A business transaction is a two-way process between a seller and a buyer; where the former initiates an order from the latter in exchange for monetary value. The amount of time between when an order is placed and when it is delivered to the customer is known as order lead-time. The concept of lead-time varies from industry to industry but in all there are 4 main types of lead-time and they are; customer, material, factory production and cumulative lead-time. Customer lead-time refers to the length of time between when the product was ordered and when it was available for pickup by the customer. Material lead-time describes the length of time between when an order was placed with a supplier and when it was received. Factory Production lead-time explains the length of time required to build a product when all parts were available while cumulative lead-time: is the summation of material lea time and factory production lead-time. Order lead-time is important for every business venture because of the following reasons;

• Customer Satisfaction: Any business owner interested in sustainability must pay more attention to their order lead time as it could have a direct impact on customer satisfaction. In this fast-paced world, we live in, an average customer would want their orders to be promptly delivered, hence protracted delays in the delivery of orders could lead to customer dissatisfaction and this could threaten the viability of the business in the long run.
• Demand Forecast: Lead time could be a factor in determining the demand forecast because the higher the lead time for a business the more accurate the forecast is likely to be. It is best that the lead time for a business is low especially when the business is one in which their products are stored in a warehouse and only delivered based on orders from the customers. This is simply because the lower lead time the higher the level of order fulfillment.
• Increased Cash Flow: Businesses thrive on orders. A successful business is one in which their product/service is in hot demand. The faster they are able to process the orders of their customers the more cash they have at hand and the more profits they will make. Increased cash flow is, therefore, a consequence of efficient order fulfillment.
• Competitive Edge: Knowledge of lead order time helps you to gain a competitive edge over your competitors because you tend to meet the customer’s requests faster hence more and more customers would likely gravitate towards you more than your competitors. If you can sustain your effective and efficient order lead time then you would be in a strong position to maintain your market share for the long run.
• Inventory: In the manufacturing industries, order lead time has a direct effect on the level of inventories in stock per time as regarding the supply chain in the business and this can have a telling effect on the business operation as a whole.