Custom manufacturing provides built-to-order parts, custom products, and select services, sometimes using specialized processes or equipment unavailable in standard production techniques. These processes create a significant amount of the components and machinery used in today’s industrial marketplace. In principle, custom manufacturing also extends to many of the pre- and post-treatment services used to produce a finished item, such as grinding, which applies abrasives to remove excess material and shape a product to better fit its intended design. It encompasses a broad range of methods, and can involve both manual and automated controls.

Fabrication is another term used to designate a wide array of industrial procedures. Generally speaking, it is the shaping and forming of raw or processed materials to create a component. Fabrication can involve cutting, welding, casting, molding, extruding, as well as many other techniques used alone or in combination with one another. Custom fabricating can be a streamlined or multi-stage process, with computer-controlled or manually operated tools and machinery. Chemicals also play a role in numerous fabrication processes, ranging from material treatment to outright shaping.