The term "Form, fit and function", sometimes called F3

F3

F3 may refer to:* Formula Three, a class of racing* F3 class, a project name for an upcoming class of Norwegian Cruise Lines mega-cruise ships* F-3 Demon, a carrier based jet fighter of the United States Navy* F3 , created by Folio, Inc...

, in the manufacturing

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

 and technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 industries is a description of an item's identifying characteristics. If the specifications, or criteria, for form, fit and function of a particular item are met, then the item may generally be considered interchangeable with other items with the same requirements.

The assessment of impact on Form, Fit, and Function are commonly used to determine if a proposed change to a part will be "minor", that is no impact on the Form, Fit, and Function, or "major", that is does impact the Form, Fit, Function.

Definition

Physical, functional, and performance characteristics or specifications that uniquely identify a component or device and determine its interchangeability in a system.

Form

• the shape, size, dimensions, mass
  Mass
  Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
  
   and/or other visual parameter
  Parameter
  Parameter from Ancient Greek παρά also “para” meaning “beside, subsidiary” and μέτρον also “metron” meaning “measure”, can be interpreted in mathematics, logic, linguistics, environmental science and other disciplines....
  
  s which uniquely characterize an item. This defines the "look" of the part or item. Sometimes weight, balance and center of mass
  Center of mass
  In physics, the center of mass or barycenter of a system is the average location of all of its mass. In the case of a rigid body, the position of the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body...
  
   are considerations in 'form'.

Fit

• the ability of an item to physically interface or interconnect with or become an integral part of another item or assembly. This relates to the associativity of the part in relation to the assembly, or to other parts, and includes tolerance
  Tolerance (engineering)
  Engineering tolerance is the permissible limit or limits of variation in# a physical dimension,# a measured value or physical property of a material, manufactured object, system, or service,# other measured values ....
  
  s.

Function

• the action[s] that an item is designed to perform. This is the reason for the item's existence, which also includes secondary applications.