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Why Isn't Planning Lead Time Based on Work Days?

← Inventory Management
Release Date: 11/8/2018

Q - I saw your Knowledge Base article that explains how the planning lead time is based on calendar days:
But since you have a calendar file that indicates which days of the week the company is not open, why would the system move the planning date on to the next work day but not skip them in calculating the lead time? 

Example: We have a part with a 10-working-day lead time. The work order has a due date of 11/13 and the start date is 11/3.  Even though the calendar shows we are not working on certain days, it still counts those days as part of the lead time. This has caused issues for us in the past because I believe the same thing would happen even if I put holidays on the calendar.

A - The original developing of lead time logic was based on purchasing lead time, instead of manufacturing lead time.  In purchasing, especially for importers, if you have an 8 week lead time, most of that lead time is for shipping. The ship is sailing 7 days a week on the ocean. That is the reason why the lead time calculation is based on calendar days instead of working days.  The calendar file was added later on to avoid the scheduling date falling on weekend or holidays.

I understand your point. At this moment, we don’t have a method to support some item lead time based on calendar days and some other lead time based on work days. The result is the manufacturing items' lead time is also based on calendar days, similar to purchasing items.  That may cause the lead time for manufacturing items to be a few days off depending on the day of the week. So your strategy should be to give manufacturing item lead times a few days buffer to accommodate for this calculation issue.

EMK

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