1. A method for modeling and executing a production rule of a production phase in a discrete manufacturing scenario, the production rule being associated with a process element and containing predefined production steps and predefined dependencies between the predefined production steps, which comprises the steps of: loading the production rule into a production order manager; parsing the production rule and retrieving the predefined production steps and the predefined dependencies; inputting user-defined parameters for the predefined production steps and the predefined dependencies, if necessary and available; creating a state machine containing the predefined production steps each labeled as a predefined state, and further containing the predefined dependencies each labeled as a predefined transition between two predefined states; and forwarding the state machine to a process controller.