This paper presents four process models for machining processes : 1) an economical mathematical model of machining process, 2) a prediction model for surface roughness, 3) a decision model for fuzzy cutting conditions, and 4) a judgment model of machinability with automatic selection of cutting conditions. Each model was developed the economic machining, and these models were applied to theories widely studied in industrial engineering which are nonlinear programming, computer simulation, fuzzy theory, and neural networks. The results of this paper emphasize the human oriented domain of a nonlinear programming problem. From a viewpoint of the decision maker, fuzzy nonlinear programming modeling seems to be apparently more flexible, more acceptable, and more reliable for uncertain, ill-defined, and vague problem situations.