To ease manufacturing, should you use larger feature tolerances or smaller feature tolerances?

• A. Larger
• B. Smaller
• C. Neither
• D. Both

Answer: (A)

Allowing larger feature tolerances makes manufacturing easier because it relaxes the allowable variation in part dimensions. When tolerances are looser, machines, tooling, and processes can produce parts that still meet functional needs even if they aren’t near perfect, which reduces the demand for precision control, specialized tooling, and tight process monitoring. This typically lowers costs, speeds up setup and production, and increases yield since fewer parts are scrapped or rejected during inspection. Of course, you still have to ensure the looser tolerances won’t compromise how the part fits or works with other parts, but for the goal of easing manufacturing, larger tolerances are the right choice. Smaller tolerances raise manufacturing difficulty and cost because they require tighter process control, more accurate tooling, longer inspection, and the chance of more parts being out of spec.