Proceeds slowly as he delivered ten orders with variable component (6)
I believe the answer is:
moseys
'proceeds slowly as he delivered ten orders' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun but the answer is not.
'with variable component' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'variable' becomes 'y' (algebra).
'component' becomes 'moses' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'y' inserted inside 'moses' is 'MOSEYS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moseys that I've seen before include "saunters" , "Ambles, strolls" .)