The quick answer
Put the cure time on the step that has to wait. On the manufacturing routing, open that step's Lag Amount, enter the delay in minutes with Lag Type Time and Lag Units Min, and save. NetSuite places those minutes on the work center's work calendar instead of counting 24 hours on the clock, so on a calendar that works 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday, 1,440 minutes is three working days, not one. One working day on that calendar is 480 minutes. The new lag shows on the Operations subtab of work orders you create afterward, and orders you already created keep the lag they had.
The example is a coated wall shelf with a three-step routing: 10 Cut and Bend, 20 Spray Coat and 30 Pack and Label. The shelves are coated on Wednesday 10/14/2026 and have to cure before they are packed. You work with two orders: a baseline order, WO5120, created before the routing change, and a test order you create after it. The dates shown are sample results for this calendar and these work centers, and yours depend on your own calendars and holidays. The company, user, subsidiary, location, item and work center names in the screenshots are fictional example data.
Before you start
You need Advanced Manufacturing with work orders and WIP, a manufacturing routing with a work center and cost template on every step, and a role that can edit routings and enter work orders. The routing steps connect to each other with a Connection Type, and these use Finish-To-Start (FS), which means a step starts after the one before it ends plus its lag. With Start-To-Start the lag is counted from the previous step's start instead. Auto-calculate Lag is unchecked on the routing, because with it checked NetSuite works out the lag itself and the manual Lag columns are not available.
Check which work calendar each work center on the routing uses. In this example all three use the Default Work Calendar. If your work centers use different calendars, the lag may not land where simple arithmetic says, so test one order before you promise a date. The same goes for a lag that ends exactly when the working day closes, and for a lag that crosses a holiday on the calendar's Non Working Days tab. Neither case was tested here, so check them first in your account.
A lag models waiting time and nothing else. It does not reserve a work center, record that a cure happened or hold material. If the cure needs its own work center, cost, status or inspection, add an operation for it, and use an outsourced step when a supplier does the work.
01 · Read the starting schedule
Open the baseline work order WO5120, which is for 10 shelves with a Production Start Date of 10/14/2026, and select the Operations subtab. Spray Coat ends at 10:53 am, and Pack and Label starts at 10:58 am and ends at 11:53 am, with Lag Type Time, Lag Amount 5 and Lag Units Min. The shelves would be packed five minutes after they come out of the booth, which is the problem to solve.
02 · Check the work calendar
Go to Lists > Employees > Work Calendars and open Default Work Calendar. On the Working Days subtab, Start At reads 9:00 am, Hours Per Day reads 8, and Monday to Friday are ticked. Eight hours is 8 x 60 = 480 minutes, so the working day runs 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and one working day is 480 minutes, not 1,440. This is the calendar NetSuite uses to place the lag in the next step.
03 · Set the lag on the routing
Go to Lists > Supply Chain > Manufacturing Routing and open SH-210 Shelf Routing. On Routing Steps, step 30 Pack and Label shows Finish-To-Start (FS), Lag Type Time, Lag Amount 5 and Lag Units Min. The lag sits on this step, the one that has to wait, and not on Spray Coat. Click Edit.
Click step 30's Lag Amount, replace 5 with 1440, and click OK. Lag Type stays Time and Lag Units stays Min. Click Save. NetSuite accepted 1440 here. If your account rejects an amount, read the range it reports and enter a value inside it.
The saved routing shows 1,440 on step 30, and steps 10 and 20 are unchanged.
04 · Enter a new work order
Open Transactions > Manufacturing > Enter Work Orders to create the test order. Select Subsidiary Ashgrove US, Assembly SH-210 Coated Wall Shelf and Location Tacoma, enter Quantity 10, and check WIP. Manufacturing Routing filled in as SH-210 Shelf Routing, the default for this assembly and location. Read it before you save, because the routing that fills in depends on the assembly, location and form, and the new order copies that routing's steps.
Scroll to Scheduling Details. In the account observed, Scheduling Method opened as Backward once WIP was checked, so check yours and change it to Forward, confirm Production Start Date reads 10/14/2026, and click Save.
05 · Read the new schedule
On the saved test order, select Operations. Spray Coat is unchanged and still ends on 10/14/2026 at 10:53 am. Pack and Label, now with Lag Amount 1,440, starts on 10/19/2026 at 10:53 am and ends at 11:48 am, and the Production End Date is 10/19/2026.
Check the sum. Spray Coat ends Wednesday at 10:53 am, which leaves 367 minutes of that working day until 5:00 pm. Thursday adds 480 and Friday adds 480, which makes 1,327. The remaining 113 of the 1,440 minutes run from 9:00 am on Monday, and 9:00 am plus 113 minutes is 10:53 am. The lag did not make Pack and Label any longer: it still runs its setup plus run time, 5 + 5 x 10 = 55 minutes, from 10:53 am to 11:48 am. A lag of 480 would have put Pack and Label at 10:53 am on Thursday.
Check the result
- Lag Amount: step 30 reads 1,440 with Lag Type Time and Lag Units Min.
- Operations: Spray Coat ends 10/14/2026 at 10:53 am and Pack and Label starts 10/19/2026 at 10:53 am.
- Production End Date: it follows the last operation and reads 10/19/2026.
06 · Confirm the existing order did not change
Open the baseline order WO5120 again from Recent Records and select Operations. Pack and Label still starts on 10/14/2026 at 10:58 am. NetSuite copied the routing's steps to that order when it was created, so editing the routing changes the orders you create afterward and leaves this one alone. If an existing order has to change, edit its operation task while the order is still editable, or enter a new order. Once production work has been logged, the task may no longer be editable.
Common questions
Is a 1,440 minute lag one day in NetSuite?
Only on a calendar that works around the clock. A Time lag is entered in minutes and NetSuite schedules it on the work center's work calendar, skipping the hours and days the calendar does not work. On a calendar that opens at 9:00 am for 8 hours, Monday to Friday, one working day is 480 minutes, so 1,440 minutes is three working days. On a calendar that works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 1,440 minutes is one elapsed day.
How do I add a one-day delay between two operations on a routing?
Open the routing, click Edit, and enter the delay in the Lag Amount of the step that has to wait, with Lag Type Time. For one working day enter the calendar's hours per day times 60, which is 480 for an 8 hour day. Save the routing and enter a new work order, then read its Operations subtab to confirm the next operation starts when you expect.
Which step carries the lag, the one that cures or the one that waits?
The one that waits. A routing step carries its connection to the step before it: Connection Type, Lag Type, Lag Amount and Lag Units. For a Finish-To-Start step the lag is a delay after the previous step ends, so the cure delay goes on Pack and Label, not on Spray Coat.
Does changing a routing's lag update work orders I already created?
Not by itself. The routing is a template, and its steps are copied to a work order's operation tasks when the order is created. Orders created after the change pick up the new lag. For an order that already exists, edit its operation task while the order is still editable or enter a new order. If production has already started on it, ask how your account handles rescheduling.
Does the lag make an operation longer?
No. A lag moves the start of the next operation and leaves the operations themselves alone, although the order's overall schedule gets longer. An operation still takes its setup time plus its run rate times the quantity, so Pack and Label took 5 + 5 x 10 = 55 minutes with a 5 minute lag and with a 1,440 minute lag.
Why are the Lag fields unavailable on my routing?
Check Auto-calculate Lag. With it checked, NetSuite works out the lag itself and the manual Lag Type, Lag Amount and Lag Units columns are not available. Clear the box on the routing, and on the work order if it is shown there, to enter a lag by hand. Also check that the step has a Connection Type, because the lag is counted from the step before it.
Why does my next operation start on a different date than this example?
The example uses one calendar, 9:00 am for 8 hours Monday to Friday, with no holidays. Check the calendar assigned to each work center, the holidays and Non Working Days on it, the Scheduling Method and the setup and run times on the routing. Dates for another calendar come out differently, and they are sample results here.
When should a cure step be its own operation instead of a lag?
Use an operation when the cure needs its own work center, labor or machine cost, status, inspection or operator instructions. A lag only models time. It does not reserve capacity, record that the cure happened or hold material. Use an outsourced step when a supplier does the coating or curing and you need purchasing and receiving for it.