Strip rolling processes depend critically on friction and lubrication for process control as well as for strip quality. Pechiney and Usinor companies have therefore joined with CNRS (National Scientific Research Centre of France) to build an ambitious project gathering seven French public laboratories and their own research centres, Irsid and Centre de Recherches de Voreppe. The two major fields of lubrication were addressed: the formation of fluid lubricant films between rough deformable surfaces, and the formation of boundary films (tribochemistry). The final purpose was to derive a model of rolling processes including a predictive, local friction model. This issue and a future issue of Science et Génie des Matériaux present the efforts and the results of this Research Programme Contract "Materials forming: metal - tools - lubricant contact".