The Most Overlooked Discipline in Manufacturing Execution
How Under-investing in Supply Planning Is Costing Manufacturers Revenue, Reliability, and Factory Readiness
A custom online survey of 150 Senior-Level Decision Makers at Global Discrete Manufacturers, with a minimum annual revenue of $250m, headquartered in any of the following markets: U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., France, Germany. All respondents will work in one of the following industries: Aerospace and Defense, Industrial, Automotive, Medical Device.
Do you see potential supply chain consequences of tariffs implemented by the new US administration more as a threat or as a growth opportunity for your business?
C-Level Executives |
Supply Chain Leaders |
|
| Entirely a threat | 9% |
|
| Mostly a threat, but some opportunity | 26% |
|
| Equally a threat and an opportunity | 17% |
|
| Mostly an opportunity, but some threat | ||
| Entirely an opportunity |
Do you see potential supply chain consequences of tariffs implemented by the new US administration more as a threat or as a growth opportunity for your business?
Do you see potential supply chain consequences of tariffs implemented by the new US administration more as a threat or as a growth opportunity for your business?
| C-Level Executives |
Supply Chain Leaders |
|
| Entirely a threat |
9% |
|
| Mostly a threat, but some opportunity |
26% |
|
| Equally a threat and an opportunity |
17% |
|
| Mostly an opportunity, but some threat |
17% |
|
|
Entirely an opportunity |
31% |
How much has your company prioritized improvements to its supply-chain forecasting in the past two years?
| It's been a top priority | 41% |
| It’s been prioritized, but not a top priority | 33% |
| It’s been somewhat of a priority | 21% |
| It’s not been a priority | 5% |
What metrics does your organization rely on most to measure supply-chain efficiency? Please select up to 3.
| On-time delivery performance | 51% |
| Inventory turnover ratio | 47% |
| Cash-to-cash cycle time | 39% |
| Inventory monetary value | 39% |
| Freight / carrying costs | 37% |
| Excess and Obsolete (E&O) inventory | 33% |
| Days on Hand (DOH) | 24% |
| Other | - |
How difficult is it for your ERP to get visibility into manufacturing execution and outcomes?
| Extremely difficult | 3% |
| Very difficult | 22% |
| Somewhat difficult | 48% |
| A little difficult | 20% |
| Not at all difficult | 7% |
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Supply plan failures are most likely to happen at the factory-specific execution stage.
| Strongly agree | 25% |
| Somewhat agree | 51% |
| Somewhat disagree | 22% |
| Strongly disagree | 3% |
How often do supplier changes create disruptions to production?
| At least once a week | 2% |
| A couple of times a month | 19% |
| About once a month | 35% |
| A couple of times a quarter | 27% |
| About quarterly | 11% |
| A couple of times a year | 5% |
| About once a year or less | 1% |
| Never | - |
What are common operational reasons for misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality? Please select all that apply.
| Tools on both sides that lack end-to-end, real-time visibility | 45% |
| Manual decision making and exception handling | 45% |
| Lack of flexibility on the manufacturing/execution side | 42% |
| Lack of predictive tools to make more accurate supply plans | 41% |
| We don’t get the data we need until after there’s an issue | 29% |
| We don’t respond quickly enough to supplier changes | 29% |
| Other | 1% |
| We never have misalignment | 4% |
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Our ERP can provide data about supply plans so we can understand materials requirements, but it is powerless to prevent execution failures.
| Strongly agree | 21% |
| Somewhat agree | 51% |
| Somewhat disagree | 19% |
| Strongly disagree | 9% |
Which of the following organizational factors explain why there is a gap between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific execution? Please select all that apply.
| Communication issues caused by departmental silos | 45% |
| Feeling disruptions are inevitable / we can’t plan for them | 44% |
| We’ve invested more in forecasting than in improving factory-specific execution | 37% |
| We’re prioritizing improving our ERP | 37% |
| Lack of an intermediary role/function to better synchronize supply and execution | 37% |
| They’re handled by different departments | 35% |
| Other | - |
| Our organization doesn’t treat these as separate | 3% |
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Our supply planning and materials management teams spend too much time trapped in reaction mode, putting out fires, and that creates an erosion of trust when execution doesn't improve.
| Strongly agree | 26% |
| Somewhat agree | 48% |
| Somewhat disagree | 22% |
| Strongly disagree | 4% |
How much of your manufacturing budget (e.g., premium freight, expedition, last-minute changes) is used for reacting to disruptions/misalignment? Your best guess is fine.
| Up to 2% | 5% |
| Up to 5% | 31% |
| Up to 10% | 51% |
| Up to 15% | 11% |
| Up to 20% | 2% |
| More than 20% | - |
How long does it take after a risk of production disruption is detected to decide what corrective action to take?
| Same day | 9% |
| A couple of days | 41% |
| About a week | 41% |
| A couple of weeks | 10% |
| A month or longer | - |
What supply chain disruptions have had the biggest impact on misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality in the past 3 years? Please select up to 3.
| Economic shifts | 51% |
| Demand shifts | 44% |
| Software / systems outages | 41% |
| New or changing regulations | 35% |
| Extreme weather events / climate change | 35% |
| Unforeseen geopolitical shifts | 31% |
| Tariffs | 25% |
| Other | - |
Do you expect it will be easier or harder in 2026 to align demand planning with factory-specific execution than it was in 2025?
| Much harder | 1% |
| Somewhat harder | 24% |
| No difference | 14% |
| Somewhat easier | 56% |
| Much easier | 5% |
Have you experienced a supply chain incident in the past 12 months where your organization didn't discover material shortages required for production until delays were unavoidable?
| Yes, multiple times in the past year | 20% |
| Yes, once in the past year | 52% |
| No, not in the past year | 28% |
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Forecasting can only get you so far since it can't account for major unexpected disruptions.
| Strongly agree | 25% |
| Somewhat agree | 55% |
| Somewhat disagree | 18% |
| Strongly disagree | 2% |
What keeps your organization from making it more of a priority to address manufacturing site-based materials management and execution challenges? Please select all reasons that apply.
| Conflicting internal priorities | 54% |
| Budget constraints | 48% |
| Organization isn’t aware of solutions to prevent these disruptions | 39% |
| Not enough awareness of the business impacts of disruptions | 31% |
| Lack of buy-in from top leadership | 30% |
| No one is championing changes or improvements | 29% |
| Other | - |
What are the most impactful business consequences when there's misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality? Please select all that apply.
| Cost of expediting | 37% |
| Delays in production and delivery | 31% |
| Revenue loss | 28% |
| Loss of customer satisfaction | 28% |
| Loss of reputation | 28% |
| Productivity loss | 27% |
| Missed revenue projections | 26% |
| Loss of competitive advantages | 24% |
| Failure of a product launch | 24% |
| Need for overtime | 23% |
| Premium freight | 22% |
| Other | - |
How many times have you experienced the following in the past 12 months, specifically due to misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality? (Select one per row.) - Inventory shortages
| 0 | 1% |
| 1 | 15% |
| 2 | 14% |
| 3 | 34% |
| 4 | 23% |
| 5+ | 13% |
How many times have you experienced the following in the past 12 months, specifically due to misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality? (Select one per row.) - Disruptions to our on-time delivery
| 0 | 1% |
| 1 | 15% |
| 2 | 22% |
| 3 | 19% |
| 4 | 33% |
| 5+ | 12% |
And how often has your company experienced excess inventory in the past 12 months, specifically due to misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality?
| All the time | 1% |
| Often | 30% |
| Sometimes | 51% |
| Rarely | 19% |
| Never | - |
What percentage of your company's annual revenue has been lost or put at risk due to misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality?
| 0% | - |
| 1%-9% | 53% |
| 10%+ | 47% |
| AVERAGE | 9 |
How much pressure are you facing to improve capital flow?
| A lot of pressure | 9% |
| Some pressure | 68% |
| Not too much pressure | 21% |
| No pressure at all | 2% |
How concerned are you that you'd lose your job if you experienced multiple factory-floor execution failures?
| Extremely concerned | 5% |
| Very concerned | 33% |
| Somewhat concerned | 45% |
| A little concerned | 14% |
| Not at all concerned | 4% |
How much confidence does your leadership have in AI to address misalignment between your company's demand planning and its factory-specific supply planning reality?
| Complete confidence | 7% |
| A lot of confidence | 33% |
| Some confidence | 52% |
| Not too much confidence | 7% |
| No confidence at all | 1% |
How essential is AI for eliminating execution drag?
| Completely essential | 21% |
| Somewhat essential | 59% |
| Helpful, but not essential | 17% |
| Neither helpful nor essential | 3% |
Methodological Notes:
The LeanDNA Thought Leadership Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 150 Senior-Level Decision Makers at Global Discrete Manufacturers, with a minimum annual revenue of $250m, headquartered in any of the following markets: U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., France, Germany, between February 17th and March 2nd, 2026, using an email invitation and an online survey. All respondents will work in one of the following industries: Aerospace and Defense, Industrial, Automotive, Medical Device.
Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 8.0 percentage points in the total sample from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.