A yarn supply system having a plurality of feeders associated with a textile machine. Each feeder having its own speed control system including a variable speed drive motor and a variable speed controller which includes a programmable control unit which is capable of responding to the actual yarn consumption requirements and responding to a main control apparatus message. The main control apparatus including a yarn feed rate anticipating unit that represents additional intelligence to the feeders. The yarn feed rate anticipating unit becomes informed about a weaving pattern stored in the main control apparatus memory and transfers a message via a message transfer network to individual feeder programmable control units to accelerate or decelerate in advance of an actual winding-on requirement.