20.500.12556/DKUM-97043 Engineering-to-order manufacturing a criticality analysis of key challenges and solutions based on literature review Engineer-to-Order (ETO) manufacturing companies involve customised production products based on specific customer requirements, and face a significant challenge. Some of those challenges are related with this type of company’s activities in production scheduling, planning and control, efficiency improvement and lead time reduction. The present study was conducted with a systematic literature review and a survey from ETO firms to identify the most frequent and critical problems. Among the most critical issues identified is the difficulty in optimising production performance (P3), with a GCI value of 16, implying that both time and cost share the same critical level. An analysis using a proposed Criticality Matrix was then performed enabling companies to prioritise decision-making and resource allocation. The results highlight the importance of adopting mass customisation strategies, innovative approaches and workflow optimisation. Continuous monitoring and analysis of criticality levels can also help ETO companies identify emerging issues and improve informed decisions. Effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders were also identified as vital. Future research could be done expanding further the study sample and developing decision-support tools for ETO manufacturing companies. This study contributes to the field by providing a new criticality matrix for ETO companies to understand better and address their production challenges, aiding in decision-making and resource allocation. communication and collaboration critical factors engineer-to-order decision-making literature review cost-effectivenessroduction planning and control production scheduling resource allocation workflow optimisation komunikacije in sodelovanje kritični faktorji pregled literature planiranje proizvodnje true false true Chair of Production Engineering (CPE), University of Maribor Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik https://apem-journal.org/ Content form this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Članek v reviji 2026-02-13 08:59:00 2026-02-13 08:59:00 2026-02-14 03:11:45 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2023 0 0 str. 187-198 no. 2 Vol. 18 Jun. 2023 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2023-06-05 2023-06-28 2023-07-23 658.562 268270851 10.14743/apem2023.2.466 1854-6250 APEM18-2_187-198.pdf APEM18-2_187-198.pdf 1 3828EE8507E450E19AF93AC894760786 1b39d9c0d6b8aa8edfbf088bc9f691a72eeca4d113213c5c3974e357b0e8ead9 2085016c-08b2-11f1-8973-00155d00019a https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=203298 https://apem-journal.org/Archives/2023/Abstract-APEM18-2_187-198.html 0 24c93300-08b2-11f1-8973-00155d00019a https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=203299 Fakulteta za strojništvo Advances in production engineering & management 0 0 0