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With the increasing use ot information and communication technology the world of engineering and design is rapidly changing. While for the longest time engineers used to work with drawing boards and had a close relation to the experimental parts shop nowadays we are experiencing a cyberworld of 24-hours continuous product design distributed around the world and among various cultures and work practices. The papers aims to analyze current trends in engineering automation and derive means and measures to improve the situation based on several case studies in various industries. The various aspects and potentials of human, organization and technology will be highlighted and their individual contribution will be indicated.

In process industries functional relations between the different organisational levels are difficult to define. While it is possible to describe the relationship of resources considered at the various levels and thereby form an integrated information system, it is nearly impossible to achieve a full functional integration within a computerised system. This leaves a gap in functionality between planning oriented business levels and execution oriented process levels. In practice this gap has been closed by human experts at plant level. With new computerised systems on the market it is necessary to reassess the role of the human experts at plant level and see how they can interact between production planning and scheduling systems and process control systems.