A delivery delay caused by material not being in stock is among the most frustrating stoppages, because it is nearly always avoidable through more attentive stock management rather than any complex technology investment.
The hidden cost of a stoppage
A worker standing waiting for material carries on costing money for every hour, while the job makes no progress. That cost is rarely recorded explicitly, but it adds quietly to the real cost of every job hit by an avoidable delay.
Know each supplier's lead time
Knowing how long each supplier takes to deliver a material, not in general but supplier by supplier, lets you plan reordering with enough notice, instead of discovering an empty rack only when a job already under way needs it immediately.
Stock format and minimum levels
Knowing the format a material is bought in — bar length, sheet size — helps you judge correctly when stock is about to run out, rather than finding out mid-cut. Setting minimum levels for your most-used materials, below which a reorder is triggered, cuts this kind of stoppage dramatically.