Demand Collation (Production Requests)

Demand Collation bridges two granularities. Individual kanban cards each signal a small, card-sized need; production and procurement happen in aggregate. A production request gathers many card signals — and direct, card-less demand — into one production task at a station, which Order Management can then service.

This feature is derived from the Demand module.

What the user can do

Collate. Gather eligible card signals (and direct demand) into a production request for a given item at a given station. Which signals group together is the composer’s choice; the system enforces that a signal is never in two live requests at once.
Set the intent. Adjust the intended quantity while the request is still open.
Release. Hand the request to the station, freezing the intended quantity.
Produce. Record produced materials into the request’s holding pool as they are made — in increments — and distribute them to the waiting card signals.
Complete. Declare the run done, even if the result differs from the intended quantity.

Why collation is a person’s decision

The system owns the integrity of collation — eligibility, no double-holding, and the lifecycle rules — but not the policy: which eligible signals go into which request, or wait on their own, is a business judgment the composer makes. This keeps the system out of guessing how a given shop wants to batch its demand.

Where it connects

Production requests sit between the Kanban Replenishment Loop (which produces the signals) and Order Management (which services the requests and reconciles receipts back to them).

Personas involved

Procurement Manager (David) — collates demand into requests and services them via orders.
Inventory Manager (Irene) — oversees the demand the requests gather.

Demand module — the full design and guarantees.
Kanban Replenishment Loop — the source of demand signals.
Order Management with Lifecycle — what services production requests.