Flexibility can be defined as the ability to respond efficiently to the changing demands of the customer and is different in SMEs (Small-to-Medium manufacturing Enterprises) than the traditional OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). The presented work focuses on flexible manufacturing design problem on a systems level and aims at providing a common data structure as a reference for different methodologies and tools in this area. The developed framework translated into a relational database, has been interfaced with the main phases of the systems design in the metalcasting industry. A UML diagram has been developed to represent a method for modeling the product, process and quality within a flexible and scalable framework. The proposed framework could have a wider applicability since it is based on shared standards and previous general frameworks.