A finite element program was developed using line elements for simulating the stretch/draw forming operation of an arbitrarily-shaped plane-strain section. An implicit, incremental, updated Lagrangian formulation is employed, introducing a minimum plastic work path assumption for each time step. Geometric and material nonlinearities are also considered within each time step. The finite element equation is based on the mesh-normal, which compatibly describes arbitrary tool surfaces and FEM meshes without depending on the explicit spatial derivatives of tool surfaces. The membrane approximation is adopted under the plane stress assumption. The sheet material is assumed to obey a rigid-viscoplastic constitutive law. The developed program was tested in the die-tryout of typical automotive inner panels. In order to determine a single friction coefficient and boundary length, FEM results and measurements of thinning for a stretched section of final die were compared. After finding analysis parameters, the sheet forming operations of original and final die designs were simulated. Excellent agreement between measured and computed thickness strains was obtained and the developed program was able to identify die designs which were rejected during die tryout.