This article provides a comprehensive review of manufacturing techniques and introduces reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSS), a new paradigm designed to rapidly adjust production capacity and functionality in response to changing market conditions. The authors define RMSS, outline key manufacturing techniques, their drivers, enablers, impacts, achievements, and limitations. They also offer a historical perspective on manufacturing developments and discuss the new requirements for manufacturing. The paper emphasizes the importance of RMSS in enabling rapid product launches, integrating new functions and technologies, and adapting to variable product quantities. It highlights the limitations of traditional manufacturing paradigms such as mass production, lean manufacturing, and flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs), which often face issues like high costs, inadequate software, and obsolescence. The paper concludes with a review of specific technologies and research issues related to RMSS.This article provides a comprehensive review of manufacturing techniques and introduces reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSS), a new paradigm designed to rapidly adjust production capacity and functionality in response to changing market conditions. The authors define RMSS, outline key manufacturing techniques, their drivers, enablers, impacts, achievements, and limitations. They also offer a historical perspective on manufacturing developments and discuss the new requirements for manufacturing. The paper emphasizes the importance of RMSS in enabling rapid product launches, integrating new functions and technologies, and adapting to variable product quantities. It highlights the limitations of traditional manufacturing paradigms such as mass production, lean manufacturing, and flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs), which often face issues like high costs, inadequate software, and obsolescence. The paper concludes with a review of specific technologies and research issues related to RMSS.