A plan is not only about quantities; it is about timing. And timing depends on lead times. If lead times are wrong, the plan is wrong about when things happen. This piece is about lead time management for manufacturing in Odoo.
What lead time is
A lead time is how long something takes. For a manufacturer, the lead times that matter are: the manufacturing lead time, how long it takes to produce a product once production starts; and the supplier lead time, how long it takes for a bought component to arrive once it is ordered. Lead times are what let planning work out not just what is needed but when each action has to start so the thing is ready in time.
Why lead times decide whether a plan works
Planning, and MRP in particular, uses lead times to time the plan. To have a product ready by a date, MRP works backward: it needs the manufacturing to start a manufacturing-lead-time before that date, and the components to be ordered a supplier-lead-time before they are needed. So the lead times directly determine the start dates the plan calculates. If the lead times are accurate, the plan's timing is realistic. If a lead time is wrong, too optimistic, the plan calculates a start date that is too late, and the thing will not be ready when the plan says. Lead times are quietly one of the most important pieces of planning data.
The lead times to manage
Managing lead times for manufacturing means keeping the relevant lead times accurate.
Manufacturing lead time. For a manufactured product, the time to produce it. This is held on the product's manufacturing setup. It should reflect how long production genuinely takes.
Supplier lead time. For a bought component, the time from ordering to arrival. This is associated with the component and its supplier. It should reflect how long the supplier genuinely takes.
For a multi-level product, the lead times stack: producing a finished product depends on its sub-assemblies being ready, which depends on their lead times and their components' lead times. The total time to get a finished product from scratch is the accumulation of the lead times down its BOM, which is why every lead time in the structure matters.
The honest discipline: keep lead times realistic
The central discipline of lead time management is keeping the lead times realistic, which usually means resisting optimism. There is a natural pull toward setting lead times to what a process takes on a good day, or to what a supplier promises. But planning built on best-case lead times will routinely fail, because most days are not the best day. Lead times should reflect what production and suppliers genuinely, reliably take, including the normal variability. A slightly conservative, realistic lead time produces a plan the manufacturer can meet; an optimistic one produces a plan that is regularly late.
Lead times come from data
The best source of realistic lead times is the manufacturer's own experience. How long does production of this product actually take, across many runs? How long does this supplier actually take to deliver, across many orders? A manufacturer running on Odoo accumulates this history, and it can use that real data to set lead times that reflect reality rather than hope. Lead time management is partly the discipline of comparing the lead times in the system against what actually happens, and correcting them when they drift.
Review lead times
Lead times change. A supplier's performance shifts; a process gets faster or slower. A manufacturer should review its lead times periodically, so they keep reflecting current reality. A lead time set accurately a year ago may now be wrong, and a wrong lead time quietly makes the plan wrong.
The takeaway
Lead time management for manufacturing in Odoo is keeping the manufacturing and supplier lead times accurate, because those lead times determine the timing of the plan. For a multi-level product the lead times stack down the BOM. The key discipline is realism over optimism: lead times should reflect what production and suppliers genuinely, reliably take. Use the manufacturer's own history to set them, and review them as reality changes. For how we approach Odoo for manufacturers, see our manufacturing work.