Most Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPPS) research is devoted to the manufacturing industry, but the need for flexibility is an increasing trend in the process industry, too. Today's process automation systems (PAS) are not well-suited for quick adaptation of the plant, i.e. the addition, removal or change of physical components, such as filters, mixers, or reaction units. The authors have developed a model-based approach, which allows reconfiguring the PAS based on a model, which acts as a representative of the physical component. Thus, the model and the physical component together form a CPPS. In the paper, the requirements, the model structure, and the model content will be described, and a practical example will be presented.