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Manufacturing · Definition

Make to Order

Producing only after a confirmed customer order is received.

Make to order starts production once demand is confirmed, so finished-goods inventory stays near zero and customisation is possible. The customer waits for the production lead time.

The opposite approach, make to stock, builds to forecast and ships immediately but risks obsolescence. Many operations run both, holding common sub-assemblies to stock and finishing to order.

Also called

  • MTO
  • build to order

Make to Order is not just a definition here

Manufacturing runs on this vocabulary every day in AWRA OpsHub — 14 of our 257 glossary terms describe things the platform actually does.