In the cold forming process, wire from a coil is fed into the cold former where it is cut into specific length pieces called slugs. The slugs are carried through up to six forging stations where they are compression formed (forged) into the finished product. Various forming techniques are employed such as drawing forming, upsetting, extruding, void forming, and piercing. The cold forming process provides many benefits. For example, the finished workpiece is actually stronger than the original material because the metal fibers have been tempered by being tightly compressed into layers that follow the contours of the workpiece. Cold forming also eliminates the material wastage that occurs in machining and pressing process. Significant Reduction in Production Costs Material costs are reduced because there's no wastage. It takes a lot less metal to cold form the workpiece (left) than to machine it (right). The workpieces on the left were cold formed in the same time that it took to machine the　workpiece on the right. Increase in Strength Internal flow pattern of metal fibers in a cold formed workpiece. Metal fiber pattern in a machined workpiece. Click on the image to see a movie. Sample Movie No.1 Sample Movie No.2