Fulfillment Stream
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A fulfillment stream is the complete flow of activities required to fulfill a customer order, from order receipt through delivery.
Definition
A fulfillment stream encompasses all activities required to fulfill a customer order—from order receipt, through processing, production or picking, shipping, and final delivery. While value stream focuses on product creation, fulfillment stream focuses on customer order completion. The fulfillment stream includes both information flow (order processing, scheduling, communication) and physical flow (picking, packing, shipping). Mapping and improving the fulfillment stream reveals delays, rework, and waste that extend order-to-delivery time and reduce customer satisfaction.
Examples
A custom equipment manufacturer mapped their fulfillment stream: order entry (2 days), engineering review (5 days), scheduling (3 days), procurement (15 days), production (10 days), shipping (3 days). Total: 38 days. Analysis revealed engineering review was mostly waiting, not working. Addressing queue time cut fulfillment lead time to 22 days.
Key Points
- Includes information flow and physical flow—both contain waste
- Order-to-delivery time is the customer-visible metric
- Most fulfillment time is waiting, not working
- Cross-functional mapping reveals departmental handoff delays
Common Misconceptions
Fulfillment stream is the same as value stream. Value stream focuses on creating the product; fulfillment stream focuses on completing customer orders. They overlap but have different starting points and optimization targets.
Faster fulfillment requires faster work. Most fulfillment time is waiting between steps, not processing. Faster flow comes from eliminating waits, not speeding up individual tasks.