The automatic piece transfer machine, more commonly called transfer, is a type of automatic machine that combines, in a single production unit, the functions of a series of separate machines, unifying loading operations and transfer mechanisms.

A transfer machine consists of a series of work stations that operate simultaneously; the piece enters, suitably clamped in a gripper and is sequentially transferred in front of each of the operating units, so that once at steady speed, at each step of the line or of the rotary table, the loading of a blank corresponds and the unloading of a completely machined piece .