We introduce a new methodology for the specification and the design of the control logic of automated manufacturing systems. Our aim is to make specification express just what is necessary earlier in the design process. This will permit to produce an optimized work cycle for the system and will make both production recovery calculation and code generation easier. The methodology is based on a modular modeling of the plant in terms of Axes and the description of the desired behavior by a set of typed constraints. The problem consists then in finding a sequence of actions, satisfying the constraints, that leads to a desired state of the system, starting from a specific one. A reachability analysis is then carried out on the corresponding timed automata model. The resulting path, if it exists, is returned in the form of suited cycle diagram.