Tips for Lower Grinding Costs

Parallelism is easier to achieve than flatness. You may be able to reduce your costs by specifying a greater tolerance for flatness than for parallelism.
Larger pieces are more difficult to hold flat. Thermal stress relieving before grinding can aid in this, reduce required stock removal, and lower your costs.
Thicker pieces or higher strength steels require more stock removal. Press flattening and stress relieving can help to avoid at least part of this.
Pieces with thickness tolerances better than +/- 0.003 may require additional processing, usually in the form of reciprocal grinding. Avoid specifying tight tolerances unless they are absolutely necessary.
Milling offers faster stock removal and tolerances close to those achieved by grinding, which translates into reduced costs, particularly on very large pieces.