The purpose of the symposium INCOM'2006 was to offer a forum to present the state of the art in international research and development work, with special emphasis on the applications of optimisation methods, automation and IT technologies in the control of manufacturing plants and the entire supply chain within the e-enterprise. The symposium stressed the scientific challenges and issues raised by the Intelligent Manufacturing System and Supply Chain paradigms for optimisation and agile digital control of the entire production system. The whole product and processes life cycle was covered, from the design, through the manufacturing and maintenance, to the distribution and service. INCOM2006's philosophy was simple: put industrial problems in the forefront and invite all possible players in Automatic Control, Computer Science, Management Science, Operational Research and Industrial Engineering, to examine and suggest new solutions. This approach, which smashes the barriers between disciplines, has made INCOM'2006 the major scientific and industrial event in Manufacturing in 2006. 603 papers have been submitted from 55 countries. Each paper has been reviewed, as a rule, by minimum 3 referees. 731 relevant experts have participated, and about 2000 reviews were made. 375 papers were selected for the symposium program and 361 papers only are included in the Proceedings. So, the final selection rate is 59% .