The Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) program is an international research and development program established to help develop the next generation of manufacturing and processing technologies. Seven regions of the world—Australia, Canada, the European Union and Norway, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, and the United States—join together to perform research and share expertise with the goal of improving manufacturing operations worldwide. Research is carried out through a series of collaborative projects in one of five technical theme areas—total product life cycle, process, strategy/planning/design tools, human/organizational/social, and the virtual/extended enterprise. Each project must have participants from a minimum of
three IMS regions.

An International Steering Committee (ISC) oversees the industry-led program and is assisted by an Inter Regional Secretariat (IRS). Each member region has a Regional Secretariat to facilitate operation of the program among industry, academic, and government participants. The office of the U.S. Regional Secretariat is located at NIST’s Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL). The location of the IRS rotates from region to region approximately every two years. Its current location is the United States with offices located in Washington D.C.