Held Tolerance, CMM Inspection & the Testing Lab

The ZEISS CMM lab

A coordinate-measuring machine doesn't estimate a part's geometry — it probes the physical surface and compares it, point by point, against the CAD model it was designed from. Our ZEISS coordinate-measuring machine runs that check in-house, backed by two-dimensional image testers for smaller-feature verification, on the same floor as the CNC machining, injection molding, stamping, and die casting it verifies.

Why location matters

Sending a suspect part to an outside metrology lab costs days — the part travels, waits in a queue, and comes back with an answer the production line has already moved past. Because our CMM sits inside the same building as the presses and machines it checks, a flagged dimension goes back to the line the same day, before a bad batch runs any further.

What it's for

First-article inspection on a new tool, in-process spot checks during a production run, and final verification before a shipment leaves — all against the actual CAD model, not a sample part eyeballed against a print. For a buyer who's been burned by a supplier that said "it'll be close enough," this is the process that removes the guesswork: the part is measured, not assumed.

We don't publish a single tolerance figure here, because the honest answer depends on material, part geometry, and process — a stamped bracket and a machined bore don't hold the same number. Send us your drawing and callouts and we'll tell you plainly what our CMM can confirm we hit, not what a generic spec sheet claims.

The integrated testing lab

Dimensional tolerance is only part of whether a part survives its real use. Our in-house testing lab covers the environmental checks that catch problems a CMM can't — a finish that fails in sunlight, a seam that lets water in — before a customer's product does.

UV exposure testing

Coatings and plastics that look right on day one can chalk, fade, or crack after months outdoors. UV exposure testing runs that aging in the lab instead of leaving a customer to find out in the field a year after launch — relevant to anything that ships to be used outside, from sporting goods hardware to outdoor equipment housings.

Water ingress testing

A sealed enclosure or a weatherproof housing is only as good as its seams, gaskets, and vents actually hold up under water exposure — not as good as the drawing says it should be. Water ingress testing checks the built part, not the design intent, which is the gap that produces a real-world failure.

A full-time QC staff

The lab is staffed, not occasional — a dedicated quality team runs inspection and testing as their job, not as a task layered onto production staff between other work. That's what lets testing and CMM inspection happen on the same schedule as production, instead of becoming the reason a shipment slips.

Running your certification requirements on our floor

A first-time buyer's biggest fear is often not the part itself — it's not knowing whether the factory can even prove the part meets the standard their own customer or regulator requires. We run a customer's own certification test requirements on their behalf as part of qualifying a production run, working from the standard the customer supplies. Tell us what certification your product needs to carry, and we'll tell you honestly what we can run in-house versus what needs to go to an accredited outside lab.