Evolvable control systems face the demands for modularity, decentralization, reconfigurabil-ity and responsiveness pointed out by the Industrie 4.0 initiative. In these systems, the self-organization model assumes a critical issue to ensure the correct evolution of the system structure into different operating configurations. ADACOR holonic manufacturing control architecture introduces an adaptive production control mechanism that balances between two states, combining the optimization provided by hierarchical structures with agility and responsiveness to condition changes offered by decentralized structures. This paper describes the switching mechanism that supports this dynamic balance and particularly the local and global driving forces for the self-organization model. The proposed model was experimentally tested in a small scale production system. © 2016