The aerospace industry uses many monolithic parts machined out of aluminum 7XXX plates. A key issue for the cost-effectiveness of this process is the minimum distortion after machining. Any excessive machining distortion will result in the need for costly and time consuming re-work prior to installation of the component on the aircraft. To solve this problem Kaiser Aluminum has developed a manufacturing process that is capable of providing aluminum 7XXX plates that meet all mechanical properties requirements, together with considerably lower residual stress levels. These plates are now branded as Kaiser Select(r). The machining behavior of this material was evaluated with Airbus (Varel plant) on machined parts that typically required re-work due to machining distortion. The results of this evaluation show that the dimensional variation after machining was reduced to such a level that the need for rework was eliminated. The paper will present both the Kaiser improved process, and the Airbus Varel results.