To realise the "Autonomous Factory" vision of I*PROMS, the Network will vigorously prosecute research in four integrated areas spanning the whole field of production equipment and technologies. These integrated areas, referred to as clusters, are 'core competency areas' and I*PROMS will invest the necessary finances and resources to support them. They comprise:

Advanced Production Machines (APM) Cluster: will research into the innovative and readily re-configurable machines and systems and efficient manufacturing processes needed to deliver high-quality products competitively in the future.

Production Automation and Control (PAC) Cluster: will examine control issues associated with the 'Autonomous Factory' and the new ICT-based paradigms and algorithms needed to realise autonomy robustly and cost-effectively.

Innovative Design Technology (IDT) Cluster: will focus on activities that are traditionally upstream with respect to manufacturing and develop novel collaborative tools and techniques to bring design closer to manufacturing, thus producing gains in competitiveness through maximising concurrency.

Production Organisation and Management (POM) Cluster: will develop the innovative methodologies necessary to achieve manufacturing competitiveness. It will address the effective integration of human and technical resources. POM will create new sustainable management strategies for cost-effective and rapid reconfiguration of the Factory.