Lessons 6.1 to 6.4 built up a collection: what makes a group of styles a collection rather than two coincidental orders (6.1), how far ahead its calendar must start (6.2), how to balance it across category, price and colour (6.3), and how a retailer checks its own budget against it (6.4). By the end of that work, a merchandiser or buyer has one approved range plan, showing every style side by side with its quantity, price and fabric.
What a range plan does not do is tell a factory what to make. A factory cuts fabric and sews against a single style's own confirmed order, not against a sheet describing a whole collection's balance. This lesson closes the course by showing how an approved range plan turns into the individual purchase orders each style actually needs, using lesson 5.3's own five-field check on each one, and why sending a factory the whole range plan sheet is not the same as sending it an order it can produce from.
You need: lesson 6.3's range plan sheet and its two example rows, and lesson 5.3's five-field confirmation check (quantity, price, specification reference, delivery terms, payment terms, cancellation clause).
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: how the range itself is balanced (lesson 6.3), how a retailer's open-to-buy limits what it commits to (lesson 6.4), and what happens inside a factory once a purchase order is confirmed and production begins (Course 7).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Range plan | A single sheet listing every style in a collection, so its category, price and colour balance can be checked at a glance. |
| Purchase order | A document from a buyer confirming quantity, price and delivery date, which commits the buyer to pay for the goods it orders. |
| Collection | A group of styles planned, made and sold together for a season, rather than as a single, standalone order. |
| Staggered confirmation | Confirming each style in a collection at a different time, based on its own lead time, so all styles are still ready by the same shared date. |
| Make to Order (MTO) | Production starts only after a specific buyer has confirmed a specific order, with quantity, price and delivery date agreed. |
| Make to Stock (MTS) | Producing against the seller's own sales forecast, rather than a single confirmed buyer order. |
| Cancellation clause | A contract clause, referenced or attached to the purchase order, stating what happens if the buyer cancels after production has started. |
An approved range plan is a planning and balance-checking document. It shows a brand or retailer what it wants to buy across a whole collection, balanced by category, price and colour (lesson 6.3). It does not, by itself, tell any factory what to cut or sew. No factory can produce from a range plan directly, because a range plan mixes several styles' figures together on one sheet. Before production can start, each style on that sheet becomes its own separate purchase order, carrying only its own quantity, price and terms, possibly going to a different factory from the style next to it on the same sheet.
A merchandiser reading a range plan sheet cannot assume there is only one way it turns into orders. What differs is who makes each style, when each style is confirmed, and even which business model each style follows.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| One factory, many styles | The same factory, such as Delta Garments, makes every style in a range (both a T-shirt and a jeans style). | Each style still needs its own separate purchase order; one factory making the whole range is never a substitute for confirming each style on its own. |
| Many factories, one range | A range splits across factories by specialism, for example a T-shirt to one factory and jeans to a denim specialist; the range plan sheet's fabric-type column already hints at this split. | Each factory needs only its own style's order, never the whole range plan, and each order must name the correct factory. |
| Mixed business model within one range | Some styles in a range are confirmed Make to Order against commitments already in place (lesson 6.4's open-to-buy), while others are produced Make to Stock to the seller's own forecast. | A single approved range can straddle both models at once; each style's purchase order still has to say which model it follows. |
| Timing split | As lesson 6.2 showed, different styles in the same range are often confirmed at different times because of their different lead times, even though the whole range was approved as one plan. | A shared approval date for the range does not mean a shared confirmation date for every style's purchase order. |
Cedar & Co., the local domestic brand with 12 shops, had its range plan approved with two styles: a basic cotton T-shirt and a five-pocket jeans style, both made by Delta Garments. Converting that approved range into working orders means writing two separate purchase orders, not one.
The T-shirt purchase order follows Cedar & Co.'s usual pattern (lesson 4.1): Cedar & Co. runs Make to Stock against its own sales forecast, and once that forecast quantity is confirmed as a firm internal commitment, it becomes a real order Delta Garments can produce against. The jeans purchase order follows its own separate timeline instead, confirmed on a different date under lesson 6.2's staggered-calendar method, because a washed denim style needs a longer lead time than a basic T-shirt. Together, the two purchase orders make Cedar & Co.'s range a hybrid mix: one timing pattern for the T-shirt, another for the jeans, and a genuine mix of business models depending on which style is reordered from existing stock experience and which is freshly forecast.
| Purchase order | Style | Quantity and price | Confirmed against |
|---|---|---|---|
| PO 1 | Basic cotton T-shirt | 15,000 pieces at USD 3.20 | Cedar & Co.'s own confirmed forecast commitment (lesson 4.1) |
| PO 2 | Five-pocket jeans | 3,000 pieces at USD 9.80 | A separate, later-confirmed date on its own timeline (lesson 6.2) |
The range plan sheet's own two rows give the T-shirt style 15,000 pieces at USD 3.20 and the jeans style 3,000 pieces at USD 9.80. Added together, these made Cedar & Co.'s approved range worth a combined USD 77,400 (lesson 6.1). That combined figure describes the whole collection. It is not the value of either purchase order.
A common error is treating the range's combined USD 77,400 as if it belonged to a single purchase order. No factory could act on a document quoting USD 77,400 without saying which quantity of which style that figure covers; each purchase order must carry only its own style's quantity and price.
The methodA common mistake is sending a factory the full range plan sheet, showing every style's quantity and price side by side, and telling it to "start production based on this." A factory needs its own style's confirmed purchase order, not a summary sheet describing a whole collection's balance. The range plan sheet is a planning and balance-checking tool built in lessons 6.1 and 6.3; it was never designed to carry the five confirmation fields a single style's order needs, and a factory that starts cutting against it alone is producing against a document nobody has actually confirmed.
An approved plan for a whole collection is not the same as an order a factory can work from. Once a collection's mix of styles is agreed, each style still needs its own separate order stating its own quantity, price and terms. The same factory can make every style, or different styles can go to different factories. Styles in the same collection can be confirmed on different dates, and can even be produced in different ways. Never add up a whole collection's value and hand a factory that combined number; give it only its own style's figures, checked and confirmed on their own.
Cedar & Co.'s merchandiser sends Delta Garments the full range plan sheet, showing both the T-shirt and the jeans style with their quantities and prices, and asks Delta Garments to "start production based on this." The sheet is accurate: it correctly shows 15,000 T-shirts at USD 3.20 and 3,000 pairs of jeans at USD 9.80, and it was properly balanced and approved in lesson 6.3.
Is the range plan sheet itself enough for Delta Garments to begin producing either style? Decide before opening the answer.
No. Delta Garments needs a separate, complete purchase order for each style, each passing lesson 5.3's five-field confirmation check: quantity, price, specification reference, delivery terms, payment terms, and a cancellation clause.
The range plan sheet shows the collection's overall balance and figures, which is exactly what it was built for in lessons 6.1 and 6.3. It is not itself a confirmed order for either style. It states no delivery terms and no payment terms for the T-shirt or the jeans individually, and it references no cancellation clause for either style. Two facts decide this together: the sheet's own purpose (balance-checking, not order confirmation) and the missing fields lesson 5.3 requires before any purchase order counts as confirmed.
Delta Garments should ask Cedar & Co.'s merchandiser for two separate purchase orders, one per style, each carrying its own confirmed quantity, price, specification reference, delivery terms, payment terms and cancellation clause, before cutting fabric for either one.
Framed qualitatively, using lesson 1.2's own cutting-stage value of USD 2.45 per piece as the illustration: if Delta Garments began cutting either style based only on the range plan sheet, without a confirmed purchase order carrying its own delivery and payment terms, it would be spending real material and labour cost against something that is not yet a firm, individually confirmed order.
That USD 36,750 is exactly the kind of unfunded risk lesson 4.2 already warned against: real spend committed before a genuine, individually confirmed purchase order exists. A range plan sheet, however accurate its figures, does not remove that risk. Only each style's own confirmed purchase order does.
The range plan sheet's one sheet, "Range plan," is pre-filled with the T-shirt and jeans rows. This lesson adds no new columns. For each row, draft the five fields lesson 5.3 requires before that row becomes a real purchase order, so the gap between the sheet and a confirmed order is visible.
| Question | T-shirt row | Jeans row | Your range's row |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity and price (from the sheet) | 15,000 pieces, USD 3.20 | 3,000 pieces, USD 9.80 | |
| Specification reference, delivery terms, payment terms, cancellation clause | Missing from the sheet; add on the purchase order | Missing from the sheet; add on the purchase order | |
| Is the range plan sheet itself a confirmed order? | No | No |
1. Is an approved range plan itself a purchase order a factory can produce from?
2. Why might a single approved range end up with its styles confirmed on different dates?
3. A different collection has three styles: a jacket at 6,000 pieces and USD 14.50, a T-shirt at 20,000 pieces and USD 3.10, and shorts at 8,000 pieces and USD 5.40. What error does this lesson warn against, if a merchandiser sends the factory one document quoting the combined total of all three styles?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Range plan | خطة التشكيلة | Plan de collection | Ürün gamı planı | A single sheet listing every style in a collection, so its category, price and colour balance can be checked at a glance. |
| Purchase order | أمر الشراء (طلبية الشراء) | Bon de commande | Satın alma siparişi | A document from a buyer confirming quantity, price and delivery date, which commits the buyer to pay for the goods it orders. |
| Collection | التشكيلة | Collection | Koleksiyon | A group of styles planned, made and sold together for a season, rather than as a single, standalone order. |
| Staggered confirmation | الاعتماد المتدرّج | Confirmation échelonnée | Kademeli onay | Confirming each style in a collection at a different time, based on its own lead time, so all styles are still ready by the same shared date. |
| Make to Order (MTO) | الإنتاج حسب الطلب | Fabrication sur commande (MTO) | Siparişe göre üretim (MTO) | Production starts only after a specific buyer has confirmed a specific order, with quantity, price and delivery date agreed. |
| Make to Stock (MTS) | إنتاج حسب المخزون | Fabrication sur stock | Stoğa üretim | Producing against the seller's own sales forecast, rather than a single confirmed buyer order. |
| Cancellation clause | بند الإلغاء | Clause d'annulation | İptal maddesi | A contract clause, referenced or attached to the purchase order, stating what happens if the buyer cancels after production has started. |
You now know how an approved collection becomes individually confirmed purchase orders, each passing its own five-field check. The next course moves from planning a collection to running the orders it produces, day by day, once production has started. Back to the course map