Procurement & finance
Expediting
Actively chasing an order through the supplier’s production and shipping process — confirming that it has actually started, that it is on the line, that it shipped. It is the difference between having an order and having a delivery date you believe.
The unexpedited order is not late because of bad luck. It is late because nobody checked, and the supplier — juggling its own constraints — quietly deprioritised the customer who was not asking.
On long-lead items this is not administration; it is the schedule. A transformer or a chiller ordered and not expedited will arrive when it arrives, and the project will discover the slip at the point where nothing can be done about it.