For the last 10 years, in the field of design and control of production systems, the scientific community has progressively shifted from a focus on information-based integration and control of performances, towards an even more complex view on integration, including the firm's cognitive dimension as an additional aspect of performances. In a globalisation perspective where increasing innovation pace is the key point of competitiveness for many industrial countries, the efficient management of human capital becomes a strategic objective. The management and control of knowledge and skills, and more recently the management of firms' competencies have turned out to be essential factors of industrial processes' performance.