This page teaches a merchandiser or planner how to combine two or more orders' material requirements when they share the same fabric, so the mill receives one combined purchase order rather than two separate ones. It is for anyone planning purchasing across more than one order at once, building on Lesson 13.3.1's line-by-line method. It mainly teaches the information flow: turning two orders' bills of materials into one combined requirement.
At work, a factory rarely runs one order at a time. Delta Garments produces Order A for Northline Apparel, an export run, while also producing domestic runs for a local brand such as Cedar & Co., and more than one order can use the same or a similar fabric from the same mill. Ordering that fabric twice, without checking the other order, risks missing a shared mill discount or a dye-lot mismatch.
Order A's own fabric figure is already fixed at 0.205 kg per piece for 15,000 pieces. This lesson pairs it, for teaching purposes only, with an illustrative domestic order using a similar fabric, to show how two orders' requirements are added into one combined figure without double-counting either order.
You need: Lesson 13.3.1's line-by-line method for turning a bill of materials into a material requirement list.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: building one order's own material requirement list from its bill of materials (Lesson 13.3.1), adding lead time and safety stock to a combined requirement (Lesson 13.3.3), spotting a shortfall against a combined requirement (Lesson 13.3.4).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Bill of materials | The list of every material and cost component in a garment, with its cost, used to build up the FOB price. |
| Total fabric requirement | The full quantity of fabric an order needs, calculated from per-piece consumption times order quantity. |
| Fabric consumption | The amount of fabric (by weight or length) one garment piece uses, the basis for calculating an order's total fabric requirement. |
| Make to Order (MTO) | Production starts only after a specific buyer has confirmed a specific order, with quantity, price and delivery date agreed. |
When more than one order draws on the same fabric, or a fabric close enough in construction and weight that one mill can produce both, each order's own total fabric requirement is calculated first, on its own order quantity, then the two totals are added together into one combined figure. The combined figure is what goes to the mill as a single purchase order, rather than two separate ones. Order A's own 3,075 kg stays exactly as fixed; only the combining step is new.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Identical fabric, two export orders | Two Make to Order export orders both confirmed against the same specification, same GSM, same construction | Their requirements add together directly, with no adjustment needed before combining |
| Similar but not identical fabric | An export order's single jersey at 180 GSM and a domestic order's single jersey at a different GSM, same mill, same fibre | A mill may still combine both into one dyeing lot, but the two fabrics are never treated as literally the same fabric when checking quality or shade |
| Export MTO paired with domestic MTS | Order A's confirmed 15,000-piece export quantity paired with a domestic brand's forecast-based quantity | The export figure is fixed once confirmed; the domestic figure can move if the forecast changes, so the combined total may need revisiting |
| One order's quantity changes after combining | A domestic brand revises its forecast downward after a combined purchase order has already gone to the mill | The combined figure, not just the one order that changed, must be corrected before the mill's production run is affected |
| Related product families | Socks and hosiery mills combining more than one brand's yarn order into one dye lot, home-textile converters combining more than one bedding order's sheeting fabric | The same combining logic applies wherever more than one order can share a mill's production run |
Delta Garments produces Order A for Northline Apparel and, illustratively for this lesson, a second domestic order for Cedar & Co. using a similar single-jersey fabric from the same mill, Rowad Knits. Rather than sending Rowad Knits two separate purchase orders in the same week, Delta Garments' planner combines both orders' fabric requirements into one purchase order, letting Rowad Knits plan one knitting and dyeing run instead of two.
Combining the two purchase orders also helps Delta Garments itself. A single, larger purchase order can qualify for a better fabric price per kilogram than two smaller ones placed separately, and Rowad Knits can offer Delta Garments a more reliable delivery date once it knows the full quantity it must plan capacity for in one run, rather than guessing whether a second, smaller order might still arrive later in the same week and disrupt its schedule.
The worked numberOrder A's own fixed figures: 0.205 kg per piece multiplied by 15,000 pieces.
The illustrative domestic order's figures, for teaching purposes only: 0.18 kg per piece multiplied by 6,000 pieces.
The two orders' fabric requirements added together:
Delta Garments' planner releases one combined purchase order to Rowad Knits for 4,155 kg, rather than two separate ones, worked out live on this course's material requirement planner.
A common mistake is adding two orders' fabric weights together because both use "single jersey" fabric, without checking that their GSM, fibre content or finish are close enough for one mill run and one dye lot to serve both. Two single-jersey fabrics at different GSM are not interchangeable at the cutting table even if their weights can be added on paper. Combining them into one purchase order without checking this first can deliver a mill's finished fabric that fits neither order's own specification exactly, and correcting a wrongly combined order after fabric has already been knitted and dyed costs far more time than checking the two specifications side by side before the purchase order is ever sent.
This lesson shows what to do when two different orders both need the same, or a very similar, kind of fabric from the same mill. Instead of asking the mill for fabric twice, in two separate small requests, the two orders' amounts are added together into one bigger request. This lets the mill do one production run instead of two, which is usually easier for the mill and faster for both orders. Before adding the two amounts together, it always has to be checked that the two fabrics really are close enough to be treated as one order at the mill.
Mona, the merchandiser at Delta Garments, is preparing purchase orders for the same week. Order A, for Northline Apparel, needs 3,075 kg of single-jersey fabric. An illustrative domestic order for Cedar & Co., using a similar single-jersey fabric from the same mill, needs 1,080 kg.
Should Mona send Rowad Knits two separate purchase orders, or one combined purchase order?
Mona should send Rowad Knits one combined purchase order for 4,155 kg, from Order A's 3,075 kg plus the illustrative domestic order's 1,080 kg, since both fabrics are single jersey close enough in construction and weight for one mill run. Sending two separate purchase orders in the same week for closely related fabric would ask Rowad Knits to schedule two smaller runs instead of one, which is less efficient for the mill and can push both orders' fabric further down its production queue.
Combining two orders' requirements into one purchase order, rather than sending two separate ones, does not change the total fabric ordered, 4,155 kg either way, but it changes how efficiently the mill can produce it. A mill scheduling two smaller runs instead of one combined run for closely related fabric can take longer overall, since each run carries its own setup time regardless of size.
The combined fabric requirement, in kilograms, that a single purchase order asks Rowad Knits to produce in one run rather than two.
If Mona had sent two separate purchase orders instead, both orders could face a longer wait for their fabric, since Rowad Knits' knitting and dyeing capacity would be split across two smaller, separately-scheduled runs rather than one combined run, risking a delay to Order A's own fixed 16-week production schedule that a combined purchase order avoids.
The Material requirement planner (this course's workbook) holds the "Combine Orders" sheet, which reads each order's own fabric requirement and combines any two or more rows sharing the same fabric into one total, automatically, as a live formula.
| Question | Order A (filled in) | Illustrative domestic order (filled in) | Your combined figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric type | Single jersey, 180 GSM | Single jersey, similar GSM | |
| Consumption per piece | 0.205 kg | 0.18 kg | |
| Order quantity | 15,000 pieces | 6,000 pieces | |
| Own total requirement | 3,075 kg | 1,080 kg | |
| Combined requirement | 4,155 kg |
Download the Material requirement planner from the course page and combine your own orders' figures in the fourth column.
1. Why are two orders' fabric requirements combined into one purchase order instead of sent to the mill separately?
2. Order A needs 3,075 kg of fabric and an illustrative second order needs 1,080 kg of a similar fabric from the same mill. What is the combined purchase order quantity?
3. A domestic order's forecast is revised downward after its fabric requirement was already combined into one purchase order with an export order. What should happen next?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill of materials | قائمة المواد | Nomenclature | Malzeme listesi | The list of every material and cost component in a garment, with its cost, used to build up the FOB price. |
| Total fabric requirement | إجمالي احتياج القماش | Besoin total en tissu | Toplam kumaş ihtiyacı | The full quantity of fabric an order needs, calculated from per-piece consumption times order quantity. |
| Fabric consumption | استهلاك القماش | Consommation de tissu | Kumaş tüketimi | The amount of fabric (by weight or length) one garment piece uses, the basis for calculating an order's total fabric requirement. |
| 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. |
You now know how to combine two orders' requirements for the same fabric into one figure. The next lesson looks at Rowad Knits, the mill supplying that fabric, and how it adds lead time and safety stock on top of a combined material requirement before it can promise delivery. Back to the course map