A fixture is a work-holding or support device used in the manufacturing industry. What makes a fixture unique is that each one is built to fit a particular part or shape. The main purpose of a fixture is to locate and in some cases hold a workpiece during either a machining operation or some other industrial process. A jig differs from a fixture in that it guides the tool to its correct position in addition to locating and supporting the workpiece.

The primary purposes of jigs and fixtures is to:

Types of Fixtures: General Purpose - They are usually relatively inexpensive and can be used to hold a variety and range of sizes of workpieces (examples: Vices, chucks, split collets).

Special Purpose - They are designed and built to hold a particular workpiece for a specific operation on a specific machine or process.

A tool is any item that can be used to achieve a goal, especially one that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as Instrument, Utensil, Implement, Machine, or Apparatus. The set of tools needed to achieve a goal is equipment. The knowledge of constructing, obtaining and using tools is technology.

Tool use by humans dates back millions of years, and other animals are also known to employ simple tools.

Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind. Humans evolved an opposable thumb — useful in holding tools — and increased dramatically in intelligence, which aided in the use of tools. Because tools are used extensively by both humans and wild chimpanzees, it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species. These early tools, however, were likely made of perishable materials such as sticks, or consisted of unmodified stones that cannot be distinguished from other stones as tools. The beginning of the Stone Age marks the era when hominins first began manufacturing stone tools, and evidence of these tools dates back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia. One of the earliest distinguishable stone tool forms is the hand axe.