Lead times are the one aspect of our company we cannot set in stone as they depend so much on many variables such as the time of year, the general state of the economy and even, bizarrely, the weather.
We can be running to schedule but then have a week where we receive an unusually high volume of large orders that can cause our lead times to immediately extend by several weeks over the normal, expected dates.
At the moment we have to estimate lead times based on our past experience of how long the jobs in hand will take. This is, admittedly, not very accurate and we do sometimes underestimate the amount of work in hand, leading to orders taking longer than we had advised.
However we are nearing to completing the installation of an all-encompassing Production Software Package which, once fully functioning, will enable us to know exactly how much work we have in hand, plus how long it will take to produce. Thus enabling us to give our customers much more accurate lead times throughout the whole production process.
But, in the meantime, as a general guide the following principles usually run true year on year:-
January to March (before Easter) is relatively quiet, meaning we can rush even large volume jobs through in around 4 weeks (without a fabric sample).
So the following lead times usually prevail:
Visual: 7 days approx. (much sooner if the job is a rush date)
Actual Physical Sample If Required: 7 – 14 days (much sooner if the job is a rush date)
Production of Order from Confirmation of Sample or Repeat Order: 14 – 21 days (depending on delivery date required).
Easter through to the end of June we normally start to get busier but despatches are still manageable within our standard lead times. However, it is still worth asking if you require a delivery date under these lead times.
Please expect the following delivery dates:-
Visual: 7 - 10 days approx. (sooner if the job is a rush date)
Actual Physical Sample If Required: 14 - 21 days approx. (sooner if the job is a rush date)
Production of Order from Confirmation of Sample or Repeat Order: 21 - 28 days (depending on delivery date required).