Supplier Constraints

Supplier Constraints establish lead times, minimum quantities, and ordering frequencies for specific item-supplier relationships. They are essential for generating realistic order suggestions and calculating accurate delivery timelines in the Supply Planner.

What they enable

Supplier Constraints let the system:

• Calculate realistic delivery dates based on supplier lead times
• Enforce minimum and incremental order quantities (MOQ and IOQ)
• Control ordering frequency through review periods
• Generate order suggestions that respect supplier-specific constraints
• Model different order types (Purchase, Production, Transfer)

Order types

Supplier Constraints support three order types:

Type	Used for
Purchase	Items sourced from external suppliers — raw materials, components, or finished goods purchased from vendors
Production	Items manufactured internally or at CMOs. Lead time represents the manufacturing time required
Transfer	Items moved between internal locations within your network — warehouse-to-warehouse or DC movements

Constraint parameters

Lead Time

The time it takes for an item to become available for consumption after ordering.

• Deliveries are calculated by adding the lead time to the order date
• Lead times can be set in days, and are reflected on charts when grouped by day
• In delivery view, lead times are grouped to the month level

Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)

The minimum quantity that must be ordered from the supplier. Orders below the MOQ trigger an MOQ violation exception.

Incremental Order Quantity (IOQ)

The quantity increment for orders larger than the MOQ. Generally aligns with supplier batch sizes or packaging requirements.

If MOQ = 100 and IOQ = 50, valid order quantities are 100, 150, 200, 250, and so on. Orders that don’t align with the IOQ trigger an IOQ violation exception.

Impact on order suggestions

Supplier Constraints directly shape automated order suggestions.

Lead time offsetting

The system calculates when orders must be placed to meet demand, accounting for lead times. If demand occurs in March and the lead time is 2 months, the system suggests ordering in January.

Quantity rounding

Order suggestions automatically respect MOQ and IOQ:

• Calculated need of 75 units with MOQ = 100 → suggestion rounds up to 100
• Calculated need of 275 units with MOQ = 100 and IOQ = 50 → suggestion rounds to 300

Feasibility checking

For Production orders, the system checks component availability through the BOM structure:

• Orders are marked Fulfillable (FF) if all components are available
• Orders are marked Unfulfillable (UF) if component shortages exist

Exceptions

When Supplier Constraints are not met, the system flags exceptions:

• MOQ Violation — an order quantity falls below the Minimum Order Quantity constraint.
• IOQ Violation — an order quantity does not align with the Incremental Order Quantity constraint after satisfying MOQ.

These appear in the Supply Planner subgrid to alert planners of constraint violations.

Required data

See the Supplier Constraints section under Data Management for required and optional fields in uploads. Supplier Constraints can also be configured directly in the Supplier Constraints worksheet under Data Management.