Manufacturers realize that feature location in part design and production is crucial. To produce interchangeable parts in a manufacturing environment, the design must be sound enough to allow mating parts to work correctly. Furthermore, the industrial process must be robust enough to produce parts called out in design in an efficient and predictable manner. Likewise, measurement of the final parts must be done easily and with confidence to verify the in-process or final products.

For example, inspecting a bore in an open setup often requires multiple measurement steps and mathematical calculations. Portable coordinate measuring machine (CMM) technology can alleviate much of this work by allowing the user to fix the part in one spot, take several points to create an alignment of x and y axes, and measure the bore. Software is then able to determine the position of the bore and its deviation from the called out position.

 …