CNC Machining is a process in which a piece of raw material or stock is cut into a final desired shape using a computer controlled machine and often several different machine tools. Depending on the operation in question different tools are called, for example ball mills, end mills, thread mills, taps and slitting saws to name a few, all have different uses and come in all manner of shapes and sizes.
Machining produces extremely accurate parts, often to within 0.001" (I know, Canada is mostly metric but the industry predominately uses imperial units), and is renowned for creating a very high-end look with 3D surfacing and clean, strong edges which forging cannot produce.
Because every aspect of the part must be "cut out" machined parts take a long time to produce. A Ranger body for example takes 20 minutes to machine (the face plate is made separately), then it still needs to be deburred, quality checked, anodised, laser etched and assembled.
