Human-Centered design of engineering applications: Success factors from a case study in the automotive industry

The implementation of a so‐called “Digital Factory” is a tremendous challenge for automotive engineering. The technical task is to effect a seamless information backbone spanning three key departments: Design, Production Process Planning, and Manufacturing. Also suppliers such as machine and tool vendors have to be integrated into the information flow. Furthermore, there is the challenge of assimilating the human factor into the digital factory. New production planning tools will significantly change not only the contemporary production process planner's work but also the collaboration with suppliers. This raises one major issue: how to integrate different user groups into the design of complex engineering applications for production planning. The authors focus on a case study about the development of a computer‐aided planning (CAP) tool, which has been running since 1999 at DaimlerChrysler AG. The complexity of engineering processes and related information technology (IT) applications is examined and success factors for user involvement into IT development are identified. Finally, the article concludes with an adapted scenario‐based approach for the interdisciplinary and participative development of complex engineering applications. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 15: 421–443, 2005.