1. A method for accurately performing a machine operation at a plurality of locations on a workpiece with a robot that is under the direction of a controller, that comprises: mounting the workpiece in a predetermined manner to a fixture; providing a plurality of alignment points on the fixture; positioning the robot to measure the position of the alignment points and providing coordinate data to the controller indicative of the measured position of the alignment points; determining a first coordinate transformation based on the measured alignment point coordinates and storing said first coordinate transformation in the controller; providing at least two local features on the workpiece; providing nominal local feature coordinates to the controller indicative of the expected location in robot coordinates of the at least two local features on the workpiece; applying the first coordinate transformation to the nominal local feature coordinates to provide corrected local feature coordinates and storing the corrected local feature coordinates in the controller; positioning the robot in response to the corrected local feature coordinates to measure the actual position of the at least two local features on the workpiece and providing coordinate data to the controller indicative of the measured position of the at least two local features; determining a second coordinate transformation based on a comparison of the nominal local feature coordinates and the measured local feature position and storing the second coordinate transformation in the controller; providing nominal machine operation location coordinates to the controller indicative of the plurality of locations on the workpiece; applying the second coordinate transformation to the nominal machine operation location coordinates to provide corrected machine operation location coordinates and storing the corrected machine operation location coordinates in the controller. positioning the robot in response to the corrected machine operation location coordinates to perform the machine operation at the plurality of locations on the workpiece; and performing the machine operation at the plurality of locations on the workpiece.