Purchase Order Lead-Time
Receipt date for a PO given supplier lead time and transit.
These calculators are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice.
How the Purchase Order Lead-Time works
The Purchase Order Lead-Time calculator projects when a purchase order will actually be received. Enter the PO (or acknowledgment) date and the quoted lead time in business days, and it returns the projected receipt date — counted over working days only, skipping weekends and the public holidays of every country you select.
Quoted lead times are almost always working days on the supplier’s calendar, not calendar days and not your calendar. That is why the country selection matters: a German supplier’s 15-day quote must skip German public holidays, and a shipment routed through two countries can lose working days at both ends. Supplier-specific closures — annual maintenance weeks, seasonal factory shutdowns — can be added as custom holidays so the count steps over them.
If fulfillment and transit are quoted separately, either sum them into one business-day total or run the calculator twice in sequence: fulfillment from the acknowledgment date on the supplier’s calendar, then transit from the resulting ship date. The projected receipt date is dock arrival — add your own receiving and inspection time before promising the material to anyone downstream.
Worked example
A PO acknowledged on Monday, June 1 with a 15-business-day lead time does not arrive June 16. Counting only working days, the 15 days span three full weeks — and if the supplier’s country has a public holiday in that window, the projected receipt date lands on June 23, a full week later than the naive calendar-day guess.
Frequently asked questions
Is a quoted lead time business days or calendar days?
Unless the quote explicitly says otherwise, assume business days — days the supplier’s operation is running. 15 business days is about three calendar weeks; 30 business days is closer to six weeks than a month.
Whose holiday calendar should I use?
The supplier’s, first and foremost — their public holidays and factory closures are the days no work happens. If transit is included, add the destination country too, since goods can be held up by holidays at either end. Select every country the order touches.
When does the lead-time clock start?
Usually at order acknowledgment, not when you send the PO — and a PO sent late on Friday is effectively a Monday order. Start the count from the date the supplier confirms, and remember that your own internal approval time sits before day zero entirely.
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