The energy and resource efficient manufacture of consumption and investment products is becoming a competitive advantage and companies are increasingly interested in optimal machine design and process operation. In this contribution an analytical description of the milling process has been derived on basis of an extensive, experimental power and resources consumption analysis. Using the discrete events modeling approach a parameterized process model for milling has been developed. The calculation of the resources consumption of all machine components or process operations is controlled by NC codes and allows for time-depended consumption profiles. For the consumption optimization the resources energy, tool wear, coolant, material removal volume and operation time are considered either for single or combined resources minimization. (C) The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.