Most teams working to optimize their spare parts inventory pour almost all their energy into a single topic: forecasting demand better. They refine models, test forecasting methods, argue over past consumption. That is useful, but it is often only half of the equation, while the other half, which sometimes weighs more, gets ignored: the replenishment lead time. On slow-moving parts, supplier lead time, its value as much as its variability, is frequently the primary driver of
