Plan and prioritise · Add-on
Plan around long lead times and supply risk
Some parts take months to arrive, and a single supplier can stop production. Find the risky parts early and plan around them.
About 2-4 daysEvergreenLast reviewed 5 November 2026
Who this applies to
- Skills it builds
- Delivery and executionCommercial and business sense
- PM types
- Hardware or IoT
- Product types
- All
- Starting points
- All
- Ways of working
- All
- Experience
- All
- Size of organisation
- All
Steps, by experience
Beginner (under 1 year)
- Ask purchasing or your manufacturer for the lead time of every major part.
- Mark the parts with the longest lead times and the ones with only one supplier.
- Put the longest lead times into the roadmap as fixed dates.
- Ask engineering whether a second, interchangeable part exists for the riskiest items.
- Check lead times again every month, because they change.
Intermediate (1 to 4 years)
- Score each part for lead time, single-source risk and end-of-life risk.
- Order long-lead parts early where the risk justifies the cost.
- Design in second sources for the highest-risk parts.
Experienced (5+ years)
- Set a supply-risk policy across products, including buffer stock.
- Agree with finance how much to spend to reduce schedule risk.
- Review end-of-life notices and plan redesigns before parts disappear.
Who can do this
Owner: Product manager
Can be delegated to
- Delivery Manager: Track lead times and order dates
- Hardware / manufacturing engineer or Tech Lead or Architect: Find second sources for risky parts
Reviewed by: Hardware / manufacturing engineer, Tech Lead
Tool examples
- Jira
- Add each long-lead part as a dependency on the roadmap.
- Google Docs
- Keep a risk score for each part in the BOM sheet.
Definition of done
- Lead time known for every major part
- Highest-risk parts have a plan
- Monthly check booked
Common pitfalls
- Checking lead times once and never again
- Relying on one supplier for a critical part
- Ordering too late to save money
If you lead the team
What good looks like: Long lead-time and single-source parts are known early and have a plan.
Ask your PM
- Which parts have the longest lead times or a single supplier?
- What's our backup if a supplier fails?
Warning signs
- Lead times are discovered when ordering.
- One supplier can stop production.