Scenario · Costing
Two prices for ‘the same polo’ — until fabric weight and pack were named.
Teaching scenario — not a published customer program. Composite situations for education; no customer is identified and no order is claimed.
The scenario
- 01
Situation
A buyer spreadsheets three FOB quotations. Supplier B is fifteen percent cheaper. The program awards B. At PP sample the fabric is lighter, the pack is solid instead of store ratio, and embroidery was never in the price.
- 02
Where it broke
The brief left fabric weight as a range, decoration as ‘logo included’, and packing unspecified. Each factory answered a different question honestly. The spreadsheet compared the answers as if they were the same.
- 03
The correction
Normalise trade term, fabric specification, decoration route, packing and quantity before comparing. Ask every supplier what the price assumes. Fabric metres come from the marker — not from a GSM shortcut.
- 04
Takeaway
A lower FOB is only a saving when it answers the same specification.
Not a case study
For a documented manufacturing program with verified facts, see case studies. Scenarios exist to teach; case studies exist to evidence.
Use the linked guides and tools, then send one style for commercial FOB costing.