ERP & MRP Planning worked example

Production Promise Date with order queue before start of 2.5 days: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop order queue before start to 2.5 days, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimate promise-date offset from order queue, manufacturing, quality release, and shipment buffer days.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Order queue before start: 2.5 days (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 5)
  • Manufacturing execution time: 8 days (held at the documented default)
  • Quality, paperwork, and release time: 2 days (held at the documented default)
  • Shipment and promise buffer: 3 days (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Promise-date offset = queue time + manufacturing time + quality/release time + shipment buffer.
  • Production promise-date offset works out to 15.5 days at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Order queue before start works out to 2.5 days at these inputs.
  • Manufacturing execution time works out to 8 days at these inputs.
  • Quality release and shipment buffer works out to 5 days at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where order queue before start sits at 5 days and the headline result is 18 days, this scenario comes in 13.89% below the baseline at 15.5 days.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to order queue before start, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It assumes the stage times are typical; a heavily loaded queue or a quality hold can blow past the buffer, so refresh the queue input against current backlog before quoting.

Results at a glance

  • Production promise-date offset: 15.5 days (headline result)
  • Order queue before start: 2.5 days
  • Manufacturing execution time: 8 days
  • Quality release and shipment buffer: 5 days

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Production Promise Date calculator, set order queue before start to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.