Money in the United States is printed by the U.S. Mint, under the direction of the Treasury Department.
The procedure is not exactly public, but there are a few steps that are necessary in printing money in the U.S.
- Designing bills and coins
- Engraving for printing and pressing
- Siderography (placing elements for the bill printing together like a jigsaw puzzle)
- Plate creation
- Paper (75% cotton, 25% linen) and green and black inks
- Offset printing
- Plate printing (what you usually see with bill plate stamping their ink onto bills)
- Currency inspection
- COPE (Currency overprinting processing equipment)
- Packaging, storage and distribution
- LEPE (Large examining printing equipment) (combines COPE and Packaging into a large scale, automated form)