MES appliance integrated with control modules

A method for enabling automatic activities within an industrial control environment, comprising:

• receiving a desired action;
• evaluating the desired action to establish a workflow to achieve the desired action;
• and
• selectively initiating one or more modules that perform at least one step included in the workflow.

A system for autonomously performing activities in an industrial automation environment, comprising:

• a user interface component that accepts a user input that includes a desired end result;
• a MES Appliance that determines one or more actions needed to achieve the desired end result, wherein the MES Appliance selectively invokes at least one interchangeable module to perform the one or more actions, and wherein the MES Appliance initiates the at least one interchangeable module at a proper time to achieve the desired end result;
• a construction component that configures the at least one interchangeable module to perform the one or more actions;
• and
• a sequencing engine that determines a sequence for performing the one or more actions.