Discrete part manufacturing flows from a design phase in which product information is defined to a manufacturing phase in which the processes are planned and executed. Process planing typically culminates with the generation of numerical control (NC) programs for specific equipment, such as machining centers or turning centers. These NC programs are written in the dialects of the various equipment vendors, for the specific mechanical configuration of the target machine. As a result, porting programs between machines is difficult. Worse, NC programs contain little if any of the product design information. The lack of this information at runtime limits any adaptive control that could direct the process so that final parts more closely conform to the original design.