The machinery and industrial automation sectors are continuously seeking materials that are lightweight, strong, and free from internal (residual) stresses. However, these characteristics are often mutually exclusive. Increasingly tighter dimensional tolerances for machine parts, along with time-intensive machining processes, exert pressure to adopt innovative materials. Material innovations are primarily driven by advancements in manufacturing technologies and processes. Materials with the same chemical composition—well-known to engineers for decades—can now exhibit significantly different technological and mechanical properties due to these innovations. This article presents the evolutionary characteristics of aluminum alloys and their hardening states. Modern technologies make it possible to produce high-strength aluminum alloys while significantly reducing internal stresses. These material properties greatly facilitate achieving narrow dimensional tolerances in manufactured parts, while also reducing production time and resource consumption. The internal properties of materials have a direct impact on the external dimensional tolerances of semi-finished products, finished components, and parts in operation, especially under challenging conditions such as elevated working temperatures. To strengthen materials, plastic deformation processes such as forging and rolling are employed. However, these processes introduce undesirable internal stresses that are released during machining or in-service use of the parts. Conversely, eliminating these internal stresses often results in a loss of strength parameters. While searching for an optimal compromise between the degree of plastic deformation (i.e., the level of internal stress) and strength properties, innovations are emerging that raise the quality of engineering materials to a much higher level. This is illustrated in the article using examples of aluminum tool and structural alloys.