For the automation systems designers, abilities to determine the shapes of parts based on their intents and purposes at the time of designing. If the designer's level of understanding on machining methods is low, the part production costs can be unnecessarily high or he/she may end up designing parts that cannot be produced.

Machining methods and machining technology basics are explained below.

The latter costs shown above of individually designed and machined parts and the individually designed produced control programs occupy a large portion of the production costs on automated manufacturing systems and fixtures. Furthermore, since the workmanship quality of the individually produced elements largely affects the assembly efficiency, the final costs of the finished products are largely affected.
Therefore, the individual element portion is the area where the designer's abilities can really shine.

The individually designed and machined parts tend to be more difficult to machine since the special parts are designed to fill specific needs for the system or the fixtures and are not available off the shelf.

Seasoned designers would proceed with the designs by estimating the rough machining costs per the machining methods to be used.