Patent ID: 8832579

Claim:
A system, comprising: a processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein computer-executable instructions, comprising: an interface component configured to receive user requirements specifying at least one manufacturing goal; a design tool configured to de-abstract at least one design template using the user requirements to generate an engineering specification defining at least one industrial automation service to achieve the at least one manufacturing goal; and wherein the design template comprises: a software specification component configured to employ a functional specification of the engineering specification to generate a software design specification of the engineering specification that defines a representation of software required to achieve the at least one manufacturing goal, wherein the functional specification defines at least one equipment required to achieve the at least one manufacturing goal; and a hardware specification component configured to generate at least one hardware design specification of the engineering specification based upon at least one of the functional specification or software design specification, wherein the hardware design specification defines at least one of an input or an output of the equipment to achieve the at least one manufacturing goal.