In assemble-to-order, manufacturing lead time is conserved by pre-assembling intermediate portions of the finished product.
Assemble to order system consisting of push and a pull parts. In the push part, undifferentiated components and subassemblies are manufactured to forecast whereas in the pull cart, end redacts are assembled according to customer specifications.
Assemble-to-order system trigger longer delivery times than traditional supply chains, in which products are directly picked out from the shelf.
Assemble-to-order can be useful when intermediate assemblies are common to more than one product. The intermediate assemblies are managed as if they were made-to-stock finished products, but the real finished product is till managed as make-to-order.
An assemble-to-order system is said to be performing well if it provides customers with the required variety, while searching costs’ efficiency and responsiveness.
The system performance is however, negatively affected by the complexity that is induced by variety.
Assemble-to-order system (ATO)
