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The CMM, or coordinate measuring machine, has long been the standard for dimensional inspection of complex parts across a variety of industries. But has the CMM outlived its usefulness?  Is this technology now obsolete in the face of new technologies such as 3D scanning?

The CMM was first developed in the late 1950s. With the advent of the touch-trigger probe in the 1970s, the CMM rapidly expanded into U.S. manufacturing companies for use in quality control, leading to a revolution in three-dimensional measurement.

A typical CMM has three mutually perpendicular axes: X, Y, and Z, which allow for movement of a probe in 3D space. The machine records data point readings as indicated by a probe tip. A touch-trigger probe allows for automatic capture of the probe location in space when it makes physical contact with the part being measured.

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