In NetSuite, products are procured or manufactured to meet sales forecasts and then stock. This approach is universally used today across many industries and refers to products that are built before a buyer has been identified, with manufacturing volume is driven by demand information.

Products are assembled when a sales order is received. This process requires that the basic parts for the product are already manufactured but not yet pulled. Once an order is received, the parts are assembled quickly and fulfilled to the consumer.

BTO is the classic method of order management and is the most used approach with Custom or small volumes SKUs

BTO, sometimes thought of the class method of order management, and is the most common approach. Then replace customized with ‘custom or small volume SKUs

Products are produced using formulas. This approach is dominant in the food, beverage, pharma, chemical and biotech industries. Output is measures in volume and not in discrete units. This method is a different way of manufacturing to using Bill Of Materials and routings.

Products have some variability and features & options are indicated when an order is reviewed. It is the best approach in approaches where mass customization and a quick response time to fulfillment is required. It is a hybrid of MTO and ATO (assemble to order) operations — this approach leverages sub-assemblies that were made to the shelf and assembles that are ready after receipt of an order.

Products made by a producer, or another party, are repaired and / or enhanced. This approach requires the creation and maintenance of inventory and, the costing of that inventory is independent from manufacturing. This process usually involves the creation, tracking and escalation of support tickets.

Engineer to Order (ETO) - ETO environments use a flexible and adaptive, demand-driven approach to fabricating. ETO is usually the appropriate solution when details on an order are not provided and engineering time must be added to product lead time.

Large or complex products are designed, manufactured, and installed using project management approaches. This approach, which uses MTO as its base, relies on task management, especially in such areas as task scheduling or resource management. This is usually independent of the work order, which is tracked serpately.