Your customers expect to receive their orders quickly – no matter how they’re placed or how much customization is involved. If you take too long, you’re less likely to earn their repeat business, and you can forget about a word-of-mouth recommendation. The bottom line? Your lead time is important, and reducing it can have a major impact on your business.

Of course, that tends to be easier said than done. But with a few strategic changes, you’ll be able to reduce your lead time (and optimize your entire supply chain), leading to more satisfied customers and a stronger competitive advantage.

Before you start to make changes, you’ll need to set realistic goals for improvement, taking into account your current performance and your particular industry. (If you manufacture made-to-order products, for instance, your lead times may be several weeks longer than a company that has a standard product line.)

From there, you can:

Remove Unreliable Suppliers From Your Supply Chain

Routinely receive late shipments from certain suppliers? Keeping them in your supply chain could be costing you more than finding a different vendor.

A study performed by NC State University suggests that supplier evaluation almost always has a positive impact on a company’s financial performance – even when taking into account the potential cost of a transition.

However, if you do change suppliers to reduce your lead time, make sure you’re stocked up with enough inventory to last you through the changeover – and that your new supplier is prepared to start sending you products right away.

Choose Vendors that are Closer to Your Warehouse

In today’s international marketplace, you have access to more vendors than ever before. But, you may end up waiting weeks for products to be shipped internationally. That not only makes your lead time longer, but it also makes returns more complicated as well.

One of the easiest supplier lead time reduction strategies? Give priority to vendors that are close to your warehouse or manufacturing plant. And if you can’t find a local supplier that can compete on price, consider placing larger (but less frequent) orders from international vendors and keeping a larger inventory on hand.

Share Your Demand Forecasts With Your Suppliers

If you’re in an industry that naturally fluctuates, your orders may change from month to month. But, to keep your suppliers prepared for larger-than-normal orders, let them know that you’re expecting an increase in demand as early as possible. This only ensures that they’re not only prepared to handle your larger order, but also prepared to do so as quickly as possible.

Bring External Processes In-House

Handle most, but not all, of your production process in-house? Consider increasing your own capabilities so you don’t have to send your products out to a third party for completion. This require be a significant up-front investment, but the long-term savings (and the permanent reduction in lead times) may make it financially feasible.

Automate Your Order Processing Workflows

Once you have your raw materials and are ready to start production, make sure that your own internal processes are up to par as well. Consider:

• How long it takes you to get customer purchase orders into your system
• How long it takes you to move engineering change orders through production and QA
• How often the process gets held up as a result of internal miscommunication
• How often orders get lost entirely

If your performance is poor in any of these areas, your lead times are likely suffering as a result. Automating your order processing workflows can help you get your finished products out the door more quickly.

Complete Multiple Processes at the Same Time

Certain processes have to be completed before others can be started – and there’s just no way around it. But, if you’re able to identify processes that different individuals can complete at the same time, you can increase productivity and reduce your lead time even further.

Improve Internal Communications

Order processing is an “all hands on deck” process. If you’re not collaborating well internally, you may be creating unnecessary delays.

Let’s use order entry as an example. If there are multiple steps in your process that require input from several people, you could be spending extra time you don’t have to. This is especially true if you’re dealing with paper, which can’t be tracked.  Paper-based projects left sitting on someone’s desk increases your lead time, as well as the likelihood of lost documents.

Even though poor communication is a major challenge to solve (and often a symptom of other, deeper issues), manufacturers have several options for eliminating bottlenecks. One option? A workflow system that immediately routes order related documents from one department or user to the next, while immediately notifying users that a project requires their attention.

Communicate More Effectively With Your Customers

So this technically doesn’t help you reduce your lead time – but it does help you keep your customers up-to-date while they wait for their orders. Since studies have repeatedly found that communication is a strong predictor of customer loyalty, it’s an important aspect to consider.

If you’re not sending out order notifications, consider investing in a system that’ll do exactly that. (Automation is a major time-saver here as well, with plenty of technologies that handle notifications automatically.) It’s a simple – and nearly effortless – way to set expectations and increase satisfaction.

Let IntelliChief Help You Reduce Your Lead Time

At IntelliChief, we understand how critical it is for you to keep your business running smoothly – and we’re here to help.

We’ve provided thousands of companies with the tools they need to automate their sales order processing procedures. The result? Less time wasted on redundant back-office administration, and more time to devote to sales and product development. Some of our customers have even reduced their lead times by up to 50 percent.

To learn more, contact us today, or visit our Resource Library to see the ways that other manufacturers & distributors have started working smarter with IntelliChief.

Not sure whether to automate your accounts payable department? Consider the following benefits:

Quicker Accounts Payable Processing Times

When there are fewer “stops” for an invoice before it gets out the door, you’ll experience faster processing times and increased productivity. This is true whether you have a single person managing your payables, or an entire team across multiple departments, facilities, and locations. With automation, approvals, verification, and vouchering have never been faster.

Another thing that helps speed up your AP processing time: using technology to take care of time-consuming tasks, like verifying contact information in your ERP. Your employees don’t have to constantly switch screens, log in and out of accounts, check (and double-check) details, and transfer data between disparate systems. It’s a much easier process for everyone involved.

Reduced AP Costs

Getting documents exactly where they need to go – instantly and electronically – lets you eliminate document circulation costs. (Translation: no more envelopes, stamps, or time wasted on interoffice mail.) Plus, you don’t have to continue wasting money re-creating lost documents, which increases your savings even further.

Greater Flexibility for Your AP Employees

Your employees only have so much time at the office – why waste it on non-essential tasks, like searching through a filing cabinet?

With accounts payable automation, your team will have more availability for higher-value initiatives. They’ll be more motivated – and more satisfied with their role in the company – and you’ll benefit across the board from larger and more impactful projects.

Improved Vendor Relationships

Maintaining every document, for every transaction, from every vendor…it’s daunting. But, AP automation makes it less of a challenge. You’re able to stay on top of every purchase, with minimal effort. IntelliChief captures, formats, organizes, and saves all of your information into a secure archive.

Stored documents are instantly retrievable – by you, your staff, your company cohorts, or even your vendors (so long as you give them the appropriate permissions) – on both desktop and mobile devices. Helping ensure that your suppliers adhere to your company’s individual policies maintains mutually beneficial relationships. Plus, you’ll be alerted to any discrepancies in real-time, helping you solve them before they turn into larger problems.

Increased Accounts Payable Savings

Surveys vary, though they all point to this: over 75% of payment-based supplier discounts go unclaimed by purchasers. It’s a shocking statistic; it’s also money that’s rightfully yours.

Every dollar you save is significant, but the savings can stack up the more that you spend.

IntelliChief helps you achieve these savings in two ways:

• First, it checks every invoice against your contracted potential discount terms (which are stored in your ERP)
• Then, it expedites the three-way match process to make sure you can consistently meet those discount terms

Once you implement automated ECM solutions for accounts payable, you’re in the position to achieve all of these benefits – and more. You can even scale your system to benefit other departments as well; you’ll find that interconnectivity and immediate access to critical business information can improve a virtually endless range of processes.

At IntelliChief, we’re here to help you improve as much – and as quickly – as possible. If you have any questions about the benefits of AP automation, contact us today – we’d be happy to show you more!