A consumption-oriented transportation demand arises when the minimum stock level or minimum range of coverage of a material is undercut due to actual material consumption at a staging area (e. g. KANBAN). In this case, the transfer demand times are not known in advance.

In the case of a demand-oriented transportation demand, the times at which material requirements are expected to arise are calculated on the basis of a plan (e.g. a production program). Based on the amount of material at the provisioning location, it is calculated at what time a material must be delivered (at the latest) to a provisioning location to cover material requirements.