The invention relates to a system and a method for modelling and executing business processes in MES systems (manufacturing execution systems) or manufacturing control systems by means of a plurality of independently operating processes which are modelled by automatic state or execution machines and interconnected asynchronous connections. Said processes can be independently distributed to a plurality of computers (deployment) and communicate with each other in an asynchronous manner. The modelling of said automatic execution machines is carried out by means of activity and data flow diagrams according to UML representation. An advantage of the inventive system or method is that said processes can be immediately executed and tested. External software systems can be integrated by means of wrappers or adapters.