This page is for anyone who has to track more than one line carrying more than one order at once. Lesson 8.2.2 gave a single line's actual daily capacity; this lesson extends that figure into a shared record the whole planning team can read together. It mainly teaches an information flow: how bookings from different orders, on different lines, in different weeks, are recorded so anyone checking the sheet sees the same, complete picture.
This matters most at a factory like Delta Garments, running an export order for Northline Apparel alongside domestic production for Cedar & Co. on the same lines. Checking a new booking against a line's capacity in isolation, without adding it to everything else already booked, can make a line look free when it is not.
Without a shared sheet, two people can each confirm a booking to the same line in the same week without seeing what the other already committed. This lesson gives the method: calculate weekly capacity, record every commitment as its own row, and add together everything booked to the same line and week before comparing against capacity.
You need: a line's actual daily capacity, calculated as in lesson 8.2.2. You do not need to have tracked more than one order on a shared sheet before.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: calculating a line's actual daily capacity itself (lesson 8.2.2), what happens once a line's combined booking exceeds its weekly capacity (lesson 8.2.4), and running the complete method end to end for a brand-new order (lesson 8.2.5).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Booking sheet | A shared record that lists which lines are committed to which orders, in which weeks, and how much of each line's capacity each commitment uses, so every booking can be checked against the same total. |
| Capacity utilisation | The share of a factory's available capacity actually being used by confirmed orders, expressed as a percentage of its maximum output. |
| Pre-negotiated capacity | Factory production capacity a buyer reserves ahead of a season, before a specific order is confirmed. |
| 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. |
A capacity booking sheet records every line's actual weekly capacity, actual daily capacity from lesson 8.2.2 multiplied by the working days booked that week, against every order and week committed to that line. The total quantity booked to a line in a week can then be compared, on one shared record, against what that line can actually deliver that week. The same check Track 7 made only at the whole-factory level is here made line by line and week by week, and across more than one order at a time.
Line 1's actual weekly capacity, in pieces: actual daily capacity (lesson 8.2.2) multiplied by 6 working days booked that week.
A person who has only booked one line against one order should not assume every booking looks the same. The method does not change; how many rows feed into the same line-and-week total does.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| One line, one order, one week | The simplest booking, where a single order's quantity for a week is compared directly against that line's weekly capacity. | The baseline case the method scales up from. |
| One line, two orders sharing the same week | A new enquiry added to a line already carrying Order A's own shape in the same week. | Both quantities booked to that line that week must be added together before comparing the total against the line's weekly capacity, not checked as two separate, unrelated bookings. |
| The same order split across two lines | A single order too large for one line's weekly capacity booked partly to Line 1 and partly to Line 2, each recorded as its own row. | The order's total quantity is only found by adding the two lines' bookings together. |
| Export order booked ahead versus domestic order booked against current free capacity | An export order for a buyer like Northline Apparel may be booked as soon as pre-negotiated capacity is agreed, weeks before production starts; a domestic Make to Stock order for Cedar & Co. is booked against whatever capacity the sheet currently shows as free. | An export slot may already be reserved months ago; a domestic slot is checked fresh against today's sheet. |
Delta Garments' Line 1 and Line 2 are booked illustratively against Order A's own shape and a new, similar-sized enquiry in the same week, continuing the figures introduced in lessons 8.2.1 and 8.2.2. The new enquiry on this shared sheet is Cedar & Co.'s own domestic Make to Stock run, booked against the sheet's currently free capacity rather than a seasonal reservation.
| Fact | What it tells the planning team |
|---|---|
| Line 1's actual weekly capacity, about 8,988 pieces (illustrative) | The ceiling that everything booked to Line 1 that week must fit inside |
| Order A's own shape, 4,800 pieces booked that week | One row on the shared sheet, for Northline Apparel's export order |
| Cedar & Co.'s new enquiry, 900 pieces, same week | A second row on the same sheet, for a domestic Make to Stock run |
| What the sheet must show before either booking is confirmed | Both rows added together, compared as one combined total against Line 1's weekly capacity |
This example is illustrative, not a claimed fixed academy fact: Line 1's actual daily capacity from lesson 8.2.2 is about 1,498 pieces; booked for 6 working days that week, its weekly capacity is about 1,498 × 6 = 8,988 pieces. If Order A's own shape is booked for 4,800 pieces that week and Cedar & Co.'s new enquiry is booked for 900 pieces in the same week on Line 1, the combined quantity booked is 4,800 + 900 = 5,700 pieces, giving a utilisation of 5,700 ÷ 8,988 ≈ 63.4%, well under 100%, so Line 1 has spare capacity that week for the combined bookings shown.
Combined quantity booked to Line 1 that week: Order A's own shape plus Cedar & Co.'s new enquiry.
Line 1's utilisation that week: combined booked quantity divided by actual weekly capacity.
A common mistake is checking each order's booking against a line's capacity one order at a time, without adding it to everything else already booked to that same line in the same week. This can make a line look like it has spare capacity when the combined total of all its bookings that week has already used it up.
A booking sheet is a shared list of which lines are committed to which orders, in which weeks. To use it correctly, first work out how many pieces a line can actually make in a week. Then list every order booked to that line for that week as its own row. If more than one order shares the same line and week, add their quantities together before comparing the total against the line's weekly capacity. Checking one order at a time, without adding it to what else is already booked, can make a line look free when its combined bookings have already filled it up.
Mona is asked by Sara whether Line 1 can also carry a new 900-piece enquiry in the same week Order A's own 4,800-piece shape is already booked to it. Mona has only checked the new enquiry's 900 pieces against Line 1's weekly capacity on its own, without adding it to Order A's existing booking.
Karim's note to Mona:
Is it enough for Mona to check only the new 900-piece enquiry against Line 1's weekly capacity, without adding it to Order A's existing 4,800-piece booking?
No. Mona must add the new enquiry's 900 pieces to Order A's existing 4,800 pieces already booked to Line 1 that week, giving a combined total of 5,700 pieces, and compare that combined total against Line 1's weekly capacity of about 8,988 pieces.
First, a line's weekly capacity is shared across every order booked to it in that week, not reset for each new order checked.
Second, checking the new enquiry in isolation (900 against 8,988) would have looked safe on its own while ignoring the 4,800 pieces already committed.
In this illustrative case the combined 5,700 pieces still fits under 8,988, so Mona can confirm — but only because she added both bookings together first.
If Mona had approved bookings order by order without adding them together, a third order arriving later in the same week could push the combined total past Line 1's weekly capacity of about 8,988 pieces without anyone noticing until the line was already overcommitted.
Line 1's remaining spare capacity that week, in pieces, after the combined 5,700-piece booking — the room a third, unchecked order could silently use up.
Catching an overbooked line before confirming a date avoids the overtime or delay costs that lesson 8.2.4 covers directly; a shared, correctly added sheet is what makes that catch possible before a promise is made.
This lesson uses the "Multi-Order Booking Sheet" of the course's Capacity booking calculator, which reads each line's actual daily capacity from the "Line Daily Capacity" sheet and calculates weekly capacity, booked quantity totals and utilisation for every line, order and week entered. Enter one row per order per line per week, and let the sheet add same-line, same-week rows together automatically before comparing against capacity. Download link: the course tool, `templates/T08-C02-capacity-booking-calculator.xlsx`.
1. When two orders are booked to the same line in the same week, how should their booked quantities be checked against the line's weekly capacity?
2. A line's actual daily capacity is 1,000 pieces and it is booked for 5 working days in a week. What is its weekly capacity?
3. An order too large for one line's weekly capacity is split across two lines. How is the order's total booked quantity found?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Booking sheet | ورقة الحجز | Fiche de réservation | Rezervasyon tablosu | A shared record that lists which lines are committed to which orders, in which weeks, and how much of each line's capacity each commitment uses, so every booking can be checked against the same total. |
| Capacity utilisation | معدل استغلال الطاقة الإنتاجية | Taux d'utilisation de la capacité | Kapasite kullanım oranı | The share of a factory's available capacity actually being used by confirmed orders, expressed as a percentage of its maximum output. |
| Pre-negotiated capacity | طاقة إنتاجية محجوزة مسبقًا | Capacité pré-négociée | Önceden ayrılmış kapasite | Factory production capacity a buyer reserves ahead of a season, before a specific order is confirmed. |
| 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. |
You now know how to add every commitment to the same line and week together before checking utilisation. The next lesson looks at what happens, and what it costs, when that combined total exceeds a line's actual weekly capacity. Back to the course map