Customer choice without redesigning every order.

When does Configure-to-Order make sense?

If similar customer requests keep returning but engineering keeps developing new solutions, a configurable product family may help. With Configure-to-Order (CTO), a customer solution is assembled within pre-engineered possibilities and rules. With Engineer-to-Order (ETO), part of the solution is designed for the specific order.

The choice is not all-or-nothing. A configurable core with clearly defined custom work may suit your market better than a fully closed standard. The question is which variety customers need and what effort and risks it creates.

Modularisation starts with the variety you want to offer.

Modularisation divides a product family into coherent building blocks with defined interfaces. It is both an engineering decision and a commercial decision. A module structure that looks logical to engineering does not necessarily support the right customer choices or service interventions.

We connect three areas:

• Markets and offering: which segments do we develop for, which performance levels and options do we offer, and where do we draw the line?
• Product architecture: which functions and modules are reusable, which interfaces need to remain stable, and where can variety occur?
• Ways of working and ownership: who owns the product family, who decides on exceptions, and what information passes from quotation to delivery?

What I help your team make explicit

We select a product family and use recent orders to examine recurring variety, exceptions and repeated engineering work. This can begin with a quickscan, a workshop or focused support for a transition already underway.

1. An agreed boundary between standard products, configurable options and engineering to order.
2. An initial view of module boundaries, interfaces and the questions your engineering team needs to validate.
3. Decision rules for sales, product management and engineering, with clear owners.
4. A defined pilot with measures such as engineering hours per order, exceptions and quotation lead time.

The level of detail depends on your team and the stage of the work. I connect commercial, technical and organisational decisions and support the change. Detailed engineering and building configuration software are not automatically part of the engagement.

In practice: agreeing what ‘standard’ means

At an industrial company, departments used different definitions of standard products and Configure-to-Order. The roadmap and responsibilities were insufficiently clear. My contribution covered organisation design, role profiles, a revised sales process, a pilot definition and management coaching. This led to a shared direction and concrete next steps.

Anonymised project example.