There are a few companies that totally get it though. Protolabs has an amazing service, it is highly automated so you save the programming costs that makes loca

There are a few companies that totally get it though. Protolabs has an amazing service, it is highly automated so you save the programming costs that makes local CNC manufacturing so high. They are limited in the features, but for the majority of things they are fast and reasonably priced for low quantity. There are similar services for sheet metal I've used as well. However even with that service, I have a CNC machining place I use in China that will beat even automated vendors. It takes 6 days to ship instead of 3, but the prices are generally lower, they can do a lot more finishing, they can do much more complicated machining and higher tolerances. I feel bad for our local CNC guy as he rarely gets any work from us anymore. He has always had our best interests in mind, and has bailed us out on many occasions. He just cannot meet the lead times we can get elsewhere, we cannot afford to wait 2-3 weeks for a part when we can get it in a week. His prices are also higher, but that really wasn't what drove us elsewhere.