Engineer-to-Order is a manufacturing workflow where incoming orders prompt custom engineering and design and the manufacturing of a product based on customer specifications. This type of production is popular in industries that require complex, configurable, or custom items like aerospace and defense, marine, and medical devices.
ETO is also commonly used in the creation of one-of-a-kind products such as electrical switchgear, power plant boilers, or industrial cranes. In order to make these unique products, engineers work with clients to create detailed requirements and specifications for each project. This includes creating a product research and development process that is highly iterative as well as client-centric.
While working with a client to develop a new product, engineering teams often encounter design changes which must be incorporated into the final prototype before it is produced and delivered to the client. These changes are time consuming for the team and disrupt production, inventory, and other key operational processes.
The resulting process can lead to many problems for companies that work with ETO production, including unrecognized pricing and sales engineering, project delays, increasing costs, elongated leads times, reduced profit margins, and more. To overcome these challenges, the use of a powerful cloud-based ERP system that offers dynamic BOM configuration, sales pricing and discounting, machine, material, and labor capacity, built-in end-to-end traceability, quality assurance and inspections, streamlined production planning, and more is essential for manufacturers with an ETO workflow. This is where an ERP solution like MRPeasy comes in handy.