Patent US 6,748,286

A method for manufacturing an item in a series of sequential manufacturing steps, the method including the steps of conducting the series of sequential manufacturing steps according to instructions included in a manufacturer's data record, prior to conducting one of the sequential manufacturing steps determining whether a customer data record exists, and if the customer data record exists, automatically replacing, supplementing and/or modifying the instructions included in the manufacturer's data record with instructions included in the customer data record, and then completing the series of sequential manufacturing steps to produce the item so that it includes a characteristic specified by the customer in the customer data record.