Contrary to a make-to-stock production where standard products are manufactured based on sales forecasts the assembly or manufacturing of final products in a make-to-order production starts only after an appropriate customer order has been made. The reason may be, e.g., a high number of product variants that would lead to unacceptable high inventories if pre- or semi-products were stored at all production stages. In such a situation it is often difficult to determine reasonable due dates for new incoming customer orders. A workable solution approach with short computation times can be established by a reactive planning based on a list scheduling.
