FMS has received a great deal of attention in the past two decades as a possible breakthrough for the new technologies in manufacturing. Some people say that the era of FMS has just begun. We have seen the potential benefits of FMS to the manufacturing industries. But it seems that FMS has generated a large number of problems to solve. The objective of this paper is to provide a groundwork for researches in the area of FMS by discussing the current status and prospect. The current status of installations and operations of FMS worldwide is reviewed. U.S.A., Japan, Western Europe, U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe, and domestic status are discussed briefly. The current status of researches that are related to the FMS is also reviewed. Lastly, the prospect of hardware and software is discussed.