Metal stamping machines are used to give the exact shape and parameters to the metal products. When a metal sheet is inserted into the metal stamping machine, it can be molded into the exact shape. The kind of shape that has to be given to the product should be pre-determined before putting the metal in the stamping machines. The customer provides a sample or a diagram of the product that has to be created. Sometimes, the customer may not even know what the final product will look like. He will come with a vague idea of what purpose the product would serve. Most metal stamping producers have designing capabilities to assist the customer with what the actual design and requirements of the product should be.

Metal stamping machines are of many kinds. They can range between the simplest manual presses to highly computerized progressive die processors that involve complicated parts. Depending on the kind of machine, the features of the product can be changed according to the customer's requirements. The more advanced the machine, the process also becomes much faster and more efficient.

Metal stamping machines can perform a variety of functions like fine blanking, wireforming, deep drawing, fourslide and multislide stamping. Fine blanking involves the shearing of the material for producing finished parts without secondary operations. Wireforming is the stamping of metal wire into different shapes such as springs, clips, rings and pins. Deep drawing is a cold forming process in which a flat blank of sheet metal is formed by the action of a punch forcing the metal into a die cavity. Four slide and multislide stamping is for horizontal die applications from multiple directions, done either successively or simultaneously.

Most metal stamping companies also offer supplementary services like designing, material sourcing, prototyping, short run manufacturing, upgrading or re-designing, assembly services and specialty packaging.