When the project reaches production, the project is complete, right? Actually, there is much that still needs to be accomplished so that production begins and continues without complications. The goal is to have many happy end-users with corresponding decent sales, profits and success.

A bill of materials and a list of suppliers is prepared from which an accurate production costing and schedule can be produced. Sufficient areas for parts inventory, assembly and quality control testing need to be established. Custom molds and time saving production fixtures may be prepared. Steps are taken to ensure that long lead-time components, fixtures and custom enclosures will be ready when needed. A limited "preproduction run" helps to test the production process and to evaluate the quality of the manufactured product, thereby allowing issues to be resolved early on.

Some decisions may be needed to ensure timely, cost effective production. Keeping in mind the discipline of production engineering, if the production is tending to overshoot its cost budget, perhaps the team should explore some less expensive components that still allow the product to achieve its specification. If the time to manufacture the product is long, perhaps some assembly outsourcing or accelerated subassembly production will be necessary.

For users, a manual and a troubleshooting guide are prepared. Various packaging and distribution issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the key players in the distribution channel.

Depending on the type of product, certain agency certifications need to be acquired so that the product can be legally sold. For examples, in the USA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has strict radio-frequency emission limitations for electronic equipment. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulates medical products, and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certifies products for use in homes. For the production process itself, meeting International Organization for Standardization (ISO) requirements can help a product's marketability.

During the Production Phase, the development team implement a plan for user feedback and support, e.g. by setting up product oriented web sites and allowing for user registration and comments. It is with user feedback that the team can prioritize enhancements and other spin-off versions of the product.

For Internet-based products and services, attention turns to the Deployment Phase.