Top manufacturers have their lead times down to near perfection. With so many factors affecting lead time, it’s easy to completely lose control of it. That only leads to disappointed and angry customers, and lost profit opportunities.
What are the typical problems most manufacturers have? See if any of the below sound familiar:
- Stock-Outs
How often do you find yourself without the necessary parts to manufacture what your customers need? You could have underestimated what you need to do the job. Maybe you’re having issues with suppliers.Regardless of the cause, you only lose time and money. - Lead Time Variability by Vendor
To complicate manufacturing, you have different lead times with various vendors. Unsure when various parts will be delivered, you have a near-impossible time coordinating production. You could find yourself with too much or too little inventory at any given time. Excess inventory chews up your budget and available physical space. - Unpredictable Shipping Delays
Say an earthquake or flood happens in the region of the world or country where you order certain parts from. How are you supposed to predict or account for that? And you may not always be able to find a nearby supplier. In addition, nearly any supplier is susceptible to human error.While you can’t eliminate risk, you can certainly minimize it. - Market Demand
You can’t always predict customer demand. You could produce a certain part for customers now in just a few days. Three months from now, the exact same request could take several months to fulfill if you have high demand from your customers. Or, maybe your company begins business with several new high-volume customers.In addition, that means suppliers could be running with high demand too. That could mean your company doesn’t get the parts you need when you expect. - How Well a Part Fits Your Operations
You’ve tuned your manufacturing processes so you can produce a certain range of parts with high quality and great efficiency. Then, you get orders you need to fulfill which fall outside that range.Depending how far outside of your scope they fall, they can take much longer to produce. - Disorganized Inventory
If you have all parts on-site, and manufacture some of your own, it’s easy to assemble the final product. However, many manufacturers have disorganized inventory. Stocking surplus parts works good to help you through material shortages, but it can also backfire if you’re not organized enough.
Manufacturing’s not always easy. Your processes may not be running as efficiently as they should so you have the lead times your customers need. Call Pollock at 855.239.5153 today to learn how you can optimize lead times…without harming product quality.