AbstractRealising the system‐oriented approach of “Distortion Engineering”, the influence of multiple parameters on the distortion of cylindrical gears was investigated by design of experiments. Aim of this research work was to investigate the effect of production parameters before the final heat treatment. The established experimental design focuses on the analysis of two main parts of gear distortion. One part is the distortion of the teeth themselves; the other part is a displacement of the teeth due to the distortion of the disk‐shaped base body. The selection of the varied parameters is partly based on results of a system‐oriented experiment with disks. Therefore several influences on the base body distortion are known. In comparison to the analysis of disk distortion the interpretation of gear distortion measurements requires significantly extended effort. Besides a determination of the distortion of the complex involute tooth profile, it has to be distinguished between a change of the tooth profile and a change of the base body.