Production lead times

#252

In the admin: Production lead time — a separate item in the main menu.

What it is

Here you tell the system how many days each type of production operation takes in your firm: cutting, edge banding, sanding, CNC, packaging, and so on. Based on these lead times the calculator promises the client a specific order ready date.

What you see

A list of records by service type. Each record has fields:

  • Service group — which type of operation the record describes (Cutting, Edge, CNC, etc.).
  • Lead time (days) — typical duration of the operation in days. This is the base number.
  • Production capacity, minutes per day — the firm's production capacity for this operation: how many minutes per day you can realistically process. Optional — filled in only if auto-mode is enabled (see below).
  • Record date and Fixed ready date — for manual override during «hot» periods (holidays, force-majeure): if you set a record «for today» with a specific ready date — the system uses exactly that date.

The «Statistics» button shows which lead times were set day by day — convenient for audit.

Three calculation algorithms

The system uses one of three algorithms — chosen automatically based on what you have enabled in the firm settings.

Algorithm 1: Fixed term

Works by default if «Auto-calculate lead times from orders» is disabled or the production capacity is not set.

  • Ready date = today + lead time (days) from the record.
  • If «do not use weekends» is enabled — the date shifts to the nearest working day.
  • When the order has several services of different types — the maximum of their lead times is taken.

When to use: small firms with even load, where «5 days for edge banding» actually always works.

Algorithm 2: By production load

Enables if «Auto-calculate lead times from orders» is set in the firm settings AND the record has «Production capacity minutes per day» filled in.

  • The system sums work minutes for this service type across all orders in the queue (statuses «confirmed», «in production», «ready»).
  • Divides the sum by your capacity in minutes/day → gets the number of queue days.
  • This number is added to the standard lead time and yields a realistic date.

When to use: medium and large firms. The lead time stretches itself when the queue is long and shrinks back after it has been unloaded.

Important: the capacity must be filled in honestly. If set too high — the client will be promised an impossible deadline.

Algorithm 3: Operation-dependency cascade

Launches automatically when «Auto-calculate lead times from orders» is enabled. Takes into account that technologically the edge cannot be done earlier than cutting, CNC — earlier than the edge, and so on.

Dependency chain:

  1. First Cutting (type 7).
  2. After cutting: Edge banding, packaging, primary CNC operations (types 10, 14, 15) — get queued at least a day later than cutting.
  3. After edge: Drillings and routings on the face side (types 11, 12).
  4. After primary CNC: Finishing operations (types 13, 16, 73).

As a result, the order ready date = the latest date among all its services.

Global production settings

These checkboxes and parameters live in the admin under Parameters → Firm parameters → Production (general production constraints):

  • Do not use weekends and holidays in lead times — the system skips Saturday/Sunday and national holidays (the country is taken from your firm settings: UA, RU or general list). Without this checkbox, lead times may fall on weekends.
  • Auto-calculate lead times from orders — enables algorithms 2 and 3 simultaneously.
  • Delay before production start (days) — global buffer «not earlier than N days». Also respects weekends.
  • Hide ready date in service name — if disabled, in the client invoice the service name looks like «Edge banding (2026-06-01)». If enabled — without the date.

What matters

  • Lead times are recalculated on every order calculation.
  • If a lead-time record is not set for some service — it is not included in the calculation (the ready date will be taken from other services).
  • In an order with several services the longest one (or the latest in the cascade) always wins.
  • If you want to forcibly return a specific date for a specific day (e.g. «after the holidays we deliver to everyone on January 10») — create a record with that date as «Record date» and a fixed «Ready date».
  • Accuracy matters: algorithms 2 and 3 rely on the honestly filled «Production capacity minutes per day». Overestimating → promising the impossible; underestimating → scaring the client with a long term.