Inventory
What is lead time and why does variability matter more than length?
Lead time is the elapsed time from placing a purchase order to having sellable stock, including production, transit, customs, and receiving. A long lead time is manageable because you can plan around it. A variable one is not, because you have to hold buffer stock sized for the worst case rather than the average.
Measure both the average and the spread per supplier. Two suppliers averaging six weeks are different businesses if one ranges from five to seven and the other from four to twelve.
Go deeper
Terms in this answer
More on Inventory, or browse every commerce operations answer.
See it on your channels.
Spend your time on the business, not the busywork. Book a demo and watch Endless run your operations across every channel you sell on.
Get a Demo