Intermediary Objects as a Means to Foster Co-operation inEngineering Design

In this paper we argue that co-operation is a particular way to co-ordinate an industrial activity and that it is particularly suited to collaborative design activity. Through a well documented case study of the development of a front truck axle, we point out several key features of co-operation in an industrial setting. We particularly pay attention to the interfaces between the actors involved in the collaborative process. We observed the pre-eminence of the representations and the objects created, manipulated, and finally we claim that they support knowledge creation and therefore allow the development of a common understanding of the design situation (i.e. the problem and the solution). We propose the concept of ``intermediary object'' as a conceptual framework for the involvement of objects in the design process. We demonstrate the power of this concept in the analysis and modelling of particular design situations and in the development of specific objects that foster co-operation in real design situations.