The two-week lead time nobody verified
You are the sales coordinator at a food-packaging distributor. A 12-minute internal call recording covers one account: Marufuji Foods, which currently confirms orders on the 10th of each month. The sales lead reports that Marufuji wants to move confirmation to the 5th starting next quarter and says on the recording, "our two-week lead time still works, so just send them a confirmation today." Later in the same call the production planner says the coating line upgrade runs through June, current lead time is 18 working days, and the 5th is "tight, and only for standard sizes." No one reconciles the two statements. Non-standard sizes are about a third of Marufuji's volume. Your name is on the reply that goes out.
1. The sales lead tells you to confirm the two-week lead time to Marufuji today. What do you send today, and what do you refuse to commit to?
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Send today: confirmation that the order-confirmation date moves from the 10th to the 5th starting next quarter, plus a request for Marufuji's size mix and forecast volumes for the first two months. Refuse to state a two-week (10 working days) lead time. The only lead-time figure on the recording from the function that owns it is 18 working days, and even that is conditional on standard sizes. Putting 10 days in writing creates an expectation production has not agreed to and cannot meet until the coating upgrade ends in June. Avoid any wording such as "guaranteed" or "as before" for non-standard sizes.
2. Which speaker's statement governs the lead time you can quote, and what in the recording supports that?
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The production planner's. Lead time is an output of capacity and scheduling, which the planner measures and controls; the sales lead's "two-week lead time still works" is a recollection of the old standard, not a verified figure - nothing in the recording shows the sales lead checked it against the current line status. The planner's number is specific (18 working days), time-bound (through June) and conditional (standard sizes only). Where a specific operational figure conflicts with a general assumption, quote the specific one. Practically: quote 18 working days for standard sizes and say non-standard sizes will be confirmed separately.
3. What internal question must be answered before you accept the 5th-of-month confirmation date for this account?
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How much of Marufuji's monthly volume is non-standard size. The planner's "tight but possible" applies only to standard sizes, and non-standard is about one third of the account's volume - so roughly a third of every monthly order would fall outside the only lead time anyone has confirmed. A second question follows: does the 18 working days shorten once the coating upgrade finishes in June? If the 5th only works from July onward, the date change should start then, not at the beginning of the quarter, and the client should be told that now rather than in the first month of the new schedule.