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Lead time worksheet
Lead time is how long a product takes to get through the process, from a start point to an end point you choose, waiting included. On a value stream it is measured by counting the inventory in front of each step and dividing it by daily demand: 1,600 parts waiting in front of welding at 400 a day is 4 days. Add the waiting days and the cycle times and you have the production lead time. Set the value-added seconds against it and you get process cycle efficiency, which is usually well under 1%. Page 1 of this template is the worksheet: one row per step with the inventory, waiting days, cycle time, value-added time, batch size and changeover, a blank lead-time ladder and the sums. Page 2 traces one order from receipt to delivery by its dates, defines the four types of lead time and works an example. The Excel version does the arithmetic, shows the lead time so far and each step's share, names the biggest queue, charts the waiting days, and has an order trace sheet that averages each stage over many orders.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use a lead time worksheet
- Before a value stream mapping session, to have measured numbers instead of guesses.
- When customers wait weeks for a product that takes minutes to make.
- To check whether a kaizen on one step shortened the whole lead time or only moved the queue.
- To explain to sales or planning where quoted lead time goes.
How to fill it in
- 1
Pick the product family and the two ends
One family that shares most steps. Write down where the clock starts and stops, for example coil at receiving to shipped, and keep it the same next time.
- 2
Get daily demand and the working hours
Average units per day the customer takes over the coming weeks, and the hours worked per day. The hours turn seconds of cycle time into days.
- 3
Count the inventory in one walk
Walk upstream and count the units waiting in front of each step on the same day, including finished goods waiting to ship. A count taken over three days mixes up the queues.
- 4
Write each step's cycle time and value-added time
Cycle time from a time study or the machine. Value-added time is only the seconds that change the product in a way the customer pays for, so it is less than or equal to the cycle time.
- 5
Add it up
Waiting days = units ÷ daily demand. Production lead time = total waiting days + total cycle time ÷ (hours per day × 3,600). Process cycle efficiency = value-added seconds ÷ lead time in seconds.
- 6
Trace a few real orders
Take the dates from the paperwork of recent orders: received, released, started, finished, shipped, delivered. The order trace shows how much of the customer's wait is outside the shop floor.
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: a steel bracket family, 400 a day, two 8-hour shifts (illustrative numbers).
- Waiting in front of each step: 2,400 coil-equivalents before stamping (6.0 days), 1,600 before welding (4.0), 1,000 before painting (2.5), 600 before assembly (1.5) and 1,200 finished brackets before shipping (3.0). Total 17.0 days.
- Cycle times 2 + 45 + 30 + 60 = 137 s, value-added 2 + 38 + 20 + 50 = 110 s.
- Production lead time = 17.0 days + 137 s ÷ 57,600 s a day = 17.00 days. Process cycle efficiency = 110 ÷ (17.0024 × 57,600) = 0.011%.
- One order traced: received 1 September, released 3 September, started 7 September, finished 15 September, shipped 17 September, delivered 21 September. Customer lead time 20 days, 8 of them in production.
The coil (6.0 days) and the queue in front of welding (4.0 days) hold more than half of the lead time, so the first two projects were more frequent coil deliveries and a shorter changeover on the press that feeds welding. Cutting the 45-second weld cycle would not have moved the lead time at all.
Common mistakes
Adding up cycle times and calling it lead time
137 seconds of work does not mean a 2-minute lead time. The days are in the queues, so count them.
Using last year's demand
Waiting days depend on the demand you divide by. Use the rate for the coming weeks, or the numbers will not match what the floor sees.
Counting on different days
Inventory moves. Count every queue in one walk, ideally at the same time of day as the last count.
Calling every second of cycle time value-added
Loading, unloading, walking and checking are part of the cycle but add no value. Be strict or the efficiency figure means nothing.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite video of each process step becomes a current-state value stream map: the inventory counted between steps is converted into days of WIP, lead time is computed from that WIP plus the cycle time at each process box, and process cycle efficiency is worked out from value-add time and total lead time.
In the lean glossary
FAQ
Lead time worksheet: common questions
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