In this article we will explore the Lead Days strategy panel in the AIM Modelling tab. 

Why are Lead Days important?

The number of 'lead days' represents the number of days it takes for stock to arrive once it is ordered. If you are using the Just-in-Time strategy, the Lead Days is built into the min stock limit based on the rate of demand. 

For example, if a product takes a week to arrive and you have a rate of demand of 2 per day, the Just-in-Time strategy will set the Min Stock limit to 14 units. When you have 14 units remaining, a low stock alert will prompt you to reorder more stock via the Reorder Report.

When you load products into the modelling grid, the existing lead days will be displayed. If they are updated, the updated value will be bolded, highlighting the change. 

You can open the Lead Days panel by clicking the Lead Days button. 

The drop down menu will let you select the logic you wish to use to update the Lead Days values for products that are loaded into the modelling grid. 

Where no lead days exist: This option will set the lead days to be updated for products that do no have lead days. This is useful if you have new products that don't have lead days, but don't want to update other products that do. 

Override all: This option will override all the products loaded in the modelling grid, whether they have lead days set currently, or not. 

No change, use existing: This is the default option and will not update the lead days of any products when selected. 

The next step is to choose how to update the lead days values for your products. You have three options to choose from. 

Use Actuals

This option will calculate the actual lead time based on the average delivery time from the products history. You can choose to toggle this option on and it will be used when applicable. If the system doesn't have any lead time history for the product, it will fall back on using the set value entered. 

or 

Set Value

Entering a value will apply that as a lead time. 

In the example in the screen shot above, any product 'where no lead days exist,' the system will calculate a lead days value 'using actuals' from the products history within the Modelling page date range. If no history exists, the system will fall back on setting 14 days. 

Once you hit 'Calculate,' the lead days in the modelling grid are updated. 

The third way to update Lead Days is to go down the modelling grid and tweak the lead days value directly. This may be time consuming, but can tweak lead days for exceptions if needed. 

Consider loading the modelling grid by warehouse and supplier. For example, if you know one supplier takes two weeks to delivery to one warehouse, load those two selections as filters, select 'Override All' and type in 14 and calculate!