Assemble-to-Order

Assemble-to-order manufacturing is a manufacturing environment in which the customer is contacted after the features and options are fabricated, but before the final product is assembled. Thus, the raw material and components are built up to some subassembly level called features and options. After the customer has communicated their specifications, the subassemblies are built into the final end-product.

An example of assemble-to-order environment is the touch-free car wash machine. Although relationships exist between its features and options, the individual features, options, and frame of the car wash machine can be sub-assembled. After the customer communicates their specifications, the feature and option subassemblies are mounted to the frame to build the final complete machine.