Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

For Group Accounts, Registered AFTER 12/1/2021

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For Individuals and Company Accounts Registered BEFORE 12/1/2021

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GD&T Basics is a video-on-demand streaming course, that is available 24/7 on any device – even your smartphone. 

You will have access to video content as well as review handouts and quiz questions to reinforce the material. Learn more here

Licenses issued for online training are only available as one per person. The training system will not allow multiple people to complete the program with only one seat. If multiple people are requesting the training, each person must purchase their own seat for the program. Group discounts available for any group of 2 or more participants! Contact us for pricing or more information on group discounts.

Print Reading and Tolerances (formerly known as Engineering Drawing Basics):
Understanding drawings is one of the most critical skills for anyone who works with manufactured parts. The objective of this course is to make sure that you understand how to read, interpret and work with engineering drawings in a day-to-day setting. You will learn how to work with prints from a mix of documented engineering standards, shop floor knowledge, and real-world examples. Our material breaks down the complexity of engineering drawings into the key concepts that will apply to every print you will see.

GD&T Fundamentals:
With the GD&T Basics Fundamentals Training Course, you will learn a simple framework that will allow you to understand how GD&T is used and why. We don’t throw every concept at you – we make absolutely sure that what we teach is what you will actually need in the real world.

Advanced GD&T:
The GD&T Standards are meant to cover every application, across every industry. While the GD&T Fundamentals course covers the core framework for understanding how GD&T is interpreted & applied – the GD&T Advanced course builds upon this framework showing how every GD&T Symbol and Callout are used.
**Note: Our Advanced course is Part 2 of our GD&T Professional Bundle, following Part 1: GD&T Fundamentals. This course is not available for purchase on its own unless you've already completed the GD&T Fundamentals Course.

Drawing Basics Bundle:
Includes 2 Courses:

• Print Reading and Tolerances
• GD&T Fundamentals

GD&T Professional Bundle:
Includes 2 Courses:

• GD&T Fundamentals
  
• Advanced GD&T 

Drawing Expert Bundle:
Includes all 3 Courses:

• Print Reading and Tolerances
• GD&T Fundamentals
• Advanced GD&T

All individuals enrolled in a single training course receive 180-Day access to the online platform and our instructors. 

If part of a company group or individuals who enroll in a Bundle Plan (2 or more courses) receive 1-year access to all Courses in the bundle.

Our courses are broken down into small easy-to-digest segments on each topic. 

We include a printable review handout for each course as well as quizzes that follow most sections. 

All active students also receive access to our Video/Bonus Materials Course and our monthly Live Webinars, where we answer some of the most commonly asked questions and discuss other drawing tips and tricks. You can join these webinars live and access the library of previously recorded webinars through the course platform.

You'll have full access to everything for your entire licensing period and can go back to review anything when needed.

You can find pricing details on our Pricing Page. We also offer additional corporate group discounts so please contact us for these rates.

If you get stuck on something or need clarification, our ASME Senior level certified instructors are available to help. We offer a direct question hotline available for individual questions regarding the course material. We typically respond to your questions within 24-72 hours.

All enrolled individuals also receive access to our live monthly webinars where we review application, interpretation, and inspection specific topics. Utilize the time to have direct discussion with our instructors. All live webinars are recorded and placed in a library of bonus video content to help reinforce the lessons learned in the training. These free bonus resources are automatically available as a separate course in your online platform. 

All active students enrolled in any of our Online training programs automatically gain access to our free bonus material and monthly webinars. Students can access bonus training videos and pre-recorded webinars by visiting the "Video & Webinar Bonus Content" course in your student dashboard. All active students will also receive announcement emails when we've scheduled a live webinar. Students can register for the live webinar using the link provided in the email or using the link provided in the bonus content course.

Absolutely – We are completely confident you will find this to be the best, most effective GD&T course or we will give you your money back. Our Fundamentals Course and Professional Plan come with a full 30-day money-back guarantee to ensure you are fully satisfied with the product.

For Individuals: You can sign up for the course right at course.gdandtbasics.com for individual licenses. From here you can select your plan, create a login and password, and purchase the course.

For Companies & Groups: Contact us here and we will be happy to put together an estimate incorporating our group discounts. We will then send an invoice for the required number of licenses to take care of everything in one order. Your team will then enroll using a special link created just for your company to access the program.

Once a license is purchased, you will have immediate access to all the course materials using your new login on our course platform. All videos, handouts, quizzes, and forums are all in one place and accessible at any time.

On average, our Print Reading and Tolerances course takes ~8-12 hours for students to review the material, complete quizzes, and take the final exam. If students dedicate 30 minutes a day to training, they can complete the course in a couple of weeks.

Our GD&T Fundamentals course takes ~10-12 hours to review the material, complete quizzes, and take the final exam. If students dedicate 30 minutes a day to training, they can complete the course in a month.

Our Professional Plan, which includes both the GD&T Fundamentals and Advanced GD&T courses takes ~15-24 hours to review the material, complete quizzes, and take the final exam. Simply put, if you can dedicate 30 minutes a day to the training, you can have both courses completed in roughly 2 months.

At GD&T Basics, we do things differently. Our mission is to help our students gain the wisdom to know how to use GD&T at work, not just memorize the ASME Y14.5 GD&T standard. Our training simplifies the GD&T Standard by focusing on teaching the parts of GD&T that are relevant to the work our students do, leveraging real engineering drawings that balance the realities of function and manufacturability – because that’s how it works in the real world. We directly connect GD&T to its uses in production and inspection, giving our students the perspective to see how using GD&T affects all aspects of production.

Learn more about GD&T Basics – how we started, what makes us different, and why we teach the way we do – in this article: From Theory to the Real-World, the GD&T Basics Way

Most GD&T training courses teach the ASME Y14.5 standard tediously by making students memorize the full set of rules, instead of explaining how these rules impact modern manufacturing. At GD&T Basics, we focus on the core concepts you need to know about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing to improve your drawings, your production process, and your inspection guidelines. Based on our years of experience in the field, we have developed the GD&T Basics Framework – GD&T for dummies, if you will – to simplify the complex ideas behind GD&T, and explain how GD&T impacts your daily workflow and production results.

For more details on our training approach check out this article: GD&T Made Easy with Our Practical Training Approach

Implementing and having an in-depth understanding of GD&T simplifies tolerances, reduces error & scrap, and improves communication between internal departments, suppliers, and customers. Yet, we know that training your staff puts a short-term strain on your business. That’s why we’ve spent years refining our custom GD&T live training programs to make them as short, efficient, and effective as possible. Because our instructors know the full standard, we can curate and teach the GD&T information that applies directly to your business – so you can see the benefits immediately!

Learn about our live training process, how we tailor the training to your needs, and the benefits of live training in the article below:

Why Customizing GD&T Training is Necessary For Ensuring You Have Success with GD&T

To calculate the ROI of GD&T training, you have to weight the “true costs” of training against the value of potential savings that GD&T knowledge can bring your company. If your drawings leave dimensions open to interpretation and confusion, then GD&T training could ward off costly deviations, disputes, and the scrap that often results from manufacturing miscommunications. To help you weigh the cost vs. reward of GD&T training, we have put together an article that looks at real numbers and ROI calculations.

Learn more here: What is the ROI of GD&T Training?

When you invest in GD&T training, you are also investing in a change to your business. To get the most out of your investment, you need to first define the results you would like to see. We have helped thousands of companies improve their organizations through GD&T training, helping them solve common issues such as: onboarding new hires quickly and effectively, getting design, production, and inspection teams on the same page, solving production problems, and meeting customer requirements.

To learn how GD&T training can help solve these issues, check out this article: How to Ensure You Receive Results with Your GD&T Training

We have helped thousands of companies learn and use GD&T, and have noticed three common problems they face with online training: finding time for training, holding people accountable, and retaining knowledge and applying it in their day-to-day work. In the article linked below, we explain how our online training is set up to solve these common issues.

The Top 3 Issues with Online GD&T Training and How to Fix Them

We believe that companies in every industry can benefit from GD&T training, and we have the track record to prove it. GD&T Basics has helped thousands of companies across numerous industries learn to use GD&T, including NASA, Toyota, Thermo Fisher, Mitutoyo, Honeywell and many others. We have put together a resource that highlights each industry we have worked with, the unique challenges they face, and how GD&T training can help them meet these challenges.

Find it, here: Industries We Work With

Live trainings are either onsite or virtual, and students are taught by one of our instructors in-person or using video conferencing software at specific times. Live trainings customize the curriculum to use your prints and utilize examples from your production process.

The on-demand training program provides self-paced instruction through standardized video lessons and examples that students can access at any time.

We also offer hybrid training programs that augment primary online training with live consulting sessions with an instructor.

Check out the article below for a break down of how our live and online training programs compare:

How to choose between Live Instructor and On-Demand GD&T Training

There are many benefits to learning GD&T from a live instructor through our customized online or on-site classes. Live training provides real-time expert guidance, customized training using prints from your own production line, and targeted problem solving tailored to your company’s needs.

Check out this article for details on how our live GD&T training can benefit your company:

The Value of Live GD&T Training

Yes! -- On-line training offers a flexible, focused, and cost-effective option to teach your team GD&T, but if you’re looking for more personalized instructions to apply GD&T to your own drawings to solve specific production issues, that requires a more tailored approach. We have developed a hybrid approach to GD&T training that offers the best of both worlds by blending the flexibility of on-demand learning with customized coaching from a certified GD&T expert.

Learn more: The Hybrid Approach to Learning GD&T

Many companies that are already using GD&T have employees looking for a refresher course to brush up on their skills or learn more advanced GD&T concepts. We’ve worked with thousands of engineers, machinists, and inspectors employed by all types and sizes of companies, and our experience teaching tells us that 99.9% of our students vastly overestimate their proficiency with GD&T. Because many people learn GD&T from coworkers on the job, we see a lot of organizations using GD&T incorrectly. Foundational GD&T training for your team, not a “refresher” course, is how to fill the gaps in your team’s knowledge and improve communication throughout your organization.

Find more information, including a link to an online quiz to help you understand your team’s current level of proficiency with GD&T, in this article: Your Team Needs Foundational GD&T Training, Not Just a Refresher

Despite its massive importance, most university programs do not teach the basics of engineering drawings and GD&T. Graduates may know how to use CAD, but their designs don’t account for how a part is actually made or inspected. Without training, this knowledge can only be gained from experience in the field. Training your new hires in print reading and GD&T gets them up to speed in months, rather than years, and enables them to effectively communicate with manufacturing, inspection, and suppliers much sooner.

For more reasons to train new engineers in GD&T, check out this article: The Top 4 Reasons Why You Need to Train New Engineering Hires in GD&T

To avoid deviations, you need clear drawings and good communication between you, your customer, and suppliers. This can be accomplished with GD&T training: the language of GD&T provides the specificity needed to ensure that design, manufacturing, and inspection are on the same page. To illustrate this, we have put together an article that takes a look at the elements that contribute to the creation of deviations and how those issues can be prevented using GD&T:

Why Deviations Occur and How to Avoid Them

Poor communication causes disputes, strains relationships, wastes time, increases scrap, and costs you money. Standardizing the way you communicate across every department, supplier, and customer ensures that nothing gets lost in translation. A solid knowledge and understanding of GD&T throughout your organization is how you standardize your communication.

Learn more: How Using GD&T Improves Your Communication

Disputes are inevitable between in-house design, production, and inspection departments, or with external suppliers and customers. GD&T training improves communication because it gives everyone involved a common understanding, and improved communication means fewer disputes. We have put together an article that breaks down the types of disputes our clients face: internal, supplier, or customer; and illustrate how applying GD&T to your workflow will help solve each of them.

Check it out, here: GD&T is the Key to Solving and Preventing Internal and External Disputes

We have heard several common objections that hold companies back from getting GD&T training, but we have simple solutions to address them! These concerns have ranged from not having the time to do the training, to getting management on board. To address these concerns, we have put together a short guide to help you find GD&T training solutions that work for your company.

Check out: GD&T Basics’ Training Solutions to Common Concerns