diff --git a/docs/src/reference/asciidoc/sm.adoc b/docs/src/reference/asciidoc/sm.adoc
index 8e548244..9b3adceb 100644
--- a/docs/src/reference/asciidoc/sm.adoc
+++ b/docs/src/reference/asciidoc/sm.adoc
@@ -1761,7 +1761,8 @@ After uml file is in place in your project, it can be imported into
 configuration using `StateMachineModelConfigurer` where
 `StateMachineModelFactory` is associated with a model.
 `UmlStateMachineModelFactory` is a special factory which knows how to
-process _Eclipse Papyrus_ generated uml structure.
+process _Eclipse Papyrus_ generated uml structure. Source uml file can
+either be given as a Spring `Resource` or a normal location string.
 
 [source,java,indent=0]
 ----
diff --git a/spring-statemachine-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/config/model/AbstractStateMachineModelFactory.java b/spring-statemachine-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/config/model/AbstractStateMachineModelFactory.java
index 6f61982f..4c9a1503 100644
--- a/spring-statemachine-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/config/model/AbstractStateMachineModelFactory.java
+++ b/spring-statemachine-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/config/model/AbstractStateMachineModelFactory.java
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import org.springframework.beans.BeansException;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactoryAware;
+import org.springframework.context.ResourceLoaderAware;
+import org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.action.Action;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.guard.Guard;
 
@@ -38,9 +40,10 @@ import org.springframework.statemachine.guard.Guard;
  * @param <S> the type of state
  * @param <E> the type of event
  */
-public abstract class AbstractStateMachineModelFactory<S, E> implements StateMachineComponentResolver<S, E>, BeanFactoryAware {
+public abstract class AbstractStateMachineModelFactory<S, E> implements StateMachineComponentResolver<S, E>, BeanFactoryAware, ResourceLoaderAware {
 
 	private BeanFactory beanFactory;
+	private ResourceLoader resourceLoader;
 	private final Map<String, Action<S, E>> registeredActions = new HashMap<>();
 	private final Map<String, Guard<S, E>> registeredGuards = new HashMap<>();
 
@@ -49,6 +52,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractStateMachineModelFactory<S, E> implements StateMac
 		this.beanFactory = beanFactory;
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void setResourceLoader(ResourceLoader resourceLoader) {
+		this.resourceLoader = resourceLoader;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Register {@link Action} into factory with a given id.
 	 *
@@ -78,6 +86,15 @@ public abstract class AbstractStateMachineModelFactory<S, E> implements StateMac
 		return beanFactory;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Gets the resource loader.
+	 *
+	 * @return the resource loader
+	 */
+	protected ResourceLoader getResourceLoader() {
+		return resourceLoader;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Resolve action.
 	 *
diff --git a/spring-statemachine-uml/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactory.java b/spring-statemachine-uml/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactory.java
index 932cf4e7..354e75d9 100644
--- a/spring-statemachine-uml/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactory.java
+++ b/spring-statemachine-uml/src/main/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactory.java
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ package org.springframework.statemachine.uml;
 import java.io.IOException;
 
 import org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Model;
+import org.springframework.core.io.DefaultResourceLoader;
 import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
+import org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.config.model.AbstractStateMachineModelFactory;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.config.model.ConfigurationData;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.config.model.DefaultStateMachineModel;
@@ -36,7 +38,8 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 public class UmlStateMachineModelFactory extends AbstractStateMachineModelFactory<String, String>
 		implements StateMachineModelFactory<String, String> {
 
-	private final Resource resource;
+	private Resource resource;
+	private String location;
 
 	/**
 	 * Instantiates a new uml state machine model factory.
@@ -48,17 +51,38 @@ public class UmlStateMachineModelFactory extends AbstractStateMachineModelFactor
 		this.resource = resource;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Instantiates a new uml state machine model factory.
+	 *
+	 * @param location the resource location
+	 */
+	public UmlStateMachineModelFactory(String location) {
+		this.location = location;
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public StateMachineModel<String, String> build() {
 		Model model = null;
 		try {
-			model = UmlUtils.getModel(resource.getURI().getPath());
+			model = UmlUtils.getModel(resolveResource().getURI().getPath());
 		} catch (IOException e) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot build build model from resource " + resource, e);
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot build build model from resource " + resource + " or location " + location, e);
 		}
 		UmlModelParser parser = new UmlModelParser(model, this);
 		DataHolder dataHolder = parser.parseModel();
 		ConfigurationData<String, String> configurationData = new ConfigurationData<>();
 		return new DefaultStateMachineModel<String, String>(configurationData, dataHolder.getStatesData(), dataHolder.getTransitionsData());
 	}
+
+	private Resource resolveResource() {
+		if (resource != null) {
+			return resource;
+		} else {
+			ResourceLoader loader = getResourceLoader();
+			if (loader == null) {
+				loader = new DefaultResourceLoader();
+			}
+			return loader.getResource(location);
+		}
+	}
 }
diff --git a/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactoryTests.java b/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactoryTests.java
index 00e49b5f..a4ffc7c2 100644
--- a/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactoryTests.java
+++ b/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/UmlStateMachineModelFactoryTests.java
@@ -608,8 +608,7 @@ public class UmlStateMachineModelFactoryTests extends AbstractUmlTests {
 
 		@Bean
 		public StateMachineModelFactory<String, String> modelFactory() {
-			Resource model = new ClassPathResource("org/springframework/statemachine/uml/simple-actions.uml");
-			return new UmlStateMachineModelFactory(model);
+			return new UmlStateMachineModelFactory("classpath:org/springframework/statemachine/uml/simple-actions.uml");
 		}
 
 		@Bean
diff --git a/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/docs/DocsUmlSampleTests1.java b/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/docs/DocsUmlSampleTests1.java
index e8e00623..fea7bcbe 100644
--- a/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/docs/DocsUmlSampleTests1.java
+++ b/spring-statemachine-uml/src/test/java/org/springframework/statemachine/uml/docs/DocsUmlSampleTests1.java
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ package org.springframework.statemachine.uml.docs;
 
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
-import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
-import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.config.EnableStateMachine;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.config.StateMachineConfigurerAdapter;
 import org.springframework.statemachine.config.builders.StateMachineModelConfigurer;
@@ -41,8 +39,7 @@ public class DocsUmlSampleTests1 {
 
 		@Bean
 		public StateMachineModelFactory<String, String> modelFactory() {
-			Resource model = new ClassPathResource("org/springframework/statemachine/uml/docs/simple-machine.uml");
-			return new UmlStateMachineModelFactory(model);
+			return new UmlStateMachineModelFactory("classpath:org/springframework/statemachine/uml/docs/simple-machine.uml");
 		}
 	}
 // end::snippetA[]