What is the difference between Configure-to-Order and Engineer-to-Order?

Engineer-to-Order (ETO) means every job is designed from scratch after the contract is signed, with its own BOM, routing, and welding map. Configure-to-Order (CTO) means the engineering is done in advance for a fixed menu of options, and the customer picks a configuration at quote time. ETO is the right model for truly bespoke work. CTO is how shops scale a product family without losing the 'custom' feel. Most successful 50 person fab shops run a mix, with EZIIL holding both project-based ETO and configuration-based CTO in one system.

What is the difference between CTO, MTS, and MTO?

Make-to-Stock (MTS) builds to forecast and ships from finished goods inventory. Make-to-Order (MTO) assembles from existing designs and stocked components after the order arrives. Configure-to-Order (CTO) fabricates after the order, but from a fixed menu of pre-engineered configurations rather than a single fixed design. CTO sits between MTO and ETO in flexibility: more variation than MTS or MTO, less reinvention than ETO. EZIIL supports MTS SKUs, CTO product families, and ETO projects on the same shop floor.

What types of steel fabrication products work well as CTO?

CTO works best for product families with repeat patterns and a finite set of customer-relevant choices. Common examples include modular mezzanine systems with selectable bay sizes, column heights, and decking options, pre-engineered staircase systems with configurable rise, run, tread material, and railing style, balustrade systems with a fixed range of post types, infill panels, and handrail profiles, and fence or gate product lines with set heights and finishes. If a shop has ever described an offering as 'we have a standard product, but it comes in 12 versions,' that family is a CTO candidate.

How do you know if you have CTO products hidden inside an ETO shop?

Look at the last 24 months of jobs and group them by product family. If the shop keeps building variants of stairs, mezzanines, fences, conveyors, racks, or walkways, those families are CTO candidates being run as one-off ETO. Quoting the same kind of staircase six times means the engineering has effectively been done six times when it could have been done once. EZIIL surfaces repeat patterns across project history so the path from ETO to CTO is data-driven rather than guessed.

Why should a custom steel fabricator move part of revenue to a CTO model?

Pure ETO is hard to scale because each new job re-engineers everything from scratch. Shifting 20 to 40% of revenue to CTO unlocks faster quoting (minutes instead of days), higher margins (engineering cost is amortised across many sales), lower shop-floor variability (welders see the same details repeatedly so first-pass yield climbs), distributor or dealer sales (anyone with the menu can sell), and protected engineering capacity for the truly custom work. Many DACH and Nordic fab shops we work with have shifted 30 to 50% of revenue to CTO and used the slack to win bigger ETO contracts.

How do you move an existing product family from ETO to CTO?

Five steps. First, find the repeat patterns in 24 months of ETO history. Second, pick 3 to 6 configuration dimensions that matter to customers (size, finish, load class, material grade, style) and lock everything else. Third, document the engineering for each configuration. Fourth, build a price calculator so quoting goes from custom estimation to menu pricing. Fifth, train the sales team on the menu and the boundaries. EZIIL stores the BOM, routing, and standard price for each configuration so a sales order instantiates a fully planned project with one click.

How many configuration options should a CTO steel product have?

Fewer than feels natural. Every additional option doubles detailing, planning, and inventory complexity. A starting matrix of 4 sizes by 3 finishes by 2 mounting styles (24 configurations) is plenty for most product families. Six variables with five options each already produces 15,625 configurations, which is beyond what any spreadsheet or manual library can handle. EZIIL manages configuration rules and the matching BOM and routing library as first-class objects rather than as side notes in someone's head.

How do you price Configure-to-Order steel products?

Pre-cost every configuration in the matrix and publish a price calculator that takes the configuration inputs and outputs a quote. This is where most fab shops discover they have been quoting custom variants at a loss for years. CTO products should be sold at a pre-calculated standard price, then built with full plan-versus-actual tracking so each batch compares actual cost against what was priced. EZIIL supports standard pricing on the configuration and project costing on the build, in the same system.

What software do steel fabricators need to manage CTO configurations?

Once a CTO product has more than 3 or 4 variables, configuration rules outgrow Excel. Shops typically choose between a dedicated CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) tool that sits separately from production, or a fabrication system that holds CTO product definitions natively. EZIIL takes the second approach, storing pre-engineered BOMs and routings against each configuration so a sales order flows directly into a planned project rather than being re-entered from a CPQ tool into a separate production system.

How do you schedule CTO production alongside custom (ETO) projects?

Run CTO production in dedicated capacity blocks rather than competing for the same slot as priority ETO work. A common rhythm is to keep Monday through Thursday for ETO projects and reserve Friday afternoon for CTO batches, or to schedule CTO runs when the capacity view shows slack in welding or assembly. EZIIL's drag-and-drop capacity view holds both ETO project hours and CTO production batches in one schedule, so CTO runs slot into open capacity without bumping high-priority projects.

What is configuration drift and how do you stop it?

Configuration drift happens when a published CTO menu of, say, 12 configurations starts quietly absorbing a 13th, then a 14th, then a 15th 'just this once.' Each one is a new ETO masquerading as CTO, with no engineering amortisation and no pre-cost protection. The fix is to charge for off-menu requests at full ETO pricing or refuse them, and to review the menu deliberately every quarter rather than letting sales accrete options. EZIIL flags off-menu configurations so they show up in margin reports rather than getting buried.

How does EZIIL handle Configure-to-Order and Engineer-to-Order in the same system?

EZIIL treats CTO products as first-class objects alongside ETO projects in one project-based system. The pre-engineered BOM and routing for each configuration sits in a library, so a sales order instantiates the right BOM and routing into a project with one click. Standard pricing applies to the configuration, project costing applies to the build, and the same drag-and-drop scheduling view holds both ETO project hours and CTO production batches. The mobile shop floor app shows operators exactly which configuration they are building, with the latest drawing and weld map for that variant.

How much does EZIIL cost for a fab shop running a CTO product line?

EZIIL Starter is €120 per month for 1 to 15 users, with a one-time €300 onboarding fee. Adding the BOM module is enough to launch the first CTO product family. Inventory and procurement modules can be added later as the CTO line grows and starts to need stocked structural members. Shops do not pay for modules they have not switched on yet, which means the cost shape follows the rollout rather than forcing a big-bang implementation. ETO projects continue to run in the same system as the CTO products launch.

Configure-to-Order (CTO)

Q: What is Configure-to-Order (CTO) in steel fabrication?

Configure-to-Order (CTO) is a manufacturing strategy where customers choose from a fixed menu of pre-engineered options, and the shop fabricates or assembles to that configuration after the order is placed. The engineering happens once, in advance. The configuring happens at quote time. The making happens after the sale. In steel fabrication, CTO typically shows up as modular mezzanine products with selectable bay sizes, pre-engineered staircase systems, configurable balustrades, or fence and gate product lines with set finishes and patterns.

What is Configure-to-Order (CTO) in steel fabrication?

Configure-to-order (CTO) is a manufacturing strategy where customers choose from a fixed menu of pre-engineered options, and the shop assembles or fabricates to that configuration after the order is placed. The engineering is done once, in advance. The configuring happens at quote time. The making happens after the sale.

A laptop is CTO: you pick the screen size, RAM, storage, and the factory assembles a unit that matches your choices from a known library. The engineering of the parts was done long before you ordered.

For custom steel fabricators, CTO often looks like this:

A modular mezzanine product with selectable bay sizes, column heights, and decking options
A pre-engineered staircase system with configurable rise, run, tread material, and railing style
A balustrade system with a fixed range of post types, infill panels, and handrail profiles
A fence/gate product line with set heights, hot-dip galvanizing or powder-coat options, and a finite set of patterns

If any of your offerings have ever been described as “we have a standard product, but it comes in 12 versions and customers pick the specs,” you have CTO products inside your shop.

Why Configure-to-order matters for custom steel fabricators

Most custom shops run pure Engineer to Order, aka, ETO (every job designed from scratch). That model is hard to scale: each new job means re-engineering, re-detailing, re-quoting. Pricing is slow, margins are inconsistent, and growth depends on hiring more detailers.

CTO is how the most profitable custom shops scale without losing the “custom” feel. By moving 20 to 40% of revenue onto a CTO model, a fabricator can:

Quote faster. Pre-engineered options have pre-engineered prices. Quotes go from days to minutes.
Improve margins. Engineering cost is amortized across many sales of the same configuration.
Reduce shop-floor variability. Welders see the same details on the next job, so FPY climbs.
Enable distributors and dealers. Configurable, priced products can be sold by someone other than your senior estimator.
Free your engineering team to focus on the truly custom work.

This is the strategic move behind a lot of European fabrication success stories. Many of the 50-person shops we work with have shifted 30 to 50% of revenue to a CTO model and use the resulting capacity slack to take on bigger ETO contracts.

How to identify and run CTO products inside a custom shop

Find the repeat patterns in your ETO history. Look at the last 24 months of jobs. Are there product families you keep building variants of? Stairs, mezzanines, fences, conveyors, racks, walkways? If yes, those are CTO candidates.

Define the configuration rules. Pick 3 to 6 dimensions per product family that matter to customers (size, finish, load class, material grade, style). Lock everything else. Document the engineering for each configuration.

Pre-cost the configurations. Build a price calculator that takes the configuration inputs and outputs a quote. This is where most fab shops realize they have been quoting custom variants at a loss for years.

Manage the rules in software, not in Mark’s head. Configurations get complex fast. Excel can handle a 3-variable matrix. By the time you have 6 variables and 5 options each (15,625 configurations), you need a real configurator or a tightly-managed module library.

Train the sales team on the menu. CTO only works if the customer-facing person knows the boundaries. “Yes, we do that height. No, we do not do that finish. Yes, that custom feature would move this back into ETO pricing.”

Best practices for CTO in steel fabrication

Be ruthless about the option count. Every additional option doubles your detailing, planning, and inventory complexity. 4 sizes x 3 finishes x 2 mounting styles (24 configurations) is plenty for most product families to start.
Stage materials around configurations, not jobs. A CTO mezzanine line should have its common structural members in stock at min-max levels. Order configuration-specific items per order.
Use CTO products to amortize engineering once. The cost of standardizing pays back across the next 10, 20, 50 sales. Track this explicitly.
Run CTO production in dedicated capacity blocks. Friday afternoon is CTO time. Monday through Thursday is project (ETO) time. Set this rhythm and the shop floor will learn it.
Watch the configuration drift. Once you publish “12 configurations” the temptation is to start saying “yes” to a 13th, then a 14th. Each one is a new ETO masquerading as CTO. Charge for it accordingly or refuse it.

How EZIIL helps custom shops run CTO + ETO

Most custom fabricators trying CTO end up running two parallel systems: one for projects (ETO), one for configurable products (some homegrown configurator or a CPQ tool). EZIIL treats CTO products as first-class objects in the same project-based system:

Pre-engineered BOMs and routings library. Save the BOM and routing for each configuration. When a sales order comes in with a specific config, the system instantiates the right BOM and routing into a project with one click.
Standard pricing for configurations, project costing for the build. Sell at a pre-calculated price, build with full plan-versus-actual tracking. Compare what you priced for against what you used.
Capacity-aware CTO scheduling. The same drag-and-drop scheduling view holds both ETO project hours and CTO production batches. Slot CTO runs into open capacity without bumping high-priority projects.
Mobile shop floor app for repeat builds. Welders and assemblers see exactly which configuration they are working on, with the latest drawing and weld map for that variant. No more “which version is this?” confusion.
Add the BOM and inventory modules only when you start CTO. EZIIL Starter (€120/$140month for 1 to 15 users) plus the BOM module is enough to launch your first CTO product. Add inventory and procurement modules as the CTO line grows.