Supply chain lead time is also known as cumulative lead time. It is the critical path leadtime required to purchase material and create a product to offer to the market.
Cumulative lead time includes the value-added production time where component are made and assembled into finished goods, the waiting time within the process where these components must wait for resources to work on them, and the transportation and storage time between company owned and external locations within the supply chain.
For many products, the transportation time can actually be the most significant component of cumulative lead time.
Lead time in supply chain is dominated by the interface delays due to the interfaces between suppliers and manufacturing plants, between plants and warehouses, between distributors and retailer, etc.
Supply chain lead time
