A method and apparatus for determining crush height of a plain bearing shell, including a light source for forming illuminating light to the plain bearing shell; a sensor device configured to capture an image; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: capture a first image of the plain bearing shell in a first mode, wherein no external compression stress in a circumference direction of the plain bearing shell is formed; generate plain bearing data based on the first captured image; maintain housing reference data including at least diameter information of a bore for receiving the plain bearing shell; and determine crush height of the plain bearing shell based on the plain bearing data and the housing reference data.