GD&T in the form of 3D annotation (in Autodesk Inventor, for example) allows the CNC programmer to reference the GD&T while programming the part and helps them to program tolerance inspections into their CNC code. For example, the cutting tool may wear during machining, reducing cut accuracy. In-program inspection will notice that and stop the program so the cutting tool can be replaced and the program restarted.
Metrology hardware—used to inspect parts manually after machining—can also automatically pick up the tolerances from GD&T in Fusion 360—saving the repeat data input. Fusion 360 can then combine the results from the inspection into a report, which can be saved into a PDM or PLM system for future reference.