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Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing vocabulary · Production Planning and Control

Lead time

Meaning in industrial engineering & manufacturing, with examples

nounCore term

In industrial engineering & manufacturing, lead time means: The total time between the start of a process, such as receiving an order, and its end, such as delivering the product to the customer.

In Turkish: temin süresi, teslim süresi, tedarik süresi

How it is used

Used with customers, suppliers and planners. You quote, shorten or reduce a lead time, and there are different kinds: supplier lead time, production lead time, delivery lead time. Long lead times usually mean more inventory and more waiting.

Example sentences

  1. The supplier's lead time for castings is eight weeks, so we have to order now.

  2. Our goal this year is to reduce production lead time from ten days to five.

Common collocations

  • reduce lead time
  • supplier lead time
  • production lead time
  • long lead time
  • lead time of six weeks
  • cycle timeThe time it takes to complete one unit or one full round of a task at a machine or workstation, from start to finish.
  • safety stockExtra stock kept on top of normal needs to protect against unexpected demand or supplier delays.
  • reorder pointThe stock level at which a new order must be placed so that the material arrives before you run out. Often shortened to ROP.
  • make-to-orderDescribing a production strategy in which products are made only after a customer places an order, rather than in advance for stock. Shortened to MTO.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Production Planning and Control

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