diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/TransformerFactoryBean.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/TransformerFactoryBean.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..072ad2be4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/TransformerFactoryBean.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.config;
+
+import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageHandler;
+import org.springframework.integration.transformer.MessageTransformingHandler;
+import org.springframework.integration.transformer.MethodInvokingTransformer;
+import org.springframework.integration.transformer.Transformer;
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+
+/**
+ * Factory bean for creating a Message Transformer.
+ * 
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ */
+public class TransformerFactoryBean extends AbstractMessageHandlerFactoryBean {
+
+	@Override
+	protected MessageHandler createHandler(Object targetObject, String targetMethodName) {
+		Assert.notNull(targetObject, "targetObject must not be null");
+		Transformer transformer = null;
+		if (targetObject instanceof Transformer) {
+			transformer = (Transformer) targetObject;
+		}
+		else if (StringUtils.hasText(targetMethodName)) {
+			transformer = new MethodInvokingTransformer(targetObject, targetMethodName);
+		}
+		else {
+			transformer = new MethodInvokingTransformer(targetObject);
+		}
+		return new MessageTransformingHandler(transformer);
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/TransformerParser.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/TransformerParser.java
index fe557bfdce..7758f98299 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/TransformerParser.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/TransformerParser.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
-import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionReaderUtils;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
@@ -30,32 +29,21 @@ import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
  */
 public class TransformerParser extends AbstractConsumerEndpointParser {
 
-	private final static String TRANSFORMER_PACKAGE = IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".transformer";
-
-
 	@Override
 	protected BeanDefinitionBuilder parseHandler(Element element, ParserContext parserContext) {
 		BeanDefinitionBuilder builder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
-				TRANSFORMER_PACKAGE + ".MessageTransformingHandler");
-		builder.addConstructorArgReference(this.parseTransformer(element, parserContext));
+				IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".config.TransformerFactoryBean");
+		String ref = element.getAttribute(REF_ATTRIBUTE);
+		if (!StringUtils.hasText(ref)) {
+			parserContext.getReaderContext().error("The 'ref' attribute is required.", element);
+			return null;
+		}
+		builder.addPropertyReference("targetObject", ref);
+		String method = element.getAttribute(METHOD_ATTRIBUTE);
+		if (StringUtils.hasText(method)) {
+			builder.addPropertyValue("targetMethodName", method);
+		}
 		return builder;
 	}
 
-	private String parseTransformer(Element element, ParserContext parserContext) {
-		String ref = element.getAttribute("ref");
-		if (!StringUtils.hasText(ref)) {
-			parserContext.getReaderContext().error("The 'ref' attribute is required.", element);
-		}
-		String method = element.getAttribute("method");
-		if (!StringUtils.hasText(method)) {
-			return ref;
-		}
-		BeanDefinitionBuilder builder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
-				TRANSFORMER_PACKAGE + ".MethodInvokingTransformer");
-		builder.addConstructorArgReference(ref);
-		builder.addConstructorArgValue(method);
-		return BeanDefinitionReaderUtils.registerWithGeneratedName(
-				builder.getBeanDefinition(), parserContext.getRegistry());
-	}
-
 }
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/MethodInvokingTransformer.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/MethodInvokingTransformer.java
index c703b80138..ec68562372 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/MethodInvokingTransformer.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/MethodInvokingTransformer.java
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ public class MethodInvokingTransformer implements Transformer {
 		this.invoker = new MessageMappingMethodInvoker(object, methodName);
 	}
 
+	public MethodInvokingTransformer(Object object) {
+		this.invoker = new MessageMappingMethodInvoker(object,
+				org.springframework.integration.annotation.Transformer.class);
+	}
+
 
 	public Message<?> transform(Message<?> message) {
 		Object result = this.invoker.invokeMethod(message);