ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the trends in new dimension of technological planning in industry, the findings from a set of case studies related to automation technologies in the automobile industry, and the interdisciplinary nature of some work proposed or being done in this planning arena. The case studies on automation and human resource development were conducted in 1983–84 at major automobile companies around the world. There are several converging forces behind the increasing emphasis on human resource considerations in technological planning. The national priorities accorded to United States industry's productivity and international competitiveness have sharpened the focus of technological planning issues on automation process technology. The high technology of integrated manufacturing has brought product technology and process technology closer to each other at the planning stage, thus making human resource considerations, which are traditionally close to process technology, increasingly linked to product technology as well.
