Lead Time Reduction

You're not late because machines are slow. You're late because work waits.

Lead time hides in between steps—material waits, approvals, setups. Ten hours of touch time buried in three weeks of calendar time.

Map the flow: quote → PO → cut → ship. Mark where stuff sits. Kill the biggest delay first. Create a Fast Lane. Use WIP caps. Review weekly.

Trace one live job. Count working hours vs. waiting days. That ratio is your leak.

A 10-person fab shop cut lead time from 18 → 11 days by adding a five-minute daily purchasing huddle and moving inspections to the same shift.

You don't fix lead time by pushing harder — you fix it by killing the waiting nobody talks about.