The work presented in this paper aims for a significant reduction of process development and production ramp up times for the automated assembly of micro-optical modules and systems. The approach proposed bridges the gap between the product development phase and the realization of automation control through integration of established software tools such as optics simulation and CAD modeling as well as through introduction of novel software tools and methods to efficiently describe active alignment strategies. The focus of the paper is put on the formalized specification of product configurations as a basis for the engineering of automated assembly processes. The concepts are applied to industrial use-cases. The paper concludes with an overview of the application of the concepts in an engineering tool-chain as well as an outlook on the next development steps.