Machine-cut surfboards have been around for decades. But in the past few years, a proliferation of design software and lower-cost foam cutters have allowed even small surfboard makers to amp up production without increasing labor costs.

"It's a cutthroat world. This is a business," said Ian Wright, who machine-cuts his Aftermath surfboards in a Gardena, Calif., warehouse and works as a consultant for a company that sells a shaping machine. "The machine doesn't argue with you, it's not going to be stepping out for a cigarette break — it's just going to cut."

Wright, a 40-year-old South African native, was trained as a hand-shaper and has made thousands of boards using the tools of the artisan. Now the work is done on a dust-covered computer that shows a three-dimensional image of a surfboard cut into 120 slices that Wright moves with a mouse.

"I can do whatever I want with this thing," he said. "This is so much cooler. I can give the public what they want over and over and over again. ... You hear all this stuff about how (the cutting machine) takes the soul out of the process. I say, 'You're being too romantic.' "

The world's top professional surfers agree. Most, if not all of them, ride customized boards replicated time and again to exact specifications on a machine.