Abstract: There has been an on going debate both in industry and academia of the need to improve the cooperation between designers and technologists. Development of new materials and design of products with new functionalities demands the application of new technologies and by that the need of cooperation between the two expert groups becomes even more important. To facilitate this relation sophisticated technological databases are created. Their goal is to help the decision-making about technological issues in the early design phase of the product. The paper points out the importance of considering the application of non-conventional technologies in order to meet the challenges generated by new products. Future trends in design and production are outlined and the problems related to micromachining and its precision is pointed out.