Lead Time

Lead time is the total time from the moment a customer places an order to the moment they receive what they asked for. It counts the whole wait as the customer feels it, including any time the order spends sitting in a queue between steps, not just the hands-on work.

It is like the time from ordering a meal to it arriving at your table, which includes the wait in the kitchen queue, not only the cooking. Lead time matters because customers judge you on the whole wait, and shortening it, often by cutting the idle gaps, is a direct way to serve more people and win repeat business.