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Glossary of Manufacturing - Manufacturing terms Category: Agriculture and Industry Date & country: 27/04/2011, USA Words: 2096

Transaction (Premature):
In reconciling a cycle count, if the stock is released too soon after the count, transactions relating to activity immediately after the count may be processed, preventing correct count / record reconciliation. This problem has been successfully overcome through software.

Transaction Trail:
A VDU display of a computer stock record or shop floor production job in association with the past recent data transactions that have been raised relating to the stock or job. By following the transaction trail in reverse chronological sequence, the user obtains a picture of the events which affected the stock. The transaction trail is very useful...

Transportation Algorithm, The:
An optimisation procedure used to determine which stock at depots with excess material are to be transferred, or "transshipped", to which depots with shortages of material. The operation of the algorithm requires the extents of the excesses and shortages of material at the various depots to be known, and the costs to be known of moving m...

Transshipment:
In distribution, the customary flow of goods is from the centre of the distribution network through the well-defined channels, typically being via regional warehouses and ultimately to the depots at the periphery (ie at the highest network echelon). However, when excess or deficient stocks arise for some reason at depots, such as due to a supplier...

Treasury Bill:
In the UK, a financial security issued by the Bank of England to enable the government to borrow money for short periods of time. "Three Month" Treasury bills are issued by the BOE through the discount market. Typically, they are purchased by discount houses in the City, and sold principally to commercial banks. The banks hold them as pa...

Trend (in sales demand):
A pattern of sales demand in which the level of demand is growing (or declining) at a certain rate from period to period. The growth (or decline) may be by constant amounts (ie having linear trend) or by accelerating amounts (ie having exponential trend).

TRI:
Toxic Release Inventory.

Trial Balance:
In accounting, a trial balance is a check to see that total debits (eg purchases, wages) equals total credits (sales receipts etc.). If debits do not match credits, the accounts are wrong. (If they do equal, this does not mean that they are necessarily correct, however.)

Trigg's Error Tracking Signal:
Devised by Derek Trigg, one time of ICI in the UK, the signal is a dimensionless number calculated from the past n forecast errors, and is equal to: (the sum of the errors where signs cancel ... ie negative errors help cancel out positive errors) / (the sum of the absolute errors ... ie where pluses and minuses do not cancel). The worse the foreca...

TRIZ:
Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, or theory of axiomatic design (the initials are from the Russian acronym teoriya rescheniya isobretatelskikh zadatch). Axiomatic design is a process for creating new designs and for analysing/improving existing designs. (In English, an axiom is a "fundamental truth".) TRIZ was originated by Genrich S....

TRT:
Transition Tree.

True Value
: (of a measurement) See Error (True).

Trunking:
The conveyance of large full loads along major transport routes, usually as a first stage in the dispersion of product throughout the distribution network. Trunking is carried out for cost saving reasons, before the later more expensive distribution activity of local deliveries of many small lots - see Local Delivery.

Tue:
a unit of measurement equal to the space occupied by a standard 20 foot container. 'Tue' is used in stating the capacity of a container vessel or storage area, and is an acronym of Twenty foot Equivalent Unit. A container vessel is considered large if it has a tue of 7,000 or more. The Cosco Ningbo is currently the world's largest container ship, ...

Tukeys Test:
One-factor ANOVA.

Turn Round Time:
This everyday expression is often used to mean the total elapsed time to repair or refurbish a machine from the time the repair or refurbishment is initiated to the time the machine is ready again for use.

Turnover:
The total sales invoiced by a company during its financial year (regardless of whether all such invoices have in fact been paid by the customers invoiced).

TVA:
Throughput Value Added

Two Bin System:
A simple materials replenishment system in which a spare full container of parts stands close to the container of parts being used. When the container in use is used up, the full container is then brought into operation. As this happens, an order is issued for a new replenishment bin from the source of supply. Note with a two-bin system that the q...

Two Level Master Scheduling:
The master scheduling of alternative product options in synchronisation with the creation and management of a schedule of work to assemble such options to create final products as specified by customers. In fact, "two level" master scheduling is a misnomer - only the alternative different options are master scheduled: the final product i...

Tx:
transmit.

UC:
Unit cost.

UCL:
Upper Control Limit - see Control Limit.

UCP1993
: Uniform Customs and Practice for documentary credits, 1993. A standard letter of credit form issued by the ICC in 1993.

UDDI:
Universal Description, Discovery Interface.

UKWA:
United Kingdom Warehousing Association - visit www.ukwa.org.uk.

Ultimate Consumer:
The person who finally uses a good (eg the person who eats manufactured food).

Ultra Vires:
Latin - beyond legal authority or legal powers.

UMASS:
A checklist methodology devised jointly by the University of Massachusetts and the University of Salford to assist in the process of product design from the viewpoint of ease of assembly.

Unascertained Goods:
Unascertained goods are a seller's stockholding of particular goods from which the buyer's order will be picked when the time comes. When the buyer's goods are so picked from the stock, they become Ascertained Goods - ie they have been identified and selected for sale.

Unfair Contract Terms Act, 1977:
Exclusion clauses puporting to limit a consumer's rights under contract law are, in general, invalid under the Act. This includes "manufacturers' guarantees" which attempt to limit liability. As between a manufacturer and supplier, the Act may also limit an attempt by a big company to exclude its liability to a small one. Exclusions in t...

Uniformity:
low variation among repeated outcomes of a process.

Unit Chart:
See u-Chart.

Unit Load:
Either a load comprising a full standard pallet (see pallet) and the goods placed on its platform or the goods comprising a full standard ISO container. The building up and carriage of unit loads enable great economy and convenience to be realised in the provision of material handling equipment from one industrial user to the next. See sub-section...

Unit of Measure:
The system by which the quantity of a specified material is accounted for and expressed. Examples are feet, kilograms, each, milligrams and gallons. Clearly, as we are all aware, the same substance or phenomenon can be recorded in alternative units of measure. Consequently, one might refer to stocking units of measure, as opposed to production uni...

Unitisation:
The design of packages and containers in such a way as to enable them readily to be formed into unit loads (qv).

Unknowns:
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. - Donald Rumsfield...

Unliquidated Damages (legal):
Damages sought by a party to a contract, the amount of money to be decided by the court after hearing evidence of the injured party's loss. See Liquidated Damages.

Unlucky (or lucky?):
The Japanese citizen Sutoma Yamaguchi was resident in Hiroshima on 6th August 1945. After the bomb had fallen, he was able to make his way home to Nagasaki, arriving on 9th August 1945.

Unpacking Note:
A document accompanying a supplier's delivery which contains full details of the items sent - eg the identity and quantity of each type of good. The unpacking note is used by the Good Inwards supervisor to verify the delivery and update the stock records. See Delivery of Goods.

Unreasonableness Check:
A computer software check which highlights any quantity of a product which is unusually larger or unusually smaller than quantities recorded for this particular product in the past. For example, a raw material receipt may be recorded as 2, but the product concerned is usually received in boxes of 100. Is the receipt really of 2 units, or should it...

UNTD12 :
a technical standard for the transmission of EDI messages over telecommunications links, being part of the TRADACOMS message set. Frequently used in the UK.

UOM:
Unit of Measure, qv.

UPC:
(Universal Product System) - a bar coding system devised in 1973 by IBM, and used in bar coding groceries in supermarkets. Its advantage is that the code or label does not have to lie flat when scanned by the bar code reader.

Upper Control Limit:
See Control Limit.

UPS:
United Parcel Service, the US domiciled carrier service founded by Jim Casey and Claude Ryan in Seattle in 1907. UPS is one of the world's largest package delivery companies and began operations in Europe in 1976; it has a fleet worldwide of 92,000 vehicles and operates the the world's eighth largest airline. The CEO is Mike Eskew. In the UK, UPS ...

UPT:
Ultrafine Pitch Technology.

Uptime:
see availability.

URL:
Uniform Resource Locator, used as shorthand jargon for the address of an Internet site.

Urstomtaler:
a type of schwundgeld originating in October 2004 in Gusen, northwest Germany.

Uruguay Round:
Free trade negotiations from 1986 - 1991 connected with GATT (qv).

Usage (Annual):
The amount used each year of a product or (often) the amount per year purchased. The amount may be expressed in units or in financial value.

Usage:
Within a bill of materials structure, products are seen to be made from other products. For example, a bicycle is made from 2 wheels. The amount of a component product used in the manufacture is its usage, or quantity per. In the bicycle, the usage or quantity per of wheels in the final assembly is 2.0.

UV:
Ultra Violet.

VA:NVA Ratio:
Value Added (

VAD:
Value Added Distribution.

VALPAK:
A collective waste compliance scheme associated with Packaging Waste (qv).

Value added time:
in lean manufacture, that time over the production cycle during which actual, physical operation is taking place. See process cycle efficiency.

Value added:
in the eyes of a customer, the value of something might be defined as its inherent worth to him - what he is prepared pay for it. One might become very philosophical at this point, and say that many things we find "valuable" can have no monetary value attached to them (eg good health). However, in the hard headed world of manufacturing, ...

Value Discipline:
A notion put forward by Prof. Michael Porter in his book Competitor Strategy, a value discipline being a dominant area of management interest and expertise, usually being either product leadership, or operational excellence or customer intimacy. Porter contended that that a company will/can focus on only one of these three value disciplines, but t...

Value Engineering
is as value analysis, but carried out on a potential product still at the design stage.

VAN (Value Added Network):
A communications network connecting computers distributed throughout the UK and used for switching messages from one computer (near to a message sender) to another designated point (near to the intended message recipient). Messages which are unread are stored until the receiver wishes to access incoming traffic directed to himself. There are four V...

VAR:
Value Added Reseller.

Variable Control Chart:
In SPC, a small sample of manufactured parts is inspected at appropriate intervals of time, and some particular quality characteristic measured relating to each part. The mean (ie average) of the sample is calculated and also the sample range (this being the difference between the largest value in the sample and the smallest). The sample mean and s...

Variable Cost:
See Cost (Variable).

Variable Costing:
See Costing (Variable).

Variable Location Storage:
A storage area in which products or SKUs are assigned to storage locations by a software program (often referred to as a putaway algorithm) at the moment the goods enter the facility requiring to be physically stored. The software will choose a free, or empty, location and direct the storeman to put the stock away in that location. The program may...

Variable Pay:
Pay at risk - pay awarded to an employee for measurable, achieved results. Examples are the commission paid to salesmen based on achieved sales, and bonuses awarded to shop floor staff based on achieved production. The strict criterion for variable pay is that, in order for it to be obtained a second time, it must be earned a second ti...

Variance (In costing)
: as actual production is achieved over the year, it is inevitable that the quantities manufactured will vary from the forecasts for them made when the standard costs were originally calculated. (The forecasts for the sales products are exploded through the bill of materials to give production forecasts. It is on the basis of these that the costs o...

Variance (Price):
In costing, a difference (ie variance) between standard (budgeted) expenditure and actual expenditure due solely to a difference in price between the price assumed in standard costing and what transpired in practice. Price variance is defined as (Actual Quantity) x (Standard Price minus Actual Price per unit). See The Manufacturing Manager, Ch 17.

Variance (statistical):
One way of obtaining an appreciation of the composition of a set of numbers is to calculate their average value, or mean, denoted by "xbar" (ie an x written with a short line over it). For example, the mean xbar of the group of numbers 8, 3, 5, 5, 6, 9, 2, 3, 1, and 8 is 5.0. A second way of appreciating the numbers might be to state the...

Variance (Volume):
In costing, the difference (ie variance) between the standard (budgeted) expenditure and actual expenditure, due solely to a difference in volume between the amount it was assumed would be made or purchased (in calculating the standard originally) and what was, in practice, actually made or bought. Volume variance is defined as (Standard Price) x ...

VAT (Value Added Tax):
A flat-rate tax levied on all services and on almost all goods (*) by the UK government, acting through HM Revenue & Customs. The tax is added to all invoices as they are raised from one stage to the next, starting with the original supplier and paid by the various buyers along the supply chain, to the ultimate purchaser at the final stage. The...

VBR (Vendor Base Reduction):
In the 1980s and the coming to prominence of Japanese manufacturing techniques, Just-in-Time companies such as Toyota were seen to operate with far fewer suppliers (or "cooperating companies" as Taiichi Ohno called them). In the JIT company, because of the amount of work needed to arrange for daily material deliveries from very many supp...

VDSL:
Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line.

VDU:
Visual Display Unit, UK English for the American "CRT".

VE:
Value Engineering.

Velocity Ratio:
a measure of the speed at which material moves through a supply chain, and defined by (total duration of all stages in the supply chain during which value is added) / (total elapsed time).

Vendor Base Reduction:
see VBR. Also see the free on-line purchasing 'course' at this site.

Vendor Hub:
A warehouse holding stock supplied and owned by many supplying companies, the stock being for delivery on request to a small number (or one) customer. The warehouse is operated by an independent third party storage/distribution company, these services being paid for jointly by the companies whose stock is being stored. By giving the arrangement a s...

Vendor Managed Inventory:
see VMI and Stock (Consignment).

Vendor:
A word best reserved for an organisation offering items for sale, but not necessarily selling to a particular company. The word supplier, by contrast, might best be taken to means a vendor that is actually selling to the customer. For example, one must merely speculate as to the probable delivery performance of a vendor; the delivery performance of...

Venture Capital:
any share capital or loan subscribed to a company requiring money, usually to enable the company to invest in novel, high risk enterprises. Venture Capital is provided by financial specialists in the City of London as well as by commercial banks, usually dealing in riskier undertakings and smaller amounts of money than private equity firms.

VESEL:
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser.

VFD:
Video Fluorescent Display.

VHIIP:
Virtual Factory Information Interchange Project.

Vicarious Liability:
Liability assumed (ie taken on) by one person on behalf of another - in the context of manufacturing industry, this can be taken to mean the liability of the company for the tort, or wrong doing, of its employee. (It will be recalled that the company is a legal entity consisting of the body of its directors and staff acting according to its own rul...

Vineyard Economics:
a somewhat off-beat term that recognises that for some investments, the capital cost incurred in the start-up of an enterprise is insignificant compared to the operating and materials costs that will later be incurred and the sales revenue that will later be generated. (The cost of the land on the hillside in Burgundy and the purchase and planting...

Visual Management Triangle
. The visual management triangle comprises (1) seeing, as a group (what is the production status and what are inventory levels?); (2) acting as a group (concensus on rules and objectives, involvement in improvement activities), and (3) knowing as a group (delivery commitments, goals and schedules, management rules). See The Visual Factory, book by ...

Vitiating Factor (legal):
A contractual term which is void - ie legally unenforceable. There are many instances where signed agreements are either partly or wholly void. Thus in the UK, all contracts involving betting, or wagering, are void, as are all contracts which involve violation of criminal law. See also Unfair Contract Terms, and Exclusion Clauses.

VMI:
Vendor Managed Inventory, being (1) a means of fooling customers that stockholding and associated costs are bourne by the vendor, and are not surreptitiously passed on to the custmers in numerous ways, and (2) an inducement to customer complacency in such matters as quality and inventory management. More seriously, a definition of VMI is merely in...

VNA:
Very Narrow Aisle - a close-packed warehouse storage arrangement. Among other things, a VNA arrangement must be supported by "super flat" flooring.

Vocabulary (of Stores):
Not the cheerful, ever polite discourse of storemen discussing technical and philosophical matters, but the means of coding stored items. Like all codes, those of stored items must be (1) unique for each item stored, (2) meaningful (if possible) and (3) succinct. There is clearly a clash between succinctness and meaning. To support the case for mea...

Voice Directed Picking:
The picker of goods (in a stores or warehouse) wears apparatus on his head that enables him to hear picking instructions transmitted by the system and to respond by voice to the system after a successful pick.Voice directed picking is a highly effective, highly accurate and increasingly popular technology that has many advantages in both stores and...

Voice of the Customer:
This phrase refers to the precept that during the design and development of a new product, those responsible should never forget that the product must be wanted by the customer and must be attractive to him. See especially "Quality, function, deployment".

VOIP:
voice over Internet protocol - ie the technical procedure which permits the use of the Internet for free (or cheap) voice telephony.

Volenti Non Fit Injuria (legal):
(Latin: no harm can be done to a willing person) The principal that if someone is fully aware of the risks of an action, but nevertheless willingly undertakes it, he alone is liable for any injury he subsequently sustains. A duty of care is not owed to such a person.

Volme Taler:
a type of schwundgeld originating in October 2005 in Hagen, west Germany.

Volume Movement:
a metric used in stores and warehouse planning, being "the volume of an item stored and picked per month". In storage planning, volume movement is of greater importance than pick popularity - see pick density. Two typical statistics relating to volume movement in the store/warehouse are that 15% of all items account for 80% of total volum...

Volume Variance:
See Variance (Volume).