A system for creating a customized patient-specific orthopaedic instrument for a patient of a healthcare facility includes a client to generate an instrument request that includes data relevant to the patient. A design plan system receives the instrument request and generates a design plan that has been customized based upon the data of the instrument request, the design plan system being located at a vendor. A milling machine located at the healthcare facility which is external to the vendor can be operated to fabricate the customized patient-specific orthopaedic instrument according to the data of the design plan generated by the design plan system.
