In many manufacturing companies, the plant includes a separate area for either the machinery that is used in the final manufacturing process or machinery that is in need of repair. The more common use for a machine shop is within companies that have specialized equipment that the production line workers are not qualified to operate. It may be a matter of welding parts of the product together, or machine insertion of bolts or other fasteners. Whatever the process is, there is likely to be the need for some type of machinery, and that means the need for a machine shop if only for the purpose of maintenance and repair of machinery that is used on a daily basis.

Regardless of the reason for its existence, having a machine shop means that the need exists for someone to keep things under control and assure that everything runs smoothly, is in good working order, and that new employees know how to properly use the equipment if their job entails the use of any machinery. Those who are trained and qualified to use the machinery should be the only ones in the machine shop, and the machine shop manager's job is to monitor who has access to the equipment.

Other functions a machine shop manager may have other than training new employees and maintaining the equipment include ascertaining that upgrades to machinery are done as necessary, being certain all machine shop employees know their specific job functions and are well-trained in that area, keeping well-documented records of both maintenance and repair of each piece of machinery, making sure that replacement parts are on hand to repair primary machinery, and reporting to line managers any problems that may exist or maintenance schedules of line machinery. Some smaller companies may also call upon the machine shop manager and his stuff to make emergency repairs to office equipment because they have the expertise to do so.

The responsibilities of a machine shop manager can overlap that of the general maintenance and repair functions within the company because of the intricate nature of the training this department has. In other companies, the machine shop manager may have specific functions within his department and cannot operate outside of that scope of duties. A new employee in this field needs to understand what his own company expect and what his duties are within that company. Not everyone has a separate machine shop, but the need for someone to perform those duties and train others to do the same may exist within the confines of a different department such a Facilities and Maintenance or Equipment Maintenance and Repair.