The productions of goods (primary and secondary sectors) and of services (tertiary sector) were a long time clearly separated. But today, the product tends to become a good integrating one or more services enabling:
- its use;
- its maintenance;
- its interworking with the environment (user, production system, distribution, other products...);
- its traceability (integrating that of its components).

These services require an informational continuum all along the product lifecycle. The spatial and temporal consistency which is needed and the new technologies now available (electronic tags...), lead the product to support itself information and processes about it. The product can then be an actor, and partly controls its manufacturing, its transport, its use, its maintenance, its recycling... Thus, the reactivity increases at each step of the product lifecycle regarding:
- the customer (personalization, order tracking, user assistance),
- the manufacturer (flexibility of the production system...),
- the relations between suppliers, manufacturers, distributors.

These concepts of "communicating object" and "services mobility" define the notion of "ambient" system which we want to apply to the production systems.