Lead time
The total elapsed time from deciding to make something to having it available to sell.
Brands consistently underestimate this because they measure the run and not the queue. The run itself might be two days. Getting a slot on the line might be six weeks, and the ingredient with the longest lead time might be another four before that.
The honest number is the sum of the whole chain: booking to slot, ordering to delivery of the slowest ingredient, the run, quality release, and transit to your warehouse. Any of those can be the binding constraint, and it is rarely the one you are watching.
It matters because it sets the minimum safety stock you must hold. You cannot carry less cover than your lead time without accepting that you will go out of stock when demand moves.
NextBatch keeps this straight for you. Cost per unit, tolling tiers, yield and traceability all derive from the same plan you and your co-manufacturer share — so none of it is a number somebody typed twice.
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