Punching, and press work in general, is a process well suited to mass production. However the initial tooling costs, of both the machine and the job-specific press tool, are high. This limits punch work from being used for much small-volume and prototype work.

A turret punch is one way off addressing this cost. The tooling of a turret punch uses a large number of standard punch tools: holes of varying sizes, straight edges, commonly used notches or mounting holes. By using a large number of strokes, with several different tools in turn, a turret press may make a wide variety of parts without having to first make a specialised press tool for that task. This saves both time and money, allowing rapid prototyping or for low volume production to start without tooling delays.

A punch is less flexible than a laser for cutting compound shapes, but faster for repetitive shapes (for example, the grille of an air-conditioning unit). Some units combine both laser and punch features in one machine.

Most turret punches are CNC-controlled, with automatic positioning of the metal sheet beneath the tool and programmed selection of particular tools.