The Real Impact of Expediting Orders in Manufacturing – and How to Break the Cycle

Part 3 : Strategies to Minimize the Need for Expediting

Part 1 & Part 2 can be accessed here

Eliminating expediting entirely may be unrealistic – surprises will happen – but dramatically reducing its frequency is achievable with the right practices. Here are some actionable strategies:

• Improve Forecast Accuracy and Planning: Since inaccurate forecasts drive nearly half of expedites, investing in better demand planning is paramount. This means using robust Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) or Integrated Business Planning processes to align sales, supply chain, and production on one forecast (Metric of the Month: Mitigating Expedited Costs in Logistics | Supply & Demand Chain Executive). Clean up historical data, remove bias, and incorporate input from customers where possible to sharpen your predictions. Collaborative forecasting – sharing information with key suppliers and customers – leads to more reliable demand signals and fewer surprises. Even if forecasts won’t be perfect, regular planning meetings (S&OP) ensure everyone sees the same outlook and can pre-plan capacity or inventory for expected spikes. Some companies also adopt “forecast optional” methods (like DDMRP) that rely more on actual demand pull and strategic buffers; but even these benefit from a baseline forecast for long-range resource planning.

• Optimize Safety Stock Buffers: Expediting is often a last resort when normal stocks run dry. Safety stock optimization ensures you have a cushion for variability before you ever expedite. Rather than arbitrarily padding inventory, use analysis to set the right safety stock levels for each item – enough to cover forecast error or supplier lead-time variability, but not so high that you tie up excessive capital. In some cases, the safety stock might be held by suppliers or at strategic points in the supply chain. For instance, a supplier might agree to hold some finished goods inventory as a buffer so that if demand jumps, they can respond quickly without an expedite request (8 Ways to Fix Shortage Issues). By intelligently positioning buffers (and reviewing them regularly as conditions change), you can absorb many disruptions internally and prevent rush orders on most occasions.

• Leverage Predictive Analytics: Modern analytics and AI tools can help anticipate problems before they require expediting. For example, machine learning models can analyze trends and signals (like customer buying patterns, market indicators, or even weather and economic data) to predict demand surges or supply delays. Planners can then adjust proactively – ordering a bit more stock of a part forecasted to spike, or moving up a production batch if a material delay is likely. Even simpler, use your historical data to predict near-term demand more granularly .Many manufacturers know their overall monthly demand, but struggle with week-to-week variability. Short-term forecasting using advanced analytics can warn of a potential stockout two weeks from now – allowing you to respond with a normal order today rather than an expedited order next week. Predictive analytics can also flag at-risk supplier deliveries (e.g. a supplier that’s trending behind schedule) so you can intervene early or find alternatives, again avoiding last-minute panics.

• Lean Out and Stabilize the Supply Chain: Embracing lean inventory planning principles reduces the chaos that leads to expediting. Lean techniques aim to level the workload and minimize variability in production and supply. For instance, smaller batch sizes (enabled by SMED quick changeovers) can prevent big swings in production; Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) reduces unexpected machine breakdowns; and quality programs prevent defects – all of which cut down the unplanned disruptions that trigger expedite requests (How Expediting Destroys Factory Performance (& how to avoid it)). Moreover, implementing pull-based systems (like kanban or CONWIP) helps align replenishment with actual consumption. An enterprise-wide pull system – the core of demand-driven methods – eliminates many of the schedule interruptions and urgencies because each supply step only produces what is needed when it’s needed. When materials flow smoothly at a pace of real demand, there’s far less need to accelerate orders. Many factories use local kanban’s; extending that pull logic across suppliers and distribution can further dampen variability and make the entire chain more responsive without firefighting.

• Enhance Supplier Collaboration and Agility: Your suppliers play a huge role in whether you need to expedite. Working closely with suppliers on flexible supply arrangements can reduce expediting. This could mean qualifying backup suppliers or dual sourcing critical materials so that a single delay doesn’t halt everything. It also means communicating your demand forecasts and inventory positions to suppliers so they can plan. In strategic partnerships, some suppliers might hold extra raw material or finished parts for you, or agree to short lead-time arrangements for a premium built into the contract (far cheaper than ad-hoc expedites). Establish clear supplier service level agreements that include expected lead times and flexibility ranges. The goal is to make your inbound supply more reliable and responsive, so that true “surprise” shortages are rare. When unexpected events do occur (e.g. a supplier’s truck breaks down or a quality issue), having a strong relationship increases the chance the supplier will go the extra mile to resolve it quickly without punitive costs

By deploying some combination of these strategies, manufacturers can significantly reduce how often they must scramble. But making it sustainable requires a holistic change in planning approach, not just one-off improvements.