• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.1-24
• /
• 2007

In the mold parts industry, customers typically place orders for order-made parts with some changes to the design specifications of ready-made parts within the extent of the manufacturing capability of the supplier. Being customized for ready-made parts, existing e-Catalog systems cannot support the above trade pattern. To solve this problem, an ETO (engineering-to-order) method is proposed here, enabling the trade of order-made parts in an e-Catalog system by utilizing the design and manufacturing knowledge of the part suppliers. After addressing technological challenges and solutions, we briefly describe application of the ETO method to two types of mold parts - ejector pins and mold bases.