Abstract :
The framework described here was originally evolved as part of a EUREKA FAMOS project. Rather than discussing the specifics of production, this paper takes a wider view in the context of the more general requirements of manufacturing. Modern manufacturing methods can benefit from a range of `informatic tools´, largely based on developments in intelligent systems. These are tools to handle information as opposed to materials, and are likely to be as much a part of future factories as the traditional machine tools have been in the past. For maximum benefit, the informatic tools require a sensibly structured operating environment, and the nature of modern manufacture makes this increasingly a distributed environment
