{"id":8973,"date":"2024-05-03T02:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T07:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staginggembah.wpengine.com\/blog\/lead-time\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T11:29:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:29:51","slug":"lead-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gembah.com\/blog\/lead-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Product Lead Time: What Is It & How Can You Improve It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since the concept of time-to-market<\/a> was introduced in 1995, shrinking time-to-market has been a driving force in new product development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies use multiple methods to take time out of every step from start to finish of the product development process<\/a>. Many management consultancies and a mountain of textbooks have sprung up to cover this topic. The significant progress made in this area has changed the expectations in the boardroom and with consumers. And yet, one schedule-related part of the product development process is still a thorn in the side of companies bringing products to market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who has previously brought a product to market has been in a scheduling meeting and asked, \u201cIt will take how long?\u201d <\/em>when a supplier shares their lead time estimate. And, like many things in the world of consumer products, the pandemic and subsequent supply chain upheaval<\/a> have produced long lead times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article focuses on helping to make this thorn\u2014lead times\u2014less prickly in your side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step is understanding lead time and how it impacts product development, marketing, and sales. Next, we will cover how to know your lead times accurately and shrink them. Then, the importance of planning, having inventory throughout your supply chain, and where logistics pulls it all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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