rewrite 1. Flexibility in Design. While the life cycle for the base components of kitchen cabinets is long in the order of years, home design preferences often change. As a result finishes, door styles and knobs typically change every year. Customers expect a great many options to choose from so that their kitchen cabinets can be unique to their home. Additionally, while uniformity in hardware is a selling feature, cosmetic components of the hardware are also typically redesigned every few years to keep the cabinets looking fresh. 2. Increased Demand for Rush Orders (Shortened Lead Time). Larger customers are requesting faster response times. Ryan Manufacturing Ltd products are 90% "Made to Order" with a lead time of 2 - 3 months, while 10% are "Made to Stock". In both cases, the hardware is the bottleneck as the lead time is 3 - 4 months. As such, regardless of the manufacturing approach, to reduce overall lead time the hardware lead time must be reduced. 3. Hardware Supply Bottleneck. Ryan Kitchens uses three outside manufactures to supply the hardware components for their cabinets in order to ensure security of supply, however lead times, flexibility, and price vary significantly across the suppliers