Manufacturing is being shaped by the paradigm shift from mass production to on demand dictated, personalised, customer-driven and knowledge-based proactive production. Thus, shorter product life cycles, an increased number of product varieties, high performance processes and flexible production systems result in an increased complexity in the product design, process development, factory and production planning and factory operation. To handle this complexity, new knowledge-based methods, technologies and tools to model, simulate, optimise and monitor planned and existing manufacturing systems are required. Apps4aME aims at the comprehensive consideration of ICT-based support of Manufacturing Engineering in all the above mentioned domains, called advanced Manufacturing Engineering (aME). The different life cycles will be aligned by the development of a reference model that provides a detailed overview of all relevant domain specific and inter-domain interdependencies. This life cycle-oriented model enables an integrated product design, process development, factory planning as well as production planning and factory operation. All stakeholders in these activities will be supported by Engineering Apps (eApps) that will be conceived, developed and validated with two industry-driven scenarios, implemented in three demonstrators: automotive, machining and food industry. These solution-oriented and service-based software components, systems or digital tools will enable a holistic planning and optimisation of products, processes and factories along their aligned life cycles without creating an overloaded, hardly manageable system. The realization of Apps4aME will increase the productivity in all Manufacturing Engineering activities with creating more reliable and efficient manufacturing conditions. Using this, Apps4aME supports the achievement of higher process robustness and accuracy to provide the customers with higher and more stable product and service quality.