A dataset including boundary representations of shapes associated with an item being designed for manufacture is accessed by a semantic processing module. A semantic graph of each of the boundary representations of shapes is generated and a numerical processing module computes geometric attributes of each of the shapes. The semantic graph of a shape is updated based on any geometric attributes computed for the shape. The semantic graphs are then compared to a repository of semantic graphs of manufacturing features to identify instances of manufacturing features. Geometric attributes associated with each instance of a manufacturing feature are then computed. For each instance, the associated geometric attributes are compared against a repository of semantic manufacturing rules to determine whether the instance is in compliance with the rules. A user designing the item is alerted to the presence of any instances of manufacturing features that are not in compliance with the rules.