OTD (on-time delivery)

OTD is usually calculated as shipments on or before the due date divided by total shipments in a period. The details vary by customer: some measure against the PO date, some against an acknowledged promise date, and some allow a window of a few days early or late. Many aerospace and industrial customers track supplier OTD on a scorecard alongside quality, and it affects who gets the next PO.

Small shops usually lose OTD in the same way: an expedite gets dropped in, it pushes other jobs back, and nobody tells those customers until the date has passed. The fix is less about scheduling software and more about seeing the knock-on effects before you commit.

Traveler's planned expedite flow is designed for exactly that. Drop a hot job at the front of a machine's queue and it lists which promise dates break and by how much, then drafts the delay notices for you to approve. Promise dates are suggested from queue depth and run times rather than guessed.