A decade of engineering-to-order (2010–2020): Progress and emerging themes

In 2009 a literature review on supply chain management in Engineer-to-Order (ETO) situations was published in the International Journal of Production Economics (Gosling and Naim, 2009). The paper has received more than 200 citations from over 100 international journals. The ETO body of knowledge has been particularly relevant to those seeking to mobilise operations and supply chain concepts within the context of complex innovative engineering work. These are all increasingly pressing concerns for many organisations in the contemporary global economy; hence, it is timely to revisit this body of knowledge. Consequently, this study performs a systematic review of the last decade (2010–2020) ETO studies to identify the major advances revealed and develop a future research agenda. The results show that literature, over the last decade, presented new emerging trends related to: (i) ETO definitions through conceptualisation of the engineering flows and integration of engineering/production flows via the two-dimensional decoupling point; (ii) strategies for decoupling positioning, supply chain integration, planning and control, uncertainty/risk management, industry 4.0, exploration of new business models and system design, design automation and engineering management in ETO situations; (iii) applicability of lean within ETO situations. Finally, the paper suggests guiding research questions in relation to linkages between different disciplinary areas, evaluation of the application of new technologies, guidance for managing transitions between decoupling configurations and understanding of the new servitisation trends in ETO situations. In conclusion, the study highlights four research challenges to address: positive science challenge, comparative research challenge, multidisciplinary research challenge, and prescriptive research challenge.