Push vs. Pull Manufacturing: Complete Guide with Examples

Push vs.

pull manufacturing refers to two production strategies that determine when and why you make products.

Growing manufacturers face a core challenge: balancing inventory costs with product availability — and choosing the wrong system can hurt both.

The right approach depends on your product type, lead times, and how predictable your demand is.

In this guide, you'll learn how each system works, see real-world examples, and discover when a hybrid push-pull strategy makes the most sense for your operation.

What is push manufacturing?

Let's say you're a growing beverage manufacturer that makes Kombucha:

You have a staff of 5 employees

You sell 500 bottles of Kombucha per day on average

If you were using the push manufacturing method, you would produce enough product according to your demand forecast. That means figuring out how many units are usually sold and then adding in some extra units for safety stock.

Let's assume the forecast says you should produce 1,000 bottles daily. That leaves an extra 500 bottles in inventory until they're needed. When an order arrives, you pull the necessary bottles from stock and ship them to the customer.

You're always maintaining 500 bottles on hand.

The biggest advantage of push manufacturing — also known as make-to-stock (MTS) — is that it reduces the time between when an order arrives and when the customer receives the product.

With our Kombucha example, if a customer orders 100 bottles, the order can be filled immediately since the bottles are already on hand. That's a significant advantage because customers don't have to wait for production. And if there's a sudden spike in demand, holding extra inventory lets you meet it instantly.

The downside? Push manufacturing can lead to high inventory costs. You're paying your workers to produce 1,000 bottles even though you might only sell 500 on a given day. Those extra 500 bottles sitting in inventory cost money — they take up warehouse space, and they tie up capital that could be used elsewhere in the business.

Examples of products where push manufacturing works

Push systems work best for products with predictable demand or long production lead times:

Promotional items: Products tied to a short-lived campaign — like a featured book, electronics release, or seasonal game — need to be ready before customers ask for them.

Clothing: Seasonal apparel needs to be manufactured months before the selling season begins.

Perishable and non-perishable foods: These products pass through many channels before reaching consumers, especially when shipped internationally. Having stock ready keeps things moving. Food and beverage manufacturers often rely on push systems to keep shelves stocked.

Consumer electronics: Companies like Samsung produce millions of phones and TVs before launch day based on pre-release forecasts.

A classic example of push manufacturing is Ford in the early 20th century. Ford used assembly lines and standardization to speed up production and reduce costs. This allowed them to push products onto the market faster and more efficiently than ever before.

However, the Ford Model T was only sold in black from 1914 to 1925. That made production simple — Ford only had to make one variant, so there was no risk of cars sitting unsold. But it also meant customers had very few choices. Ford corrected this in 1926 by offering different colors.

The rise of e-commerce is creating new challenges for push-based supply chains. With a huge variety of product options available online, accurately forecasting demand for every variant is harder than ever.

What is pull manufacturing?

In the pull manufacturing method — also known as make-to-order (MTO) — you produce only what the customer orders. When a customer orders 50 bottles of Kombucha, your staff produces just those 50 bottles specifically for that order.

The core advantage: you never carry excess inventory.

Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing

One well-known pull system is just-in-time manufacturing. The idea behind JIT is that raw materials arrive at your facility exactly when production starts, and production finishes just as goods need to ship. There's minimal sitting-around time for materials or finished goods.

Toyota pioneered JIT in the 1970s and used it to dramatically reduce waste across its production lines. The approach requires tight coordination with suppliers and a reliable supply chain.

Kanban systems

Another popular pull approach is Kanban. Kanbans are visual cues that tell you when to produce or reorder.

For example, imagine you have two bins of a component at your production station. When the first bin is empty, that's the signal to replenish — you send the empty bin back to the supplier or upstream process. Meanwhile, you continue working from the second bin. This "two-bin" system keeps production flowing without building up large stockpiles.

Kanban cards, colored tags, or even digital signals in MRP software can serve the same purpose at a larger scale.

Disadvantages of pull manufacturing

Pull systems aren't perfect. Here are the main drawbacks:

Longer lead times: In our Kombucha example, if a customer orders 500 bottles in a pure pull system, it could take 10+ days to deliver. That's a problem if they need the bottles tomorrow.

Idle capacity: Your workforce and production facilities can sit idle when no orders are coming in, which still costs money.

Supply chain vulnerability: A single disruption — a late raw material shipment, a supplier shortage — can halt your entire operation because you don't have buffer stock.

Difficulty scaling: If a large unexpected order comes in, you may not have the capacity to fulfill it on time.

Still juggling work orders manually? See how Brahmin automates production scheduling →

What does pull-in mean in manufacturing?

Pull-in is a related but different concept. In manufacturing, a "pull-in" means accelerating a scheduled production run or purchase order to an earlier date. For instance, if a customer moves their delivery date up by two weeks, you might "pull in" that work order to start production sooner.

Pull-in is common in electronics and contract manufacturing, where customer schedules shift frequently. It's different from a pull *system*, which is an overall production strategy. Pull-in is a scheduling adjustment within whatever system you're already using.

Push vs. pull manufacturing: key differences

The main difference between a push and pull system is what triggers production. In a push system, production is driven by forecasts — you make products before orders arrive. In a pull system, production is driven by actual customer demand — you make products only after an order is placed.

This fundamental difference affects everything from inventory levels to lead times to how you plan your production schedule.

WIP inventory

One major difference is the amount of work-in-progress (WIP) inventory each system allows. A pull system regulates WIP tightly — at least one unit in WIP needs to be finished and sold before the system signals to make more. A push system has no built-in WIP limit because production runs based on the forecast, not on signals from the floor.

Inventory costs

The push system relies on forecasts, and forecasts are never 100% accurate. Sometimes you'll produce too much, leading to excess inventory that takes up space and ties up cash. Other times you'll produce too little, leading to stockouts. In the worst case, excess product becomes deadstock — inventory that never sells.

A pull system only produces what customers have ordered, so inventory waste is minimal. The tradeoff is that customers may wait longer to receive their products.

Product availability

A push system ensures products are available the moment a customer wants them. This matters in markets where fast delivery times influence purchasing decisions — think consumer packaged goods on store shelves.

Product customization

When you offer customers customization options, a pull system (or at least a pull element) makes sense. Otherwise, you'd need to stock every possible variant, which gets expensive fast.

Many manufacturers use a push system for standard components and switch to a pull system when customization enters the picture. This is the foundation of the push-pull hybrid strategy.

What are some examples of push and pull production?

Real-world examples help clarify when each approach works best.

Push manufacturing examples:

Grocery staples: Companies producing items like cereal, canned goods, and bottled water forecast demand months in advance and keep store shelves stocked.

Seasonal clothing: A jacket manufacturer produces winter inventory in the spring and summer, long before customers start shopping.

Consumer electronics launches: A company manufactures thousands of units before a product launch date based on pre-order data and market research.

Pull manufacturing examples:

Custom furniture: A furniture maker builds a dining table only after a customer selects the wood type, size, and finish.

Print-on-demand books: A publisher prints a book only when someone places an order online.

Made-to-order supplements: A supplement manufacturer blends a custom formula only after receiving a customer's specifications.

Dell computers (1990s–2000s): Dell famously used a pull system where each PC was assembled to the customer's exact specifications after the order was placed.

Hybrid push-pull example:

Automotive manufacturing: A car manufacturer might use a push system to produce standard chassis and engines (predictable demand), then use a pull system for interior options, paint colors, and trim packages (customer-specific). Toyota's production system is a well-known example of this hybrid approach.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of push and pull systems?

Here's a side-by-side summary:

Neither system is universally better. The right choice depends on your demand patterns, product type, and operational capacity.

The benefits of using a hybrid push-pull manufacturing strategy

There may be a way to get the advantages of both approaches by combining them.

In a hybrid system, you keep a small inventory of standard products or components to quickly cover unexpected demand spikes and fill routine customer orders. At the same time, you produce customized or variable items based on actual orders.

This hybrid push-pull strategy gives you the best of both worlds: quickly filling orders and having products available when customers want them, without sitting on large amounts of inventory that may never sell.

For example, imagine you manufacture skincare products. You might use a push approach to keep your five best-selling lotions in stock at all times. But when a retail customer requests a private-label version with custom packaging and a unique scent, you switch to pull — producing that specific batch only after the order is confirmed.

This approach is closely tied to lean manufacturing principles. The goal is to minimize waste — whether that's excess inventory, idle labor, or overproduction — while still meeting customer expectations for fast delivery.

Maintaining the right balance of materials and components for both push and pull production can be challenging. You need visibility into your bill of materials, your current stock levels, your supplier lead times, and your production capacity — all at the same time.

Managing that complexity manually, with spreadsheets or disconnected systems, becomes expensive and error-prone as your operation grows.

How push, pull, and hybrid strategies connect to MRP

Whether you use a push system, a pull system, or a hybrid, you need a way to coordinate all the moving parts of your manufacturing operation — supply chain, sales, inventory, and production.

In a push system, MRP software helps you generate accurate demand forecasts, plan production runs, and manage the inventory that results. In a pull system, MRP tracks incoming orders, triggers purchase orders for raw materials, and schedules production so nothing starts too early or too late. In a hybrid system, MRP does both — managing stock levels for your push items while coordinating make-to-order production for your pull items.

The key is having all your data — customers, products, inventory levels, supplier lead times — in one place so you can spot patterns and make adjustments before problems appear.

You can deliver the fast availability of push manufacturing while capturing the waste-reduction benefits of pull manufacturing. And you can do it without relying on overworked (often error-prone) humans to track everything manually. That's the value of a well-designed manufacturing ERP system.

How Brahmin Solutions can help

Brahmin Solutions is a cloud-based manufacturing platform built for growing manufacturers doing $500K–$50M in revenue. It handles MRP, inventory management, production planning, and purchasing in one system — giving you the visibility you need to run a push, pull, or hybrid strategy without the cost or complexity of enterprise ERP.

If you're looking for a system that grows with your operation, book a demo and see how it fits.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between push and pull in manufacturing?

In push manufacturing, you produce goods based on demand forecasts before customer orders arrive. In pull manufacturing, production only starts after a customer places an order. The core difference is what triggers production — a forecast (push) or actual demand (pull).

Does Apple use a push or pull strategy?

Apple uses a hybrid push-pull strategy. Apple pushes standard products like iPhones and MacBooks to retail stores based on demand forecasts so they're available on launch day. But Apple also uses pull elements — for example, custom-configured Macs built to order through Apple's website ship directly from the factory after the order is placed.

What does pull-in mean in manufacturing?

A pull-in means moving a scheduled production run or purchase order to an earlier date. For example, if your customer needs delivery two weeks sooner than planned, you "pull in" the work order so production starts earlier. It's a scheduling adjustment, not a production strategy.

What are the disadvantages of the pull system?

The main disadvantages of a pull system are longer lead times for customers, idle production capacity during slow periods, vulnerability to supply chain disruptions, and difficulty scaling quickly for large unexpected orders. Because you carry little or no finished goods inventory, any disruption in materials or production can delay deliveries.