Lead Time

Lead time covers everything between the purchase order and the parts arriving: material procurement, queue time before the job starts, setup, run time, secondary operations, inspection, and shipping. Machining time is frequently the smallest component.

Quoted lead time is a commitment rather than an estimate. A supplier stating six weeks is agreeing to a delivery date the buyer will plan a build around, and missing it carries consequences well beyond the value of the order.

Three things extend it in practice. Material availability governs the start date for anything not held in stock, and a specialty alloy can dominate the schedule. Queue reflects how much work is already committed to the same equipment, which is why capacity and lead time are the same question asked twice. First article inspection adds time on a new part number and is not optional where a certification requires it.

Expedite is a shortened lead time bought at a premium, usually by reordering the queue rather than by working faster. A supplier that expedites routinely is either carrying spare capacity or disappointing another customer.

For search, lead time is the attribute most often omitted from a capability page and most often asked about in the first contact. A stated typical lead time by process and quantity range answers the question before the buyer has to ask it, and gives a supplier-discovery prompt a value to match against.

Lead time is also a legitimate reason to lose a request for quote without any deficiency in capability. Where a buyer's build schedule is fixed, a supplier that cannot meet the date is out regardless of price, which is why it belongs in the request rather than being discovered late.

See what an RFQ should contain for where the buyer states the requirement, and capability page structure for where the supplier answers it.