Transit Time:
The relative locations of a plant and the customers or suppliers determine largely the transit time for raw materials, spare parts and finished products. Transit time generally never receives adequate attention in the panning of major projects. There is a general impression that, if need be, transit time can be drastically cut at any time by air-lifting a consignment. Apart from the fact that the neglect of transportation planning leads to an overall higher cost of transportation, in practice, reduction in transit time actually achieved may not justify the heavy cost of air transport. Rough estimates of transit time from unreliable sources are generally utilized for planning movements of goods. Although more detailed information sources may be readily available. It is essential therefore, that executives understand clearly the difference between:
Normal transit time under normal conditions;
(a) Normal transit time under abnormal conditions;
(b) Optimal transit time;
(c) Most optimistic transit time
(d) Most pessimistic transit time; and
(e) Desirable transit time.
Because the importance of transit time is not adequately recognized, it is not realistically provided for. Major projects suffer from the heavy delays even before the commencement of construction because of the non-availability of construction equipment and machinery in time. The existing bottlenecks in the fields of transportation are almost always ignored. Construction schedules, inventories, warehousing facilities, order processing or production schedules, etc., are generally planned without the recognition of the inevitable delays that flow from these bottlenecks.
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