A computer implemented method for designing a processing plant that is configured to process liquid food according to different processing schemes, comprising the steps of: identifying at least one required processing characteristics of the processing plant based on predetermined design input; and selecting from a platform database a processing plant representation wherein the platform database comprises a plurality of items, each item representing a particular platform type in the form of a processing platform representation, wherein each item is associated with a plurality of item attributes, each item attribute being associated with one or more values, and wherein the selection is based on said identified at least one processing characteristics and said attributes; identifying at least one required functionality of the processing plant; associating said at least one functionality with at least one design element item from a design element database, wherein each design element item comprises one or more attributes defining - relationships between the particular design element item and other design element items, and - the liquid food to be processed by the processing plant, comprises at least one attribute defining control logic for the design element item, and comprises one or more attributes defining the a relationship between the particular design element and the processing plant representation; adding said at least one design element item to the processing plant representation; and converting said processing plant representation to computer logic for controlling hardware of the processing plant. identifying at least one required processing characteristics of the processing plant based on predetermined design input; and selecting from a platform database a processing plant representation wherein the platform database comprises a plurality of items, each item representing a particular platform type in the form of a processing platform representation, wherein each item is associated with a plurality of item attributes, each item attribute being associated with one or more values, and wherein the selection is based on said identified at least one processing characteristics and said attributes; identifying at least one required functionality of the processing plant; associating said at least one functionality with at least one design element item from a design element database, wherein each design element item comprises one or more attributes defining - relationships between the particular design element item and other design element items, and - the liquid food to be processed by the processing plant, comprises at least one attribute defining control logic for the design element item, and comprises one or more attributes defining the a relationship between the particular design element and the processing plant representation; adding said at least one design element item to the processing plant representation; and converting said processing plant representation to computer logic for controlling hardware of the processing plant. - relationships between the particular design element item and other design element items, and - the liquid food to be processed by the processing plant, comprises at least one attribute defining control logic for the design element item, and