The possibility of using virtual manufacturing environments in the development of a manufacturing system gives industrial engineers new scope for improved quality in their work. The potential to test and verify ideas, handle complexity and communicate the design among team members, are some of the features that come with these new technologies. Applied in the early stages of the development process, design variables could be radically improved and thus better support the final design decision of the complete system. This paper presents results that synthesise the experience and knowledge industry people have of the possible advantages of digital support. Mutual frames of reference and conceptions of the abstract digital world need to be uncovered to obtain a closeness between industrial realism and computer-supported development. Further work will be done to analyse the need for structured methods that synchronise practical manufacturing knowledge with the era of new computer technology and its continuous development.