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

Abstract

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.

Human-centred design in industry 4.0: case study review and opportunities for future research

“…Figure 6 structures those success factors as a triangular decision-making diagram: Stakeholder networks : the organizational, social, and environmental contexts—which involve stakeholders (e.g., users, customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, partners, regulators, etc.) through the life-cycle design process—are essential for enhancing the credibility of information and promoting the sharing of transdisciplinary knowledge as valuable design inputs (Chen, 2016 ; Mazali, 2018 ; Schulze et al, 2005 ; Witschel et al, 2019 ). The diversity in interests and expectations of the stakeholders needs to be respected and analysed to comprehend the impact of stakeholder interactions and their features at different life-cycle design phases: design, production, delivery, service, maintenance and end-of-life cycle (Mourtzis et al, 2018 ; Turetken et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ).…”

“… Levels of involvement : the engagement modes of stakeholders are depicted by three levels of involvement. These levels include the informative level in which stakeholders only provide and receive design information; the consultative level in which they comment on pre-defined design scenarios; and the participative level in which they make influencing decisions on a design process, which is a higher level of engagement than that of the informative level, which only considers stakeholders as information sources in the design process (Schulze et al, 2005 ; van Lopik et al, 2020 ). Design practice : the design development—which responds to the extents to which the data about users, customers, and other relevant stakeholders should be properly obtained and analysed—needs to be defined.…”

“…According to International Organization for Standardization ( 2019 ), HCD is a multidisciplinary approach incorporating human factors and ergonomics knowledge and techniques to make systems usable. However, the design complexity in smart systems can occur in both directions, where in one direction the human must be able to effectively cooperate with other existing physical system components and simultaneously exchange data with system informatics for hybrid decision making (Fernandez-Carames & Fraga-Lamas, 2018 ; Schulze et al, 2005 ; Zheng et al, 2018 ). The reverse direction is that the design of such smart systems must be capable of sensing and responding to the trust levels of humans they interact with in order to result in more productive relationships between the human and other smart components (Chang et al, 2017 ; Rogers et al, 2019 ; Seitz et al, 2021 ; Song et al, 2016 ; Van Acker et al, 2020 ).…”

Developing an integrated display of health data for aging in place

“…The goal of human factors application is to develop systems that are productive, safe, comfortable, and effective for human use (Strawderman & Koubek, 2008). Humancentered design has been successfully applied in automotive industry, nuclear power plants, and so forth (Liao & Chang, 2011;Schulze, Brau, Haasis, Weyrich, & Rhatje, 2005). In health care, Human-centered design is critical for both health care providers and patients in terms of reducing medical errors and improving health care quality.…”

Ergonomic planned supply in an automotive assembly line

“…In a case study at Daimler Chrysler AG, Schulze et al (2005) showed the importance of implementing the so‐called “Digital Factory” for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the automotive sector, and concluded that it is a challenge to assimilate the human factor into the digital factory.…”