Customers want shorter lead times, report says
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2006
Customers demanding shorter lead times is the No. 1 pressure facing manufacturers today, according to research from the Aberdeen Group.
This is a shift from what researchers saw 18 months ago, when manufactures reported their biggest pressure was demand for lower prices.
Achieving shorter lead times is no easy task. Even some of the best companies, says Aberdeen, end up increasing inventory levels to make their shipments on time.
Aberdeen's advice to companies seeking to improve lead times—and manufacturing performance in general—includes the following two suggestions:
1. Collaborate more closely with customers and suppliers.2. Measure manufacturing performance more frequently.
The ability to communicate, collaborate and interoperate with customers and suppliers is crucial to orchestrating an extended supply chain, according to the report.
"Collaborate with suppliers to improve flow of materials and processes throughout the supply chain," it says. "Simple Web-based supplier collaboration solutions go a long way toward improving overall performance."
A similar report from the research firm Best Practices says better communication with customers helps to manage customer expectations, ensuring customer requests are reasonable and achievable.
As for measuring performance, Aberdeen says frequency of measurement correlates directly with performance improvement. The report suggests operations measurements—which measure product quality, throughput, schedule compliance and operation completions—should be measured at least daily.
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