Compare purchase quotes after pack sizes, delivery gates and total cost Skill Workbench · 2026-10-23 · Original fictional teaching material Turn a net requirement into an order quantity, screen quotes against fixed gates and test a discount without buying unnecessary stock. For an operations or purchasing beginner. Use the fictional quotes and a calculator; no supplier account or purchasing authority is required. - Round demand to a feasible whole-pack order while respecting the minimum. - Apply delivery and documentation gates before selecting the lowest total cost. - Compare a threshold discount against a smaller feasible order using the same stated cost boundary. CASE CONTRACT 1. All amounts are fictional cost units. Demand is a net requirement after usable stock; no other reservations or receipts are implied. 2. Order quantity is a whole multiple of pack size and at least both demand and MOQ. MOQ is a minimum number of units, not packs. 3. Total quoted cost = ordered units × unit price + stated freight. No tax, currency conversion, financing, disposal or storage cost is supplied; do not invent it. 4. Unit 2 requires lead_days≤5 and documentation=yes. Screen these gates before choosing the least total cost. 5. Unit 3 gives an all-units discount: B costs 6.5 per unit below 40 units and 6 per unit for all units at 40 or more. Compare the smallest feasible order with the threshold order; no value is assigned to excess stock. 1. Convert the requirement into a feasible order Keep net demand, pack size and MOQ in the same units. Start with the net requirement rather than the gross request. In this fixture the given demand already accounts for usable stock, so subtracting stock again would under-order. Name the unit of measure and the cutoff before comparing a quote. A supplier’s MOQ and pack size affect how many units can actually be ordered. Find the larger of demand and MOQ, divide by pack size and round upward to a whole pack count. Multiply back by pack size. Rounding to the nearest pack can leave a shortage; treating MOQ as a pack count can produce a much larger order. Always check the resulting units against both constraints. Calculate surplus as ordered units minus net demand. It is not automatically waste, but neither is it automatically a benefit. Keep it visible so the next person can assess storage or future use separately. The course’s cost boundary does not supply those values. Quote comparison begins with the actual payable quantity. Multiply unit price by ordered units, then add freight once. A low headline price is not enough if packaging forces an extra pack. This first calculation becomes the traceable input for the qualification and discount comparisons later. Worked example: round up after applying the minimum Demand is 17 units, MOQ 20 and packs contain 6. The minimum target is 20; ceil(20/6)=4 packs, or 24 units. Ordering 18 meets demand but violates MOQ. Ordering 20 violates the whole-pack rule. Net demand is 23 units. Use the single quote below and report total cost divided by ordered units for the final field. Pack-constrained quote supplier | pack_units | moq_units | unit_price | freight P | 6 | 18 | 7.5 | 12 YOUR EXERCISE Order quantity (units): __________________ Number of whole packs: __________________ Units above net demand: __________________ Total quoted cost: __________________ Quoted cost per ordered unit: __________________ Your explanation: Write the pack/MOQ calculation and name the cost items that the quote does not supply. FEEDBACK AND WORKED SOLUTION Order 4 packs/24 units, surplus 1. Goods cost 180 plus freight 12 = 192; 8 per ordered unit. Other cost categories remain unspecified. Order quantity (units) → 24. ceil(max(23,18)/6) × 6 = 24. Number of whole packs → 4. 24 / 6 = 4 packs. Units above net demand → 1. 24 − 23 = 1. Total quoted cost → 192. 24 × 7.5 + 12 = 192. Quoted cost per ordered unit → 8. 192 / 24 = 8; this denominator is ordered units. TRANSFER QUESTION If MOQ rose to 25 units with the same packs, what order quantity would satisfy it? 2. Screen the offers before comparing their costs Separate qualification from a tempting low price. A quote can be cheaper and still fail the required delivery or documentation condition. Write the gates before looking for the minimum. Here a lead time of five days or less and documentation=yes are both mandatory. They are fixed exercise inputs, not a legal or product-safety standard. Round each supplier independently using its own packs and MOQ. Applying one supplier’s order quantity to every offer can erase the real difference in payable units. Retain surplus beside cost so the result is auditable even when the lowest-cost qualified offer also happens to have the least surplus. Calculate totals for context, but choose only among offers passing both gates. A late quote remains visible as late; a missing-document quote needs a documentation follow-up. Silently deleting either row would make the comparison look more complete than the evidence allows. The recommendation should state the requirement, the chosen feasible quantity and the reason other offers were not selected. It does not issue a purchase order. A real buyer would still confirm specification, availability and the quote boundary before making a commitment. Worked example: a gate precedes ranking Two offers cost 90 and 105. The first has a seven-day lead time; the deadline allows five. The first is not eligible under that gate, so the second can be the lowest-cost qualified option even though it is not the cheapest displayed number. Net demand is 25 units. Apply whole packs/MOQ, lead≤5 and documentation=yes before recommending the least quoted total. Comparable supplier offers supplier | pack_units | moq_units | unit_price | freight | lead_days | documentation A | 10 | 20 | 6 | 20 | 3 | yes B | 5 | 25 | 6.5 | 0 | 4 | yes C | 5 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 7 | yes D | 5 | 25 | 5.8 | 0 | 4 | no YOUR EXERCISE Qualified supplier IDs: __________________ A total quoted cost: __________________ B total quoted cost: __________________ Lowest-cost qualified supplier: __________________ A: A B: B C: C D: D Supplier IDs failing the lead-time gate: __________________ Your explanation: Write the recommendation with the feasible quantity and separate explanations for C and D. FEEDBACK AND WORKED SOLUTION Qualified A/B. A orders 30 units, cost 200; B orders 25, cost 162.5. Recommend B subject to normal quote confirmation. C fails lead time; D needs documentation. Qualified supplier IDs → A, B. A/B pass both gates. C is late and D lacks the required documentation. A total quoted cost → 200. A needs 30 units: 30 × 6 + 20 = 200. B total quoted cost → 162.5. B can supply 25 units: 25 × 6.5 = 162.5. Lowest-cost qualified supplier → B. B is lower than A among the qualified offers. Supplier IDs failing the lead-time gate → C. C needs seven days, beyond the five-day limit. TRANSFER QUESTION If C’s lead time were unconfirmed instead of seven days, why would that still be a follow-up rather than a confirmed passing gate? 3. Test the discount against the smaller feasible order Compare payable totals instead of unit-price labels. The net requirement now changes to 31 units for supplier B. Its pack size is still five and MOQ is still 25. Recalculate the smallest feasible order before applying a discount. Copying the previous 25-unit order would leave a shortage, while jumping straight to the discount threshold could buy more than needed. The discount is explicitly all-units: every unit costs 6 when the order reaches 40. Below that threshold each costs 6.5. Compare 35 at the regular price with 40 at the discounted price. This is different from a marginal tier where only units above a threshold receive the lower price. Lower unit price and lower payable total are different objectives. The exercise assigns no financial benefit to unused stock and no future demand. Under that boundary, choose the feasible option with the lower total. If future use mattered, it would need evidence and a stated decision rule rather than an assumed benefit. Version the comparison because the demand input changed. The revised note should identify the new quantity, surplus, total and reason the threshold offer was not selected. This makes it clear that the decision was revisited rather than silently reusing an old recommendation. Worked example: a discount can increase the payment An order of 15 units at 9 costs 135. A threshold order of 20 at 8 costs 160. The unit price falls, but payment rises by 25. Without an assigned value for extra units, the discount alone does not justify the larger order. New net demand=31, B pack=5, MOQ=25, freight=0. B’s all-units price is 6.5 below 40 units and 6 at 40 or more. Compare the smallest feasible order and the 40-unit threshold. B price schedule minimum_units | unit_price | price_applies_to 25 | 6.5 | all units below 40 40 | 6 | all units at 40 or more YOUR EXERCISE Smallest feasible order (units): __________________ Cost of the smallest feasible order: __________________ Cost of the 40-unit threshold order: __________________ Threshold cost minus smaller-order cost: __________________ Which order has the lower payable total under this boundary?: __________________ 35: 35 units at the regular price 40: 40 units at the discounted price Your explanation: Write a revised recommendation naming demand=31, both totals, surplus of the chosen order and the discount’s actual effect on payment. FEEDBACK AND WORKED SOLUTION Order 35 units, surplus 4, total 227.5. Ordering 40 gives surplus 9 and costs 240, an extra 12.5. Choose 35 under the stated total-cost boundary. Smallest feasible order (units) → 35. ceil(max(31,25)/5) × 5 = 35. Cost of the smallest feasible order → 227.5. 35 × 6.5 = 227.5. Cost of the 40-unit threshold order → 240. 40 × 6 = 240. Threshold cost minus smaller-order cost → 12.5. 240 − 227.5 = 12.5 more payment. Which order has the lower payable total under this boundary? → 35 units at the regular price. 35 units meets demand with lower payment; no benefit for excess units is supplied. TRANSFER QUESTION What additional evidence would be needed before assigning value to the extra five units in the threshold order? PORTFOLIO REVIEW Keep all three exercise records and explanations. Fixed checks can be scored; explanations are ungraded. Do not infer occupational certification. SOURCE O*NET 13-1023.00 task 1142 · 08/2025 · Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts. O*NET 13-1023.00 task 1143 · 08/2025 · Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services. https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-1023.00 O*NET 31.0, USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0. Skill Workbench authored the teaching and fictional practice; no endorsement.