Search Results

Boeing Wichita hired their first human factors professional in the early fifties. For over thirty years, the work in the area of human factors maintained a traditional focus, concentrating on product usability. Their work was to build the customer's human specifications into the product design. This customer focus centered on building a product that would be easier to use and maintain. In the late seventies and early eighties, manufacturing found itself faced with a re-emphasized need to increase productivity to stay in business. To meet this demand, companies began implementing new technology modernization programs, causing the workplace to be in a state of rapid change. These changes called for a new approach in the way companies planned for new technology and in how they utilized their human resources. During this time, Boeing Wichita applied a human factors approach to planning new technology implementation.