What’s Up With Long Lead Times?

Several months ago, a customer said something to me that was another example of the utter fascination people have with the manufacturing god of mass production. He was defending one of our competitors, who had quoted a lead time that was significantly longer than Carrio’s. “As a company grows, lead times grow,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. Everybody knows that.”

The implication was that my competitor’s services were in demand and therefore, more desirable and that accepting long lead times was part of the price of working with what must be a successful company…like a badge of honor. Of course, the converse was also implied: Because Carrio Cabling’s cycle times are so short, our business must be unstable and unsuccessful. Clearly, in this goofball’s world, we didn’t have enough business; if we did, we wouldn’t be able to deliver quickly.

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