A method of notching lamina workpieces with a notching press system. The method includes moving a ram and an upper tooling section to an open position and inserting a lamina workpiece onto an indexing spindle, and then moving the ram and the upper tooling section to a closed position, producing a cut opening in the lamina workpiece between a punch and a first die opening. The press ram and the upper tooling section are then moved back to the open position and the index motor is rotated to position the cut opening of the workpiece over a second die opening. The torque applied to the index motor is then reduced, and the press ram and the upper tooling section are moved to an intermediate position so that the piloting device cooperates with the cut opening of the workpiece for angular positioning of the workpiece.