Every release checked against the blanket and the stock you hold.

Monday's schedule says 2,400 of the printed shipper to the second plant on the 18th, with more pencilled in for next month. Your rep finds the blanket line, works out what is left on it, checks which price applies that week, looks up the cases you are holding for that item, and then confirms or picks up the phone. Most of that is looking things up in your own records.

During the proof of concept, AI reads copies of releases you already handled and drafts the check for each one: the blanket line, the balance left after it, the price in force on that date, and the stock it would ship from. A release that over-draws the blanket, falls after a price expired or has no stock behind it lands on a short list. Nothing is confirmed and no customer sees any of it.

One schedule can carry three kinds of number. X12 describes its 830 planning schedule as usable for a simple forecast, for a forecast that authorizes the seller to commit labor or material, or for a forecast that is also the order release, with period-to-date cumulative quantities and quantities grouped in weekly, monthly or quarterly buckets. X12 adds that the release form can carry the purchase order data itself, so no separate PO may ever arrive. Each forecast line has a qualifier, firm and planning among them. A separate resource authorization says through which date the customer stands behind finished goods (code FI: labor, material and overhead) or material only (MT), with a cumulative quantity and a high-water mark that doesn't drop when the forecast does. The draft reports each line's qualifier and the authorization in force, and marks any finished stock you hold beyond what was authorized.

A shipping schedule moves dates, not commitments. X12's 862 shipping schedule gives a supplier precise shipping requirements and supplements the 830, and X12 states that it shall not be used to authorize labor, materials or other resources. So an 862 that pulls a ship date forward is not, by X12's own description, an authorization for more. Portal postings and spreadsheets often blend firm releases, forecast and authorizations in one file. The draft keeps the three apart, whatever the format, and shows which line came from where.

The blanket's own terms set the edges. Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, as Cornell's Legal Information Institute publishes it, has several sections that touch releases. Under 2-306, a quantity measured by the buyer's requirements means requirements that occur in good faith, and no quantity unreasonably disproportionate to a stated estimate, or to normal prior requirements, may be demanded. Under 2-311, assortment is the buyer's to specify and shipping arrangements the seller's, and a late specification excuses the delay it causes. Under 2-612, deliveries in separate lots, each accepted on its own, make an installment contract. The draft applies none of this. It flags a release far above the blanket's estimate or the customer's usual pattern, and a release missing a size or print version, and leaves the meaning of the terms to your team and your counsel. None of it is legal advice.

Stock on your floor has its own limits. Cases held for a customer were printed with one artwork revision on one board grade, so a release after a copy change needs a person to decide whether the old stock can go. Boxes usually ship in full bundles and pallets, and X12's forecast qualifiers even include a code for a rounded container quantity; the balance left on a blanket should count what actually shipped, over or under, within your terms. Terms of sale can also limit how long finished goods wait. One flexible packaging maker's published terms have goods on call taken within a set period after the first delivery, after which the rest is delivered and invoiced unasked, with storage on the buyer and the raw-material price adjustment applying to call-offs. The draft reads your terms for that customer and lists stock past its window.

Price, people and your reviewer. The federal rule for blanket purchase agreements, FAR 13.303-3, is a public example of release terms spelled out: the government owes only for authorized purchases actually made, each purchase has its own limit, the supplier is given a list of who may buy, and every delivery ticket carries the agreement number, the purchase number, the items, quantity, unit price and date. Commercial blankets differ, but most hold some version of each. The draft checks each release against the price in force on its date, the buyer list you keep and the balance that remains. The owner names your reviewer, usually the rep or scheduler who runs the account, and they compare every draft with what your team confirmed and shipped.

Once your reviewer says yes, each new release gets a draft check before your rep answers it, for roughly 30 days.

Your rep confirms, questions or holds each release, and your plant ships it. The AI never confirms a release, touches a blanket or writes to a customer, and the live month is marked on the same table.