Today most companies, from those that produce aircraft carriers to those that produce cell phones, satellites or sump pumps, have committed to following either the ASME Y14.5M-1994 standard or the collection of ISO standards on GD&T. The ASME Y14.5 standard has emerged as the preferred standard in the United States and several foreign countries, mainly because of its stability, emphasis on design intent, mathematical definition and translation to several languages.

In addition, there is now the ASME Y14.41-2003 standard, which sets forth the rules to applying the Y14.5 dimensioning and tolerancing concepts to digital data such as solid models. Dimensions and tolerances can now be embedded in the CAD model. Embedding tolerances in the solid (digital) model opens the door to reduced dimension drawings and automated analysis, which can include the expected variation which is bound to occur in production. GD&T enables this change in technology. According to ASME Y14.100 the word drawing now refers to the paper document or digital data.