controls, sub-systems and mission critical components), Eaton (producer of custom-designed aircraft systems and components), FLIR (thermal imaging, night vision and Infrared systems) and KAMAN (helicopters and unmanned aerial systems) on their website.
The peace movement does well to target the massive military contractors like Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and BAE Systems, but what many of us might not realize is that these companies regularly contract out to machine shops in nearly every small town in the United States, and your neighbor may be running one of them. Some of this has grown out of the COVID lockdown which interfered with U.S. manufacturing firms’ ability to import and export components necessary for their finished products. Another factor may be the growing rift between the U.S. and China. A third factor is the relative simplicity of setting up a machine shop. All a prospective business person has to do is purchase CNC machines from any local dealer, rent a warehouse in a local industrial park and hire a group of kids with three months of training from the local community college — and watch the orders role in.
The Precision Manufacturing Web
Precision manufacturing is the process of removing material from a sheet or block of material (everything from steel, aluminum to plastics) to form a component for a larger machine. Because of its precision, CNC machining can guarantee tolerances as close as +/- 0.0005” on milled (flat surface) features and +/- 0.0001” on turned (round) parts, it is finding ever-increasing applications. It is now being used in the aerospace industry to create manifolds, bushings, and landing gear parts. The U.S. Navy, especially its submarine program, which necessitates minute tolerances to keep subs water tight, is a large customer of local machine shops.
Precision machining also plays a significant role in the medical field, producing implants, prostheses, and orthotic devices. Many machine shops also make vehicle parts or even household items and toys especially those that work with plastics, injection molds or 3D printing.
Precision machining offers the military industry lower cost and tighter tolerances, speedy production and is among the fastest machining methods available today. Unlike conventional machining methods that relied on human skill, precision machining relies on 3D CAD models, specialized software (such as G-code), and advanced machining equipment to create custom parts. This means they can create parts in a matter of days, whereas conventional machining methods might take weeks or even months. Precision manufacturing eliminates human error and ensures that parts remain consistent at all times.
Precision machining can also manufacture components from a wide range of materials, from difficult titanium (for its hardness and chemical reactivity) to stainless steel, tool steel, structural steel, copper alloy, plastics, or aluminum alloy parts, precision machining equipment has no problem handling these materials.
Precision machining also facilitates easier testing and prototyping for faster lead times.
In effect, the use of these CNC machines and thousands of local producers set up in small warehouses across the nation has created a web of military producers, which means if one is shut down any other shop in the local area can produce the same parts within days or even hours.
Environmental Concerns
Aside from producing weapons, these CNC machines have to be filled with lubricants and rust inhibitors diluted in water to keep the materials they are shaping and the tools they are cutting with cool. Every machine is like a washing machine of continuous and generous lubricants and rust-inhibitors sprayed on the tools and parts during processing. Where does all this polluted water end up, especially in the small town industrial parks were these machines are used? Who is monitoring where these gallons of toxic waste water are being disposed of every day, month, year, etc. from remote warehouses?
While most coolants are synthetic fluid primarily made up of animal fat, water, petroleum distillate, vegetable oil, and other raw materials, they also become mixed with the chips and particles of whatever material is being cut—everything from steel to plastics. According to industry safety data sheets (SDS) they are to be disposed of in accordance with federal, state and local regulations and any spills are to be reported to the appropriate authorities. But who is monitoring them?
Who’s Your Neighborhood Military Contractor?
If you’re interested in discovering who your neighborhood military contractors are, just search “precision manufacturing” in your area and see what machine shops are listed, then visit their websites to see what type of products they produce and whose logos they are advertising on their sites.