LOOKING AHEAD Suett suspected that a major contributor to the receiving area's dysfunction and average three-day delivery time was its batch-oriented approach to processing packages. Virtually every step in the process involved the handling and transport of batches of multiples packages on loaded pallets. In fact, with the exception of step 4, every step in the dock-to-stock process involved the batching of packages on pallets. He had seen similar impacts of large-batch processing in manufacturing. If the receiving area could reduce the package- processing batch sizesor, better yet, process each package moving through the receiving area one at a time (called \"single-piece flow\"), he felt that most of the problems stemming from the receiving area could be substantially reduced or even eliminated. Suett set a goal of reducing the average lead time from three days to one daya goal that he believed was readily achievable by moving the receiving area process closer to single-piece flow