In this study is present a systematic analysis of already published works on formulating and solving optimization problems concerning manufacturing process. Analysis it was performed on two levels, namely: planning and scheduling of manufacturing process. They were considered: type of optimization (mono-criterion or multi-criteria); objective function (the energy consumption, the manufacturing costs, the productivity, the manufactured surface roughness); methods of solve (Genetic Algorithms GA, Particle Swarm Optimization PSO technique, Artificial Neural Networks ANN). The main purpose of this study it is to substantiate a new approach to optimization problems. The proposed approach is of holistic type, based on integrated process planning and scheduling (IPPS) and defines new performance indicators, to be adapted to market current requirements.