The principle of a self-optimising production control is shown in figure 1. The information-processing unit of a self-optimising production control contains three different layers (in accordance with the Operator-Controller-Module). The reactive layer represents the functions of a conventional production control. Regular work jobs will be allocated to the different resources and the current status will be sent back. Disturbances during the production or from the environment, like rush jobs, will be processed in the reflexive layer. The same applies to the change of constraints like the increase of energy prices. The disturbances will be matched with established potential reaction strategies. If a suitable strategy has been identified, it will be requested from the database and the reflexive layer will adapt the production. If the nature of the disturbance is unknown, the cognitive layer must deduce a new reaction strategy. The new reaction strategy will be derived by a rule based decision model before it is simulated, evaluated and ranked.