Quoting a 300-Stole Order Under Time Pressure
A artisan group receives an order for 300 cotton stoles, each 2.0 m long and 50 cm wide, printed with a two-colour repeating motif on 112 cm-wide fabric. The buyer wants delivery in six days and will reject any piece with visible registration error or shade variation. The group has four printers, two 10 m tables, and can print about 10 m per printer per hour for two-colour work. Fabric costs ₹95/m, pre-treatment ₹8/m, dye and paste ₹12/m, printing labour ₹15/m, and overheads ₹6/m. Finishing costs ₹10 per piece. A new block set costs ₹18,000. The normal reject rate is 8%, but the buyer's tolerance may push it higher.
1. Calculate a floor price per good stole and a quoted price with a 25% margin on cost. State your assumptions.
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For 300 good stoles, allow for rejects: produce 300 / 0.92 = 326 pieces, using 652 m of fabric. Variable cost per metre = 95 + 8 + 12 + 15 + 6 = ₹136. Variable cost for 652 m = 652 × 136 = ₹88,672. Finishing for 326 pieces at ₹10 = ₹3,260. Block set = ₹18,000. Total cost = ₹109,932. Cost per good stole = 109,932 / 300 = ₹366.44. A 25% margin on cost gives 366.44 × 1.25 = ₹458.05, so quote about ₹460 per stole. This assumes the reject rate stays at 8%, the block set is charged to this order only, and no reprint or overtime is needed.
2. Is the six-day deadline feasible with the available tables and printers? Show the calculation and identify the bottleneck.
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Required metres after reject allowance = 652 m. Four printers at 10 m/hour give 40 m/hour, so printing time = 652 / 40 = 16.3 hours. Over six days this is under three hours per day, so table time is not the bottleneck. The real constraints are drying time between colours, block setting, paste matching, and finishing. With two tables, a 10 m table run must dry before the second colour and before removal; that can limit throughput more than printer speed. A realistic plan is to print in two sessions per day, keep one table for the first colour and one for the second, and finish and inspect in parallel. Six days is feasible only if the blocks are ready on day one and the reject rate is controlled.
3. What commercial terms would you negotiate before accepting, given the buyer's rejection standard?
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I would ask for a written tolerance for registration and shade, a first-article approval before bulk printing, and a reprint allowance if the reject rate exceeds 10%. I would quote ₹460 per stole with 50% advance to cover fabric and block costs, and state that the price assumes 8% rejects and delivery ex-works. If the buyer insists on zero visible variation, I would either raise the price to cover a higher reject rate or reduce the order to a quantity that can be inspected piece by piece. I would not accept unlimited rejection liability on a six-day deadline.