G-SCOP is a multidisciplinary laboratory which has been created to meet the scientific challenges imposed by the ongoing changes within the industrial world. The scope of the laboratory goes from the products conception to the production systems management and is based on strong skills in optimisation. The creation of the G-SCOP laboratory is, in Grenoble, the culmination point of a very long history of scientific breakthroughs and collaborations in the field of production systems, product design and operational research.