Most late deliveries start weeks before production.
When a delivery is late, everyone looks at the floor. The date was usually lost weeks before the work order printed.
When a delivery is late, everyone looks at the floor. The line was busy. Someone must have dropped it.
When I sit with a late-order list, that is rarely where the date died. Sales promised a week the plant already did not have. Planning took the order anyway because saying no is harder than hoping. Purchasing held a release, waiting on a better price. A forecast change sat in someone's inbox. None of that shows up on the work order.
By the time the job hits the machine, the schedule is already a lie. Material is not staged. The first setup is an expedite. Then production gets blamed, because they are the last ones holding it.
The date is lost before the work order prints
Quoting without a load is the usual start. A salesperson can see a lead time in the system. They cannot see that two other jobs already ate that slot. Planning knows the lead time is tight and accepts it because commercial already told the customer. Purchasing is working a different list: price, not the date on the order.
Each of those decisions is reasonable in isolation. Together they hand the floor an impossible week.
You can cut lead time without going faster
I have seen plants take about 30% out of quoted lead time without changing how long a job sits on the machine. They stopped promising against a load nobody could see. They stopped releasing work until the material was actually there, not "on a boat". Cycle time did not move. Waiting did.
If your team is already firefighting at setup, look upstream of the print. The decision that broke the date is usually weeks old, and it is sitting in sales, planning or purchasing, not on the line.
Questions this usually raises
Why are deliveries late if the factory looks busy?
Sales committed a date without looking at the load. Planning accepted it knowing lead times were already tight. Purchasing held a release hoping for a better price. A forecast change was noted and never actioned. Production inherits an impossible week.
Can you cut manufacturing lead times without changing cycle time?
Yes. I have seen plants cut quoted lead time by about 30% without changing how long a job sits on the machine, by stopping sales from promising against a load they cannot see, and by not releasing work until the material is actually there.
If this seems familiar, get in touch. A consultation is ninety minutes: we'll look upstream of the work order and show you where delivery commitments start to unravel.