An automated manufacturing control system is proposed to greatly reduce the human interaction relative to the data transfer, physical verification and process control associated with the movement of components, tooling and operators in a manufacturing system. This is achieved by the use of data carriers which are attached to the object(s) to be traced. These data carriers (12) can store all the relevant identification, material and production data to required by the various elements, e.g. stations, of the manufacturing system. Various readers, integrated with controllers and application software, are located at strategic points of the production area, including production machines and storage areas, to enable automatic data transfer and physical verification that the right material is at the right place at the right time, using the right tooling.