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Although there are many conceptual similarities in-between the areas of quality and ergonomics, and despite that several indicators point to the fact that poor ergonomics causes quality deficiencies, there are up to date few examples of integrated improvement efforts. As a consequence there is also lack a well-grounded common theory. To overcome some of the gaps this paper outlines a conceptual framework for an integrative approach to the development of quality and ergonomics in concert – the reasoning and results based on a extensive research program involving experience from twenty-five Swedish organizations during a period of eight years.

The process of designing many industrial products is today characterized by the use of ad hoc methods, iterative "trial and error "-like proceedings and the engineer's own experience and intuition. This is due to the complexity of the problems attempted, and the disJiculty to formalize them and express them mathematically. nis paper suggests the use of a genetic algorithm to partially automate industrial design, and describes an example where the method has been successfully used to improve the design of a gas turbine.

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