Tolerancing – miniseries
First part | Dimensional Management (DM)
Futurities Year 22 n°1
By Florian Weidenhiller | EnginSoft
This article is the first part of a four-part mini-series exploring key aspects of modern tolerance management in product development. It focuses on Dimensional Management (DM) — a simulation-based engineering methodology essential for ensuring dimensional quality across a product's lifecycle.
Tolerances play a critical role in product design, manufacturing, cost, and time-to-market. Poorly defined tolerances can lead to delays, increased scrap, and high production costs. DM addresses these challenges by integrating tolerance considerations early in the product development process (PDP), aligning design, manufacturing, and quality teams to manage variation proactively.
DM provides a structured approach across concept, design, prototyping, and production phases. It helps define reference structures, optimize tolerances using 3D simulations, guide inspection planning, and support continuous improvement through statistical process control. It emphasizes collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and clear communication of design intent through 2D drawings or 3D CAD models.
Ultimately, DM is not just a quality control tool—it's a foundational strategy for delivering high-quality products efficiently and confidently in today’s complex engineering environments.
Future articles in the series will cover:
CASE STUDY
In a recent interview, Enrico Boesso (EnginSoft) and Daniel Campbell (Capvidia) discussed how Model-Based Definition (MBD) is transforming manufacturing by replacing traditional 2D drawings with data-rich 3D models as the "single source of truth".
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CASE STUDY
Dimensional management in modern manufacturing demands more than just accurate geometric tolerances—it requires data consistency, traceability, and automation across the entire product lifecycle. Traditional practices like annotated PDFs and Excel-based inspection plans introduce risk and inefficiency by detaching product and manufacturing information (PMI) from the 3D model. Siemens’ NX Inspector addresses this challenge through the introduction of Model-Based Characteristics (MBC)—standards-compliant, machine-readable data objects that convert each PMI requirement into a uniquely identified, traceable element within the CAD environment.
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