Manufacturing is the large-scale production of goods. It turns raw materials, parts, and components into finished products using manual labor and/or machines. The finished goods can be sold to consumers, other manufacturers for the production of more complex products, or wholesalers who distribute to retailers. There are three manufacturing models:

1.  “Make-to-Stock” (MTC) forecasts demand and plans production based of past sales data
2. “Make-to-Order” (MTO) allows clients to customize goods manufactured on their behalf.
3. A hybrid of MTS and MTO, “Make-to-Assemble” (MTA), relies on demand forecasts to stock the components but only assembles the product after an order is received.