An ongoing research project at the Technical University of Budapest targets the creation of {"Intelligent} Product Manuals" {(IPMs).} The research work is done in co-operation with European universities and industrial partners in the framework of the {INCO-96/0231} Promanual {INCO-Copernicus} project. This paper focuses on the proposed concept of {IPMs,} analysing the requirements, design method, proposed architecture components and structures. Considering the new features of {IPMs} authors present a three-level deployment architecture that supports the basic (portable) documentation as well as an enterprise-wide information framework for storing all product related data, allowing multi-user access, multiple user profiles, and an Internet architecture level for automatic manual updates, product history monitoring and incorporating external knowledge sources. Generation of {IPM} is fully integrated with product design and manufacturing environment. Concurrent Engineering approach is promoted to handle life-cycle character of product data. Application of the concept will be shown through a prototype {IPM} developed for a {CNC} turning center.