Shipping Lead Time Calculations

Lead times calculate when inventory will be prepared and shipped.  They represent an average of the normal processing time.  There are two different lead times: the internal lead time and the external lead time.  These lead times are taken into account when calculating the Promised Ship Date and Expected Receipt Date for a customer order.

Internal Lead Time

The internal lead time is the time it takes for you to package and prepare your goods for shipment.  This lead time is used to calculate the earliest possible date that an order can be shipped.  You can specify which of the two possible internal lead times should be used for a specific company/location on Reference File category 412 in the Standard Part Distribution Lead Time field.  Your choices are:

·     Standard Part Distribution Lead Time held on the Warehouse Balance file.  It allows you to specify a lead time at the part level; it is the number of days that it takes to ship a part after it is ordered.

·     Standard Shipment Lead Time held on the Warehouse Description file.  This lead time, held in the Lead Time To Promised Ship Date field on the Warehouse Description file, is calculated as the number of days that it takes to ship an order after it is entered for this company/warehouse.  It allows you to specify a lead time at the warehouse level.  You should use this option if your lead time is the same for all items.

Note:    Both of these lead times assume that the items ordered are already in inventory.

External Lead Time

The external lead time is the time it takes for goods to leave your warehouse and arrive at the customer's dock.  This lead time is used to calculate the date that customer's can expect to receive the goods once they are shipped.  You can specify which of the two possible external lead times should be used for the company/location on Reference File category 412 in the Required Ship Date Lead Time field.  Your choices are:

·     Ship-to Customer Lead Time held on the Customer Master file.  This lead time, held in the Shipment Lead Time field on the Customer Master file, is the number of days it takes to deliver goods to this customer.

·     Zone Lead Time held on Reference File category G93.  This lead time is the number of days it takes to deliver goods to a customer in this zone or geographical area.  The zone lead time may be specified for a combination of sourcing warehouse, zone, and route.