What problem is On-Time Orders addressing?
Most manufacturers are being pressured to reduce delivery lead-times and rely on their planning systems to meet their commitments.  This works very well if everything happens as planned, but planning by itself doesn't make things happen — people and processes make things happen. This acceleration is putting a tremendous burden on key users like planners, schedulers, buyers and production supervisors (Knowledge Workers.) Not only are they struggling to meet daily commitments and relying on “brute force” solutions to get the job done, but they can actually become unrecognized production constraints. Planning is more important than ever, but it's no longer sufficient to meet current challenges because the real issue with meeting commitments isn't in planning but in making plans happen.

What is slippage?
A materials manager has said, “just because things are properly planned does not mean they will always happen that way.” Slippage is any break in the plan that disrupts both normal material flow and the rhythm of the plant that is preventable by timely Knowledge Worker intervention.

Why is this Important?
Slippage is not new. When customer delivery lead-times were longer, users did manual, informal slippage detection and prevention. And, although it wasn't recognized it was even happening, it worked well. Now with shorter lead-times and staff reductions, users don't have the time to detect and prevent slippage. Planning is really a statement of intentions and doesn't catch slippage until it's too late. Change is a well-recognized enemy of planning but slippage is an unrecognized enemy of planning that can create change and cause missed commitments!