Production Automation and Control (PAC) represents the foremen of the factory of the future, responsible for overseeing the machines and for communicating between machines and management. This includes self-adaptive control, flexible/reconfigurable manufacturing, adaptive quality systems, agent-based distributed architectures, (machine) knowledge management, and human-machine interaction. The major research issue identified for this cluster is collaborative agent-based (or holonic) manufacturing automation, and related to that, collaborative automation, self-adaptive control and human-machine interaction. There is considerable interaction between this cluster and the Advanced Production Machines cluster in making these machines more ‘intelligent’ and between this cluster and the Production Organisation and Management cluster in controlling these machines within the overall Autonomous Factory environment. It is the combination of these cluster areas that will ultimately provide the overall flexible/reconfigurable Autonomous Factory.