A screw costs less than a paperclip, yet it emerges from one of the most refined high-speed production chains ever built. Modern plants measure output not in parts per hour but in parts per second. It begins as coiled steel wire, drawn through carbide dies to a controlled diameter and spheroidise annealed so the carbides ball up and the ferrite matrix softens. That softness is essential, because almost nothing that follows involves cutting. The wire feeds into a cold header, a multi-station forging press that shears a slug and punches it through a progressive sequence of dies: - Station one squares and pre-forms the blank - Subsequent blows upset the head, forming the drive recess and the bearing face - Extrusion stations reduce the shank and form the point - Trimming defines hex or flange geometry Each blow happens in milliseconds. Good machines run 200 to 400 parts per minute, and small-diameter headers exceed 500. Threads are then rolled, not cut. Hardened dies press the blank ...