This category covers sites related to producing a multiplicity of standard and custom parts and components for a diversity of end users, usually (although not always necessarily) on a subcontracted basis. It includes associated supply and support companies and runs the gamut of providing castings through to the application of various finishes to end products. In effect, the essential feature is the use of machinery, rather than the manufacture of the equipment itself. Thus a lathe user can belong here, whereas the lathe manufacturer will be found -- and should be directed to -- a more logical
Machinery and Tools category. Note: Companies indexed in the main category should offer either multiple or somewhat unique manufacturing capabilities. Otherwise, sites are distributed among a number of subcategories, each indicating a particular type of machining activity. Additional note: Just as lathe manufacturers aren't indexed in this category, so companies that manufacture end products from start to finish themselves are, more than likely, better directed elsewhere. Obvious examples would be appliance manufacturers and car makers, who each have categories of their own and, at best, merely -- somewhere along the way -- use the services and parts provided by the firms whose sites are listed within this Casting, Molding, Machining category.