Jordán and Michel capture the diverse and often conflicting concerns of manufacturing business leaders worldwide…The lessons have widespread application in companies of almost any size. Throughout history, manufacturing of flint arrowheads to sophisticated computer chips has been a mainstay of societal growth. Indeed, technology epochs have been named for significant occurrences; e.g.., the industrial Revolution, manufacturing productivity fueled by mass production technology. We are now witnessing the start of one of these rare epochs, the Knowledge Age, manufacturing productivity fueled by information and knowledge technology. Next Generation Manufacturing provides an exciting insight into this emerging epoch; an easily read, accurate, and insightful book on manufacturing history in the making. The authors have done a superb job of taking the results of the Next Generation Manufacturing initiative and communicating them in a clear and concise fashion. The use of a fictitious firm going through change brings the reader into the real world of business. Focusing on the integrated supply chain and emphasizing the need for the right people, with the right knowledge and working in the right process, is a real formula for competitive success. Next Generation Manufacturing describes in a original way the new trends affecting the corporate world, as well as the economic system as a whole, focusing on the strategic contribution of information and communications technology to this evolution. They place special emphasis on the extended enterprise, a new model already in use that is seen as a further evolution f the network enterprise, as well as on the knowledge and experience that form the best of this organizational model.