ARE RESULTS FROM MANIKIN SIMULATIONS TAKEN SERIOUSLY?

Abstract

In the car industry the need to shorten time to market challenge pre production engineering. Simulation of a design’s manufacturability, instead of physical verification, is seen as means to meet these challenges. In order to examine how results from computer manikin simulations of assembly operators are presented to decision makers at Volvo Car Corp. and the credibility they gain, an interview study was carried out among engineers and managers in design and pre-production. It revealed that simulation strengthens a pre-production engineer’s credibility. Improvements are possible in mainly two areas: a more correct and trustworthy positioning of the manikin and more emphasis on objective assessments in the result