The overall rationale and assumption for the research project presented in this paper is that a fast, easy to use, and reliable procedure to predict and validate manual assembly tasks is of major importance in product and production development processes to ensure high and robust product quality and process performance. A basic condition for the research is the belief that tools with such functionality are currently not available for companies to utilise in their development process. Hence more research and development is needed in the area. This paper describes the status of the project IMMA - Intelligently Moving Manikins and discusses coming initiatives. The project status is portrayed by a conceivable simulation task of a digital test assembly of a centre console.