Lead times have long plagued manufacturing, procurement and supply chains. Simple math tells us the shorter the lead time, the shorter the return on investment. On the flip side, long lead times can mean inaccurate market demand, unhappy customers, loss in revenue and…well, you get it.

The Current Drawbacks of Lead Time

Keeping production and stock moving as efficiently as possible is vital to any business because – surprise, surprise – customers don’t like waiting. Forecasting and planning can only get you so far. Unexpected delays will happen without fail: delays in paperwork, delays at the factory, delays at the ports.

The time between ordering stock and having it arrive can potentially result in customers leaving you for a competitor.

So, what do you do when long lead times affect your ability to respond to customer demand? Do you go to a competitor to get the inventory you need? Moreover, what do you do when a product that’ll take 24 weeks to get to you suddenly becomes unpopular? Where do you house dead stock?

These challenges are real, they are constant, and they are costly.

There are a few things you can do to reduce manufacturing lead time:

1. Utilize a domestic supplier. Obviously, buying from a local supplier will automatically reduce the time it takes to get products to your doorstep. However, labor and production costs are significantly higher in the U.S., so you lose the factory-direct pricing.

2. Employ a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) system. VMIs put the vendor in charge of owning your inventory, managing and replenishing as necessary. This method relies heavily on technology, process and accurate forecasting. But because VMI works best for big business, infrequent or small orders are not made for this arrangement.

3. Increase the frequency of your orders. Many businesses place large bulk orders every few weeks, leaving them with plenty of stock in their warehouses. But that comes with carrying costs and excess inventory. So, instead, buying smaller amounts more often can combat that, increasing your inventory turnover.

While these suggestions can help with the immediate demand, distributors and supply chain managers need to reexamine the concept of lead time altogether to fully combat the problem.

Looking at Lead Time Anew

Technology has enabled us to improve processes for everything, including the way we import. As a spin-off of Earnest Machine, Zirks has been in importing a long time and understands its many pain points. One day, we sat down and asked, “what if…” What started out as a joke was, in fact, a light bulb. We figured out a better way to get overseas goods to market faster, cheaper and with a lot less headaches.

Our platform empowers customers to redefine lead time. No longer are you at the mercy of delays. Because the beauty of this model is that those unforeseen delays – if they happen – happen before items go on sale. And you are none the wiser. You can determine your lead time based on the timing of your purchase, procuring your order in as little as 5 days instead of the standard 22 weeks.

Some manufacturers believe that long lead times are just a natural part of doing business overseas, and maybe for a long time, that was true. But times they are a-changin’. In this industry, time is money. You must have the flexibility and wherewithal to take action, both for your customer and for your business.

It’s time to buy differently. It’s time for Zirks.