Vendors can even ignore features that they view as unimportant, yet prevail in the long run.
Constructors of roadways, railways (and similar works) normally chart the profile along the centerline.
In fabricating, a profile consists of the more-or-less complex outline of a shape to be cut in a sheet of material such as laminated plastic, aluminium alloy or steel plate.
In modern practice, a drawing office determines the shape and dimensions required to fit the sheet into a larger work and feeds directions to a computer controlling a profile cutter.
The cutting head may use a rotating cutter like that of a spindle router or (in the case of steel plate) a torch which burns oxy-acetylene or other oxy-gas.