Print as Manufacturing?

From the print customer’s perspective, buying print is unlike any other buying experience. Imagine if cars were manufactured and purchased the way print is.
The buyer would describe in general terms what sort of car they would like to have and make a request for a car manufacturing quote from a variety of car makers who may not be equally qualified to build it. The buyer then makes the purchase decision, perhaps based on price – "not too high, not too low" or perhaps based on a relationship with the car manufacturer's sales rep. Once the the selection of manufacturer is made, most of the raw materials and specifications needed to build the car are provided by the customer who, typically, has only a vague idea about how cars are built. The car manufacturer purchases a few required materials – however, they are provided with no specifications as to their manufacturing suitability. Then a car is mocked up as "proof" of concept using materials that only partially resemble the materials that will be used to build the final car. Then, after customer approval of the proof, the car buyer may opt to watch their car being manufactured so that they can make adjustments to the look of the car while it's being built.
Now, that’s manufacturing!