10 Ways to Improve Cash Flow and also Reduce Lead Time!

Today, changes in the retail business of buying and selling goods have changed business operations.

Today, companies are improving their delivery services more than ever to meet the needs and demands of the customers.

The success of any business is determined by many factors like lead time, increase in customer satisfaction and better cash flow are important factors in this process.

Today we will talk about ways to reduce lead time, increase customer satisfaction as well as improve cash flow in business.

Your lead time is very important and reducing it can have a big impact on your business. It also helps in business expansion.

Different Ways to Reduce Lead Time and Improve Cash Flow

Eliminate untrustworthy people from better and more diverse suppliers:

A diversified supplier utilizes good quality, flexibility, reliability, cost and design to perform better in product supply. Materials: Raw materials can be obtained not only from international suppliers but also from local suppliers. This helps in reducing lead time immediately.

Pro Tip – If you need to change your product, make sure you have enough inventory to cover the changeover period. This reduces the possibility of inventory losses and helps in reaching a new supplier faster.

If you want to be pro in managing supply chain then there is an amazing programme called ‘Integrated Supply Chain Management‘, you must enrol in it.

Select nearby sellers:

Reaching multiple vendors in the global market has become an easy task, although it takes weeks to negotiate the best price with suppliers around the world, resulting in weeks of waiting for products to be delivered overseas. . This increases lead times and makes the process of returning defective products difficult. The easiest way for suppliers to reduce lead times is to work with vendors located near your warehouse and manufacturing plant.

Pro Tip – If you can’t find a local supplier that competes on price, you may want to consider placing large orders on a regular basis to international vendors and keeping a large inventory on hand.

Communicate demand forecasts to suppliers:

In an industry where orders fluctuate from month to month, suppliers must always be prepared for larger orders than usual. This helps in understanding the increasing demand of the product as quickly as possible. It also sends a message to the buyer that the supplier is not only ready to handle even the biggest orders but can also deliver them as quickly as possible.

Try to do outside tasks in-house:

Outsourced processes increase your efficiency, reduce costs and give you more control over your business. By in-house processing external processes, all facilities can be set up under one roof, which also reduces outsourcing of products to third parties. It requires significant investment upfront but long term savings make it financially feasible. So by keeping things in-house, you can ensure that your team is ready to handle every aspect of your business with precision and expertise. Your infrastructure for growth allows you to grow profitably.

Automate orders enhances workflow:

When you have the raw materials, it helps you start the production process, however, poor performance leads can lead to issues with lead times. That is why before setting up a production house, consider these things:

• How long does it take for you to get customer purchase orders into the system?

• How long does it take you to make engineering changes to orders based on production and QA.

• How many times has your work process stopped due to your internal misconceptions?

• How often does it happen that orders run out completely?

Multitasking:

For better results and before starting other procedures certain procedures need to be completed. That’s why identify processes where individuals can complete tasks at the same time. This increases productivity and further reduces lead times.

Improve internal communication:

Communication and order processing are simultaneous processes, but if things are not done correctly internally, there can be delays in the production process. Using order entries as an example. If your process involves many steps, then you need many people for it. This increases the potential for wasted time, especially if you’re using paper documents that are difficult to track. Using paper-based projects can increase lead times and increase the possibility of losing important papers. Poor communication is a major challenge and a symptom of larger issues. But manufacturers have many options to eliminate this problem. One solution is to quickly set up a workflow system that moves order documents from one department or user to another. This tells users that they need to focus on the project.

Improve communication with customers:

Studies show that communication is the key to increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, even though it reduces lead times. Keeping customers informed about orders increases their trust and loyalty towards the supplier. Sending order-related automation notifications reduces labor and increases customer satisfaction.

Eliminate problems:

Improving the efficiency and responsiveness of your work reduces lead times and increases customer satisfaction. Problems are a part of any process like hand off between departments, problems like malfunction in machines should be kept away.

Improving cash flow and liquidity:

You can improve your demand forecast by analyzing sales data from different channels and keeping in mind the current market situation. This helps you plan your inventory as per your future needs. By avoiding overstocking, you can operate with less capital in unsold inventory lying in the warehouse.

By adopting these ten methods, you can reduce lead time, increase customer turnover and improve your cash flow.