An Empirical Investigation of Lead Time Distributions

Abstract : This paper proposes a methodology for analyzing lead time behavior. The method focuses on identifying whether lead times are in fact identically independently distributed (i.i.d.). The method uses a combination of time series analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov’s test for similar distributions and data sampling to arrive at its result. The method is applied to data obtained from a manufacturing company. The conclusions are that while the lead time to customers can for some products be assumed to be i.i.d. this is not uniformly true. Some products’ lead times are in fact neither independently nor identically distributed.