Professor. Giovanni Perrone works in manufacturing and production systems and teaches manufacturing, computer integrated manufacturing and industrial engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Basilicata in Potenza (ITALY). He also teaches "Economics" at the University of Palermo (ITALY). His principal interests are in Production Engineering and Management, Operations Management, Advanced and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems, Production Economics and Soft Computing Techniques. Within these research fields he has published more than 70 papers, mainly in international journals and proceedings of international conferences. He is a member of IIE, IEEE, corresponding member of CIRP and member of AITEM (Italian association for manufacturing). He acts as reviewer for the following journals: Int. J. of Production Research, Int. J. of Production Economics, Omega, European J. of Operational Research.

Giovanna Lo Nigro is an assistant professor at the Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale, University of Palermo (Italy) and teaches Organization Design within the degree in Managerial Engineering. She obtained her PhD in Industrial Engineering in 1997. Her research interests include: response for quotation, distributed production planning, negotiation in economic transactions, supply chain management, reconfigurable manufacturing system, virtual organization, customer centered process reengineering. She is a member of Ithe talian Association of Management Engineering (AiIG).

Sergio Noto La Diega has been a Full Professor of Manufacturing Technology at the University of Palermo, Dipartimento di Tecnologia Meccanica, Produzione e Ingegneria Gestionale since 1975; he has also taught Business Management within the degree in Managerial Engineering since 1993. He is the author and co-author of more than 100 papers, mainly published in international journals and conference acts. His main research interests include: economic analysis of manufacturing systems, modelling and simulation of manufacturing systems, optimisation of machining processes, dynamic behaviour of machine tools in metal cutting, analysis of metal forming processes.

Paolo Renna is an assistant professor at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Basilicata. He gained his Masters Degree in mechanical engineering from University of Basilicata (2000). His principal research interest is the simulation of distributed agent systems applied to manufacturing systems and production planning.

Manfredi Bruccoleri received his 'Laurea' degree (1998) in Industrial Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Palermo. From the same university, he holds a doctoral degree in Production Engineering (2003). In 2001 he was a visiting scholar at the ERC for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems at the University of Michigan. He has been Assistant Professor of Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Palermo since 2005.