How a Bulk Jewelry Order Slips Past Its Lead Time

A lead time is a forecast, and every forecast is wrong somewhere. The useful question is not whether the date will move — it will — but how early you hear that it moved. Buyers who find out in week six spend money on air freight. Buyers who find out in week two adjust nothing or little.

This goes through the six failure modes we see most, and what each one looks like while it is still cheap to fix.

1. A change after tooling starts

The most expensive one, and the only one that restarts a step rather than adjusting it. A change to the shape, the die, the alloy or the finish after the die is cut is a new tool problem.

What it looks like in week one: plenty of activity, plenty of reassurance, and no visible progress in the finished goods column. What to ask in week two: "has the die been cut, and if it has, does this change mean a new one?" The answer tells you whether you are eligible for a change at all.

2. Approval drift on the sample

The clock has not started. The sample sits, questions accumulate in three separate threads, and the bulk date slides by two weeks without anybody deciding to move it.

What it looks like in week two: the sample has shipped and you have not started a written approval. What to ask in week two: "can you confirm the bulk start date in writing once you have the approval?" Making the approval a written act with a date on it converts a drifting schedule into a fixed one.

3. Plating and curing rework

PVD coating has to reach its specified thickness and cure. When a batch comes back off spec it is stripped and re-plated, and the calendar goes back to the front of that step.

What it looks like in week one: plating starts earlier than the finish specification was agreed in writing. What to ask in week two: "what is the target thickness, and what is the cure time on it?" If those two numbers are not in writing, the rework is a matter of when, not whether — see why sampling takes 15 days for where that time goes.

4. The holiday in the middle

Chinese New Year closes a whole production cluster. Every factory in the region is trying to finish before it, and the weeks after it are a backlog rather than a normal week.

What it looks like before it happens: a schedule built in September with no shutdown date in it. What to ask now: the factory's shutdown dates for the next cycle, in writing. Getting those per year is a five-minute job that protects a quarter. See seasonal delivery deadlines.

5. Inspection failure and re-test

A batch that fails its own inspection is reworked, and reworked goods that still fail go back again. The failure is rarely the factory being careless; it is usually a specification nobody wrote down tightly enough.

What it looks like in week two: inspection is scheduled but the acceptance criteria are not agreed. What to ask in week two: "what are the inspection points, and what does a fail look like?" Agree the fail standard before the batch exists.

6. Packaging and paperwork

Carton print artwork that arrives late, a test report that has to be reissued, an NDA or certificate the buyer needs for their own filing. None of it is production, and all of it sits behind the production date.

What it looks like in week one: the packaging artwork is still in draft. What to ask in week two: "is the carton print on the critical path, and can I send artwork today instead?" It usually can, and usually nobody asked.

The two questions that surface all six

Ask these in week two, in writing:

1. Which of the three dates has moved — die ready, sample out, bulk finished? Requiring a factory to name a single moved date makes an honest answer possible; asking "will you be on time?" makes it impossible.
2. What is currently at risk on my order, in your words? The second question is the one that produces information. Buyers who ask it hear the answer more often than they expect.

A supplier who gives three named dates and revises them in writing is a supplier worth planning with. A supplier with one number and no revision history is giving you an estimate, not a schedule.

Why factories let dates slide

It is rarely dishonesty. It is that the schedule was built from a wish — that the customer's artwork would be ready, that approval would be quick, that nothing would change — and when one of those wishes fails, the date moves quietly rather than loudly, because raising it early looks like bad news.

The correction is on your side. Ask early, in writing, about risk rather than about status. Status is a report; risk is a conversation.

Where we stand

We give three dates per order in writing and we revise them when they move, including when the revision is not good news. We also tell you when your own input is the constraint — artwork pending, approval pending — because that is the one you can actually fix this week.

For the phases themselves, see how long an order takes from RFQ to shipment and why bulk production takes 45 days.

What if my order is already two weeks late?

Find out which phase slipped before doing anything else. If it is approval or artwork, the remaining production may be on schedule and only your perception of it is late. If it is plating or tooling, the option is usually a partial shipment of finished components rather than an air freight bill.

Does a late change from me cost the same as a late change from them?

No. A change you request after tooling starts can cost a new die or a new plating batch. A change that arrives before the die is cut usually costs nothing but the delay in confirming it.

Should I ask for a partial shipment to protect my dates?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking for in the original order rather than in week six. It does not make the goods arrive sooner; it stops unfinished work sitting in front of finished work when something goes wrong.

How do I know if my factory is being straight with me?

Ask for the three dates and ask for them in writing each week. A supplier who restates the same three dates every week is on plan. A supplier who has no dates to restate is the problem, not the answer.

Can I hold production until I have funding?

You can, and the schedule then belongs to your funding date. Say so in writing before the run starts, so that no one is surprised when the bulk date moves for a reason outside the factory.

Do you publish an up-to-date schedule?

We state the three dates on the order confirmation and update them as the run moves. What we do not publish is a single attractive number, because it would be wrong by the time anyone read it.

Next step

Ask for the three dates in writing with your RFQ. We will give them per order, and revise them when they move. Contact FSC CRAFT.

Related: How long does an order take from RFQ to shipment · Why bulk production takes 45 days · What a lead time number leaves out · Seasonal delivery deadlines

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Part of the wholesale page: The four points where a schedule goes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I hear that a date has moved?

Early, or not at all. Buyers who learn about it in week six were told nothing in week one, so the useful question is what gets reported and when. A weekly status with a photograph is worth more than a promise.

What is the usual cause of the slip?

A stage that needed approval and did not receive it. Plating approval, stone setting or the packing artwork is where most orders wait, and the wait happens inside the schedule rather than beside it.

Should I book freight before the date is confirmed?

No. Book it once the goods are finished and inspected, because a booking made on a guess is the one that costs a storage fee. What can safely be booked early is the inspection date.

What this means for your order

If you are still deciding, one thing decides this for you: which of the failure points you actually control, because a schedule rarely slips on the day it is quoted. Everything else on a quote page is presentation.

Where this falls short counting on a single estimated date, since the number worth having is the one with milestone dates written against it.

What to send us Give us the ship date you are holding to and we will mark the milestones we would have to hit.