The introduction of Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) in the manufacturing domain leads to new concepts of how things such as machines can interact. While on the traditional shop-floor the communication is restricted by the strict concepts of the automation pyramid, in CPS everything can be connected to everything. While the connections between machines, computing resources and UIs (humans) can be explicit (i.e., semi hard-coded connections of components through a service bus), the alternative is a context of how things are connected, in order to foster maintainability and understandability as well as to enforce the notion of a loosely coupled system. Therefore, the Workflow Systems and Technology Group of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the CDP GmbH is developing a process-based framework utilizing the BPMN notation for orchestration and control of manufacturing use-cases. This submission focuses on a 4-step integration approach which is intended to allow small and medium companies a defined evolution towards flexible and reliable digitalization and automation, utilizing BPM technology. In order to explain the ideas behind our approach, we present a real-world scenario realizing the interaction between a lathe, a robot and a loading station for an autonomous transport system, which is common for our partners and customers.

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