Buyer Analytics

Read this article to learn more about the world of ETO (engineer to order) by Thomas Cutler at Automation.com.  A comparison of ETO and ERP are provided.

The article even explains some the differences between ETO and ERP for purchasing.

The other major area of difference is how engineering interact with purchasing. In a repetitive environment once the purchased components are identified, the buyer is responsible for getting the best price for volume purchases. Blanket orders are commonplace as the name of the game is repeat purchases of large volumes. In ETO many of the purchases are one-off buys of items that will never be purchased again. Typically the engineer will specify the item and manufacturer. It is the engineer that creates the demand for purchased material, not the MRP system.