Engineer to Order (ETO) products are built to customer specifications. The ETO approach to manufacturing is similar to Assemble to Order (ATO). ETO is often an extension to ATO, where a manufacturer can still accept orders which cannot be built from the components used for ATO – but instead of refusing the order, the manufacturer designs and makes additional components.
Other ETO environments are general job-shop operations which offer to build anything a customer has designed. Another important class of ETO is capital equipment such as equipment used in process plants, where design and manufacture of each item is often adjusted for the specific installation.
An Engineering Change Order (ECO) is one of the documents which allows a manufacturer to control changes. If a change is necessary, an Engineering Change Request (ECR) is created. This forms the basis of analysis of the feasibility and effects of the change.
The decision whether to go ahead with the change uses these results and needs approval by all affected departments. change. When approved, the ECR is converted into an ECO, which will define the changes, and when they will take place.
See Document Management System (DMS). An Engineering Document Management System (EDMS) is a DMS with additional engineering specific capabilities. These additional capabilities could include ability to handle Bill of Material; ability to handle technical files such as inputs to and outputs from manufacturing or test equipment; automation of workflows such as create a new part number or review an engineering change request; control access to documents such as recipes used for regulatory approval.
Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) companies provide design and build services for industrial facilities ranging from small factories to large oil refineries. Owner-Operator companies commission EPC companies to execute projects.