Sales forecasting
and inventory optimization
Became a retail mastermind you always wanted to be.
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Dictionary S
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| S&OP | See Sales and Operations Planning. |
| SAD | Single Administrative Document |
| SAE | Society of Automotive Engineers |
| Safety Lead Time | A hedge lead time added to the actual or calculated lead time that initiates earlier order release. Items planned on a to-order instead of a to-stock basis may use safety lead time instead of safety stock to handle critical requirements when carrying additional inventory is not desirable. |
| Safety Stock | The inventory a company holds above normal needs as a buffer against delays in receipt of supply or changes in customer demand. In the context of master production scheduling, safety stock can refer to additional inventory and/or capacity planned as protection against forecast errors and/or short terms changes in the backlog. Also referred to as ‘over-planning’ or a ‘market hedge’. Synonym: Reserve Inventory. |
| Said To Contain | Abbreviation: STC Term in a Bill of Lading signifying that the master and the carrier are unaware of the nature or quantity of the contents of e.g. a carton, crate, container or bundle and are relying on the description furnished by the shipper. |
| Salable Goods | A part or assembly authorized for sale to final customers through the marketing function |
| Sales And Operations Planning (SOP): | A strategic planning process that reconciles conflicting business objectives and plans future supply chain actions. S&OP Planning usually involves various business functions such as sales, operations and finance to agree on a single plan/forecast that can be used to drive the entire business |
| Sales Force Automation (SFA) | Software and systems that support sales staff lead generation, contact, scheduling, performance tracking and other functions. SFA functions are normally integrated with base systems that provide order, product, inventory status and other information and may be included as part of a larger customer relationship management (CRM) system. |
| Sales History | Actual sales shipment data that records product, quantity, customer, and other pertinent information and can be used in future demand calculations. It usually nets gross (outgoing) sales against customer returns. |
| Sales Mix | The proportion of individual product-type sales volumes that make up the total sales volume |
| Sales Plan | A time-phased statement of expected customer orders anticipated to be received (incoming sales, not outgoing shipments) for each major product family or item. It represents sales and marketing management’s commitment to take all reasonable steps necessary to achieve this level of actual customer orders. |
| Sales Planning | The process of determining the overall sales plan to best support customer needs and operations capabilities while meeting general business objectives of profitability, productivity, competitive customer lead times, and so on, as expressed in the overall business plan. Also see: Production Planning, Sales and Operations Planning |
| Salvage | The saving or rescue of a vessel and/or the cargo from loss and/or damage at sea. |
| Salvage Loss | In marine insurance, loss sustained by necessary sale of goods at port prior to expected destination because of “perils of the sea.” Treated as total loss with amount realized from sale of goods credited on amount payable under policy. |
| Salvage Material | Unused material that has a market value and can be sold |
| Salvage Value | The estimated or actual residual value of items no longer able to be used for their original purpose, or at the end of their useful life. |
| Sampling | The use of a predetermined, finite number of observations to project the characteristics of a larger population. |
| Sanction | An embargo imposed by a Government against another country. |
| Satellite Facility | A facility that is used to store merchandise which is not accommodated in the base facility due to lack of space or equipment. |
| Saw-Tooth Diagram | A quantity-versus-time graphic representation of the order point/order quantity inventory system showing inventory being received and then used up and reordered |
| Sbt | See Scan-Based Trading |
| Scalability | The ability of a system to handle increased volume or complexity, quickly and efficiently to meet demand. |
| Scale Count | A physical item count using a weigh scale, usually for small parts. The count accuracy depends on the validity of the sample provided, the specification of container tare weight, and the scale tolerance specification. |
| Scale Ton | Freighting measurement used in certain trades for various commodities. |
| Scan | A computer term referring to the action of scanning bar codes or RF tags |
| Scan Gun | This is used with an RF unit or terminal to scan (read) bar codes. |
| Scan-Based Trading (SBT) | Scan-based trading is a method of using Point of Sale data from scanners and retail checkout to initiate invoicing between a manufacturer and retailer (pay on use), as well as generate re-supply orders |
| Scanlon Plan | A system of group incentives on a companywide or plant wide basis that sets up one measure that reflects the results of all efforts. The universal standard is the ratio of labor costs to sales value added by production. If there is an increase in production sales value with no change in labor costs, productivity has increased while unit cost has decreased. |
| Scatter Diagram | A chart that plots the relationship of one numeric variable to another on a horizontal and vertical axis, and determines the degree of dependency or interdependency. |
| SCE | Supply Chain Execution |
| SCE (Supply Chain Execution) | A subset of supply chain management, this is a framework of execution-oriented applications that enables the efficient procurement and supply of goods, services and information across enterprise boundaries to meet customer-specific demand. In its broadest sense, SCE includes the manufacturing execution system (MES), warehouse management system and other execution systems within the enterprise, as well as throughout the supply chain. The logistics-oriented elements of SCE include the transportation management system, warehouse management system, international trade systems (ITSs), real-time decision support systems (e.g., dynamic routing and dynamic sourcing systems), and supply chain inventory visibility systems. |
| SCEM | Supply Chain Event Management |
| Scenario Planning | A form of planning in which likely sets of relevant circumstances are identified in advance, and used to assess the impact of alternative actions. |
| Schedule | A timetable including arrival/departure times of ocean- and feeder vessels and also inland transportation. It refers to named ports in a specific voyage (journey) within a certain trade indicating the voyage number(s). In general: The plan of times for starting and/or finishing activities |
| Schedule B | Statistical Classification of domestic and foreign commodities exported from the U.S. All commodities exported from the U.S. must be assigned a ten-digit Schedule B number |
| Schedule C | Four-digit codes assigned by U.S. Customs to foreign countries |
| Schedule Compression | Expediting or accomplishing an operation or project task in less than its originally-planned duration. |
| Schedule D | Four-digit codes assigned by the U.S. Government for ocean ports, airports, and land crossings. (USA) |
| Schedule K | Five-digit codes for foreign ports (international). |
| Scheduled Receipt | A firmed (accepted) production, purchase or interplant replenishment order that is treated as an incoming supply by planning systems and nets against requirements based on the quantity and due date |
| Scheduling | The process of creating individual orders or time-based schedules that serves as production or purchase authorizations. |
| SCI | Supply Chain Integration |
| SCIV (Supply Chain Inventory Visibility) | Applications that allow enterprises to monitor and manage events across the supply chain to plan their activities more effectively and pre-empt problems. SCIV systems enable enterprises not only to track and trace inventory globally on a line-item level, but also to submit plans and receive alerts when events deviate from expectations. This visibility into orders and shipments on a real-time basis gives enterprises reliable advance knowledge of when goods will arrive. |
| SCM | Supply Chain Management |
| SCM (Supply Chain Management) | A business strategy to improve shareholder and customer value by optimizing the flow of products, services and related information from source to customer. SCM encompasses the processes of creating and fulfilling the market’s demand for goods and services. It is a set of business processes engaged in a common goal of satisfying the end customer. Thus, a supply chain process can stretch from a supplier’s supplier to a customer’s customer. |
| Scope | A measurable definition of the goals, resources, timing and desired outcome of an implementation project or activity. |
| Scope Creep | The tendency of a project to include more tasks or to implement more systems than originally specified, which often leads to higher than planned project costs and an extension of the initial implementation date. |
| Scor Model | The Supply Chain Operations Reference Model- developed by the Supply-Chain Council to measure total supply chain performance. It includes delivery and order fulfillment performance, supply chain response time, production flexibility, warranty and returns processing costs, cash-to-cash cycle time, inventory and asset turns, benchmarking and other factors in evaluating the overall effective performance of a supply chain. |
| Scorecard | A performance measurement tool used to capture a summary of the key performance indicators (KPIs)/metrics of a company. The scorecards philosophy can also be applied to external supply chain partners such as suppliers to ensure that suppliers’ objectives and practices align. |
| SCP (Supply Chain Planning) | A subset of SCM, this is the process of coordinating assets to optimize the delivery of goods, services and information from supplier to customer, balancing supply and demand. An SCP suite sits on top of a transactional system to provide planning, what-if scenario analysis capabilities and real-time demand commitments. Typical modules include network planning, capacity planning, demand planning, manufacturing planning and scheduling, distribution and deployment planning, and transportation planning and scheduling. |
| SCP Simplified Clearance Procedure | A procedure covering non-restricted goods which enables approved exporters or agents to export goods on presentation of minimum information. The full statistical information is supplied within 14 days of shipment. |
| SCR | Specific Commodity Rate |
| Scrap | Material designated as obsolete or out-of-specification that will be disposed of in its current state. |
| Scrap Factor | A percentage added to the normal or engineered usage quantity of a component to allow for manufacturing loss, either on a global (item master) level or by specific bill of material. |
| Scrap Material | Unusable material that has no market value |
| Scratch (Markout) | When the item ordered shows quantity on hand, but the selector is not able to find the expected quantity. |
| Screen Mapping | Software that provides the functionality to change the arrangement of data fields on a computer screen that accesses a mainframe computer program. Screen Mapping is frequently used in combination with terminal emulation software to “Remap” data fields from a standard mainframe program to be used on the smaller screen of a portable handheld device. . a.k.a. Screen scraping |
| SDR | Special Drawing Rights |
| Sea Trials | A series of trials conducted by the builders during which the owner’s representatives on board act in a consulting and checking capacity to determine if the vessel has met the specifications. |
| Sea Waybill | Document indicating the goods were loaded onboard when a document of title (b/L) is not needed. Typically used when a company is shipping goods to itself. |
| Sea-Bee | Sea-barge, a barge carrier design similar to “LASH” but which uses rollers to move the barges aboard the ship; the self-propelled loaded barges are themselves loaded on board as cargo and are considerably larger than those loaded on LASH ships. |
| Sea Bridge | Combination of vessels linking the Atlantic and Pacific ports. |
| Seal | 1) Device applied to freight car/motor vehicle door fastening. 2) Item that shows that a certain mechanism has not been tampered with between time of application and time of intended use |
| Seal Log | A document used to record seal numbers |
| Seasonal Inventory | Inventory built up in anticipation of a seasonal peak of demand in order to smooth production |
| Seasonality | A repetitive pattern of demand from year to year (or other repeating time interval) with some periods considerably higher than others. Seasonality explains the fluctuation in demand for various recreational products which are used during different seasons. |
| Seasonality Index | Consists of a number for each specific forecast period that describes the relationship of each period’s demand to the average demand (level) over the complete seasonal cycle. A seasonality index is used to adjust the forecast to account for these cyclical changes in demand. |
| Seats | The number of concurrent or maximum users, or sometimes devices, allowed under software license agreements. |
| Sea Worthiness | The sufficiency of a vessel in materials construction, equipment, crew and outfit for the trade in which it is employed. Any sort of disrepair to the vessel by which the cargo may suffer , overloading, untrained officers, etc., may constitute a vessel as un-seaworthy |
| Seaworthiness Certificate | A certificate issued by a classification society surveyor to allow a vessel to proceed after she has met with a mishap that may have affected its seaworthiness. It is frequently issued to enable a vessel to proceed, after temporary repairs have been affected, to another port where permanent repairs are then carried out. |
| Secondary Highways | Highways that serve primarily rural areas |
| Sectional Rate | The rate established by scheduled air carrier(s) for a section of a through route (air cargo). |
| Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) | In e-commerce, a system for guaranteeing the security of financial transactions conducted over the Internet. |
| SED | U.S. Commerce Department document, “Shipper’s Export Declaration.” |
| Segregation | Distance required by the rules of IMDG or BC codes between the various commodities of dangerous and or bulk cargoes |
| Seiban | The assignment of a specific number for a top-level manufacturing order that is carried through all succeeding levels and orders, and pegs costs and material to a single project. |
| Selection Line | The arrangement of warehouse inventory in an orderly system to facilitate selecting (picking) units to fill orders.\ |
| Selective Pallet Rack | The term selective pallet rack implies standard single-deep pallet rack configurations (and rack designs) where each pallet is immediately accessible from an aisle. In contrast to double-deep rack, drive-in or drive-thru rack, or push-back rack where some loads will be stored behind other loads. |
| Self Correcting | A computer term for an online process that validates data and won’t allow the data to enter the system unless all errors are corrected |
| Self-Billing | An application that allows customers to create their own invoices, based on usage, date or other parameters, and provides automatic payment remittance through Internet, EDI or other methods. |
| Self-Propelled Barge | A barge which has its own engine |
| Self-Service Retail Sales Method | Selling from a sales outlet directly to the end user, usually at prices lower than full retail price. There are usually no sales personnel to explain the purpose and value of the product or service. |
| Self-Sustaining Ship | A container-ship which has her own crane for loading and discharging shipping containers enabling the ship to serve ports which do not have suitable lifting equipment. |
| Self-Trimming Ship | A ship whose holds are shaped in such a way that the cargo levels itself. |
| Self-Unloader | A bulk carrier which is equipped with gear for unloading cargo. |
| Sell In | Units which are sold to retail stores by the manufacturer or distributor for re-sale to consumers. The period of time in a Product Life Cycle where the manufacture works with it’s resellers to market and build inventory for sale. |
| Sell Through | Units sold from retail stores to customers. The point in a Product Life Cycle where initial consumption rates are developed and demand established. |
| Seller’s Market | A ‘seller’s market’ is considered to exist when goods cannot easily be secured and when the economic forces of business tend to be priced at the vendor’s estimate of value. In other words, a state of trade favorable to the seller, with relatively great demand and high prices of something for sale. |
| Selling, General And Administrative (SG&A) Expenses: | Includes marketing, communication, customer service, sales salaries and commissions, occupancy expenses, unallocated overhead, etc. Excludes interest on debt, domestic or foreign income taxes, depreciation and amortization, extraordinary items, equity gains or losses, gain or loss from discontinued operations and extraordinary items. |
| Semi-Trailer | A vehicle without motive power and with one or more axles designed to be drawn by a truck tractor and constructed in such way that a portion of its weight and that of its load rest upon e.g. the fifth wheel of the towing vehicle |
| Semi-Finished | Items processed from an original raw state into an intermediate level, or through a portion of the required operations on a routing. |
| Semi-Significant Part Number | An item number identifier that uses a small portion of the number, normally the first few characters, to categorize it as part of a group and random characters for the rest. |
| Sensitivity Analysis | The process of varying parameters in a given model to assess the level of change in its output. |
| Separable Cost: | A cost that can be directly assignable to a particular segment of the business. |
| Sequencing | The arrangement of orders, jobs or activities at a specific resource based on priority and process efficiency logic. |
| Serial Number | A unique number assigned for identification to a single piece that will never be repeated for similar pieces. Serial numbers are usually applied by the manufacturer but can be applied at other points, including by the distributor or wholesaler. Serial numbers are used to support traceability and warranty programs. |
| Service | A string of vessels which makes a particular voyage and serves a particular market. |
| Service Bill | A service Bill (of Lading) is a contract of carriage issued by one carrier to another for documentary and internal control purposes. For internal documentary and control purposes a participating agent in a consortium uses documents which depending on the trade, is referred to as ‘Memo Bill’ which will among others state:(1) Name of Carrier on whose behalf the original document (Way Bill, Bill of Lading, etc.) was issued. (2) The original document number. (3)The agent who issued the original document and his counterpart at the discharging side. (4) The number of packages, weight and measurement, marks and numbers and goods description. (5)Further mandatory details in case of special cargo (6)No freight details will be mentioned and the Memo Bill is not a contract of carriage |
| Service Center | A facility or department that supports customer requirements for repair, returns and sometimes light manufacturing. A facility used strictly to stock material at strategic points is normally referred to as a distribution center |
| Service Contract | A contract between a shipper (or a shipper’s association) and an ocean common carrier (or conference) in which the shipper makes a commitment to provide a certain minimum quantity of cargo or freight revenue over a fixed time period, and the ocean common carrier or conference commits to a certain rate or rate schedule as well as a defined service level (such as assured space, transit time, port rotation or similar service features). The contract may also specify provisions in the event of nonperformance on the part of either party. |
| Service Factor | Factor used as a multiplier with the Standard Deviation to calculate a specific quantity to meet the specified service level. |
| Service Goods | Goods viewed by the consumer as competitive products offering a standard “service” and are basically similar, so they will “shop” to get the best price. This would include such products as lawnmowers, refrigerators, television sets, automobiles, etc. |
| Service Level | 1)The extent to which a supplying resource satisfies customer requirements, often expressed in terms of error rate, resource availability or accuracy in meeting requested dates.2) The in-stock position of a warehouse expressed as the percentage of retail orders that can be filled (99% is a good level of service). |
| Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) | Provides a blueprint for services-based, enterprise-scale business solutions that are adaptable, flexible, and open, for lower total cost of ownership. Applications can be created on top of existing enterprise applications following the Service Oriented Architecture blueprint to increase the value of those systems and extend automation to new processes |
| Service Part | Material and components stocked and shipped to meet demand to replace an original part due to damage, age, or any other reasons. |
| Service Parts Revenue | The sum of the value of sales made to external customers and the transfer price valuation of sales within the company of repair or replacement parts and supplies, net of all discounts, coupons, allowances, and rebates. |
| Service Route | A scheduled integrated route |
| Service/Product Mix | This business, while involving both service and product, is distinct in that the quality of the service is often more important than the product received. Examples of this type of service would be: fast food, catering, telephone, etc. |
| SET | Secure Electronic Transaction |
| Setting/Air Delivery Temperature | An indication in the documents (B/L) stating the air supply temperature to the container. Note: No other details than this temperature shall be included in the Bill of Lading |
| Settlement | The finalization of a sale as determined by the transfer of funds from one account to another. |
| Setup | The set of activities required to prepare a resource for a production run that requires different settings or tooling than the previous run. |
| Setup Costs | The costs incurred in staging the production line to produce a different item |
| Setup Time | The total time required to change settings and tooling from one production run to another. Minimizing setup time is a key factor in reducing lot sizes and thus lead time, and has the goal of converting internal activities (those that require the resource to be idle) to external activities (those that occur while usable production is still occurring). |
| SG&A | Selling General & Administrative Expense |
| Shared Services | Consolidation of a company’s back-office processes to form a spinout (or a separate “shared services” unit, to be run like a separate business), providing services to the parent company and, sometimes, to external customers. Shared services typically lower overall cost due to the consolidation, and may improve support as a result of focus |
| Shareholder Value | Combination of profitability (revenue and costs) and invested capital (working capital and fixed capital). |
| Shelf Life | The amount of time an item may be held in inventory before it becomes unusable. Shelf life is a consideration for food and drugs which deteriorate over time, and for high tech products which become obsolete quickly |
| Stewart Cycle | See Plan-Do-Check-Action(PDCA Cycle) |
| Shifting | This refers to movements or changing positions of cargo from one place to another. This can easily endanger the seaworthiness or cargo worthiness of the ship. |
| Shingo’s Seven Wastes | Shigeo Shingo, a pioneer in the Japanese Just-in-Time philosophy, identified seven barriers to improving manufacturing. They are the waste of overproduction, waste of waiting, waste of transportation, waste of stocks, waste of motion, waste of making defects, and waste of the processing itself. |
| Ship Agent | A liner company or ship operator representative who facilitates ship arrival, clearance, loading and unloading, and fee payment while at a specific port |
| Ship Broker | Acts as intermediary between ship owners or carriers by sea on the one hand and cargo interests on the other. The functions are to act as forwarding agent or custom broker, fixing of charters, and acting as chartering agent |
| Ship Chandler | An individual or company selling equipment and supplies for ships. |
| Ship Demurrage | A charge for delaying a vessel beyond a stipulated time. |
| Shipment | 1) Lot of freight tendered to carrier by one consignee at one place at one time for delivery to one consignee at one place on one bill of lading. 2) Goods/ merchandise in one or more containers, pieces, or parcels for transportation from one shipper to a single destination. 3) Contracted movement of cargo from a shipper at one location to a consignee at another via a common carrier |
| Ship Operator | A ship operator is either the ship-owner or the (legal) person responsible for the actual management of the vessel and its crew |
| Ship Owner | Details contained in surveyor’s certificate. The particulars respecting the origin stated in the declaration of ownership. The name and description of the registered owner, if more than one owner the proportionate share of each |
| Shippers | Individuals or businesses who purchase transportation services for their goods or commodities. |
| Shippers Association | A non-profit entity that represents the interests of a number of shippers. The main focus of shippers associations is to pool the cargo volumes of members to leverage the most favorable service contract rate levels. |
| Shipper’s Certificate | Form filled out and presented by shipper to outbound carrier at transit point, together with instructions and inbound carrier’s freight bill, asking for reshipping privilege and transit rate commodity previously brought into transit point. |
| Shipper’s Council | An organization of shippers formed to collectively negotiate rates and services with the conferences of ship operators. |
| Shipper’s Export Declaration | Abbreviation: SED A United States customs form to be completed for all exports to assist the government in compiling export statistics |
| Shipper’s Instructions | Shipper’s communication(s) to its agent and/or directly to the international water-carrier. Instructions may be varied, e.g., specific details/clauses to be printed on the B/L, directions for cargo pickup and delivery. |
| Shipper’s Letter Of Instruction | Abbreviation: SLI A document containing instructions given by the shipper or the shipper’s agent for preparing documents and forwarding (aircargo). |
| Shipper’s Letter Of Instructions For Issuing An Air Waybill | The document required by the carrier or freight forwarders to obtain (besides the data needed) authorization to issue and sign the air waybill in the name of the shipper. |
| Shipper’s Load & Count (SL&C) | Shipments loaded and sealed by shippers and not checked or verified by the carriers. |
| Shipper’s Load, Count, And Stow | Statement on the Bill of Lading that makes the shipper responsible for proper description of the contents |
| Shipper’s Routing | Shipper specification of which carrier or carriers are to be used on the traffic tendered for transportation |
| Shipping | The function that performs tasks for the outgoing shipment of parts, components, and products. It includes packaging, marking, weighing, and loading for shipment |
| Shipping Container | Standard-sized rectangular box used to transport freight by ship, rail and highway. International shipping containers are 20 or 40 feet long, conform to International Standards Organization (ISO) standards and are designed to fit in ships’ holds. |
| Shipping Documents | Documents required for the carriage of goods. |
| Shipping Instruction | Document advising details of cargo and exporter’s requirements of its physical movement |
| Shipping Label | A label attached to a shipping unit, containing certain data. |
| Shipping Lane | A predetermined, mapped route on the ocean that commercial vessels tend to follow between ports. This helps ships avoid hazardous areas. In general transportation, the logical route between the point of shipment and the point of delivery used to analyze the volume of shipment between two points |
| Shipping Manifest | A document that lists the pieces in a shipment. A manifest usually covers an entire load regardless of whether the load is to be delivered to a single destination or many destinations. Manifests usually list the items, piece count, total weight, and the destination name and address for each destination in the load |
| Shipping Manifest System | Software used to associate shipments with carrier, service, rate, etc. Shipping manifest systems will produce a report (physical or electronic) that is sent to the carrier to be used for billing purposes. Shipping systems will usually produce shipping documents such as compliance shipping labels, bill of ladings, Export documents, and Hazmat documentation. They may also have functionality related to rate shopping, freight policy execution, and freight cost management. |
| Shipping Marks | The identification shown on individual packages in order to help in moving it without delay or confusion to its final destination and to enable the checking of cargo against documents. |
| Shipping Note | Document provided by the shipper or his agent to the carrier, multimodal transport operator, terminal or other receiving authority, giving information about export consignments offered for transport, and providing for the necessary receipts and declarations of liability |
| Shipping Order | Shipper’s instructions to carrier for forwarding goods; usually the triplicate copy of the bill of lading. |
| Shipping Weight | “Dry” weight of a truck including all standard equipment, but excluding fuel and coolant |
| Ships – Barge Carriers | Ships designed to carry barges; some are fitted to act as full containerships and can carry a varying number of barges and containers at the same time. At present this class includes two types of vessels LASH and Sea-Bee. |
| Ships – Bulk Carriers | All vessels designed to carry bulk cargo such as grain, fertilizers, ore, and oil. |
| Ships – Freighters | Break bulk vessels both refrigerated and unrefrigerated, containerships, partial containerships, roll_on/roll_off vessels, and barge carriers. |
| Ships – Full Containerships | Ships equipped with permanent container cells, with little or no space for other types of cargo. |
| Ships – General Cargo Carriers | Breakbulk freighters, car carriers, cattle carriers, pallet carriers and timber carriers. |
| Ships – Partial Containerships | Multipurpose containerships where one or more but not all compartments are fitted with permanent container cells. Remaining compartments are used for other types of cargo. |
| Ships – Roll-On/Roll-Off Vessels | Ships specially designed to carry wheeled containers or trailers using interior ramps. |
| Ships – Tankers | Ships fitted with tanks to carry liquid cargo such as crude petroleum and petroleum products; chemicals, Liquefied gasses (LNG and LPG), wine, molasses, and similar product tankers. |
| Ship’s Agent | A person or firm who transacts all business in a port on behalf of ship-owners or charterers. Also called shipping agent. |
| Ship’s Articles | A written agreement between the master of a ship and the crew concerning their employment. It includes rates of pay and capacity of each crewman, the date of commencement of the voyage and its duration. |
| Ship’s Manifest | A statement listing the particulars of all shipments loaded for a specified voyage. |
| Ship’s Protest | Statement of the master of a vessel before (in the presence of) competent authorities, concerning exceptional events which occurred during a voyage |
| Ship’s Stability | The seaworthiness of a ship regarding the centrifugal force which enables her to remain upright. |
| Ship’s Tackle | All rigging, cranes, etc., utilized on a ship to load or unload cargo. |
| Shipyard | A facility for building or repairing ships. |
| Shop Calendar | The definition of operating or working days available for material and capacity planning, production order release and execution. |
| Shop Floor Control | The methods and systems used to prioritize, track and report against production orders and schedules. They include the procedures used to evaluate current resource status, and the update of labor, machine hour and other associated information as required supporting the overall planning, scheduling and costing systems. |
| Shop Floor Production Control Systems | The systems that assign priority to each shop order, maintaining work-in-process quantity information, providing actual output data for capacity control purposes and providing quantity by location by shop order for work-in-process inventory and accounting purposes |
| Shop Packet | A printed set of documents generated for a specific production order that often includes the bill of material, routing, pick slip, work instructions, production and labor reporting tickets, move tickets and other support forms. |
| Short Form Bill Of Lading | Bill of Lading which refers to the contract terms and conditions of the carrier’s regular long form bill |
| Short Shipment | Piece of freight missing from shipment as stipulated by documents on hand. |
| Short Supply | Limited amount of a specific good or commodity. |
| Short Ton | 2,000 pounds |
| Shortage | The negative difference between actual available or delivered quantity and the required quantity |
| Shortage Report | A list of components or finished goods not available to meet requirements for production or purchase orders. Normally a report that nets available quantities against required, and does not provide a bill of material explosion, lead time offset or suggested orders as done by MRP. |
| Short-Haul Discrimination | Charging more for a shorter haul than for a longer haul over the same route, in the same direction, and for the same commodity. |
| Short-Shipped | Shipment originally scheduled for a particular vessel/voyage, but left behind for some reason |
| Shrink Wrap | Polyethylene or similar substance heat-treated and shrunk into an envelope around several units, thereby securing them as a single pack for presentation or to secure units on a pallet. |
| Shrink Wrapping | Heat treatment that shrinks an envelope of poly-ethylene or similar substance around several units, thus forming one unit. It is used e.g. to secure packages on a pallet |
| Shrinkage | Inventory or profit loss caused by faulty inventory counts, incorrect records, checkout errors, spoilage, or pilferage. |
| Shutout | Cargo short-shipped by intent due to over-booking or lack of space |
| Shuttle Service | The carriage back and forth over an often short route between two points. |
| Side Loader | A lift truck fitted with lifting attachments operating to one side for handling containers. |
| Side-Door Container | A container fitted with a rear door and a minimum of one side door. |
| Side shift | A very common lift truck attachment, the side shift device allows the fork carriage to slide left and right to allow more accurate placement of the load. Side shifts will increase productivity and safety as well as reduce product damage by allowing the operator more flexibility in load placement. |
| Siding | A short railroad track connected with a main track by a switch to serve a warehouse or an industrial area |
| Sight Draft | A draft payable upon presentation to the drawee. |
| Significant Part Number | An item number in which each individual character is coded to represent a product family, physical characteristic or other aspect of the part and does not use random characters. |
| Significant Variance | A reported value outside specified control limits or tolerance levels that indicates a failure condition in the system being measured. The sum of all significant variances is often divided by the total number of observations to indicate the hit/miss ratio. |
| Simple Moving Average | A moving average calculation in which all past periods considered have equal weight and are not factored or smoothed. |
| Simplification | The philosophy and methodologies that seek to reduce product and process variation, quality problems and cost by identifying and eliminating non-value added tasks, and standardizing component and resource usage. |
| Simulation | The use of models and logic tools to test the outcomes of a proposed group of inputs and processes, prior to or in place of their implementation in a live system. |
| Simulation Routines | Various routines using historical information to simulate future alternatives for supply chain operations design. Usually strategically focused for use in future operations, these may then be optimized and/or prioritized. |
| Single Administrative Document | A set of documents, replacing the various (national) forms for customs declaration within European Community, implemented on January 1st, 1988. The introduction of the SAD constitutes an intermediate stage in the abolition of all administrative documentation in intra European Community trade in goods between member states. |
| Single Level | The display of only one level on a Bill of material or where-used report, as in the set of immediate components for a parent or the next higher level of parent when tracing a component. |
| Single Level Back Flush | The deduction from inventory of only the immediate components when production of the parent is reported, as opposed to also back flushing successively-lower levels of components |
| Single Level Pegging | Tracing the source of requirements only to the immediate next higher level, as opposed to full pegging which traces through all higher levels to the end item demand. |
| Single Minute Exchange Of Die (SMED) | The goal of reducing setup times to less than ten minutes. |
| Single Source Leasing | Leasing both the truck and driver from one source |
| Single Sourcing | When an organization deliberately chooses to use one supplier to provide a product or service, even though there are other suppliers available |
| Single-Period Inventory Models | Inventory models used to define economical or profit maximizing lot-size quantities when an item is ordered or produced only once, e.g., newspapers, calendars, tax guides, greeting cards, or periodicals, while facing uncertain demands |
| SIP | Streamlined Inspection Program. |
| Sister Ships | Ships built on the same design. |
| SIU | Seafarers International Union. |
| Six Sigma | A quality measure and improvement program developed by Motorola that focuses on the control of a process. It includes identifying factors critical to quality as determined by the customer, reducing process variation and improving capabilities, increasing stability and designing systems to support the six sigma goal. |
| Skate Wheel Conveyor | Type of conveyor that uses small wheels (usually made of steel) to move materials. |
| Skeleton Trailer | Road trailer consisting of a frame and wheels, specially designed to carry containers. See chassis. |
| Skew | A data distribution that is not symmetric, or that shows distortion in a positive or negative direction. |
| Skid | A portable platform designed to allow a forklift, pallet jack, or other material handling equipment lift, move, and store various loads. A skid is similar to a pallet but does not have bottom deck boards. A skid is preferred over a pallet when used with equipment that would have problems with the bottom deck boards. Though not technically correct, the terms Skid and Pallet are often used interchangeably. |
| Skids | Battens, or a series of parallel runners, fitted beneath boxes or packages to raise them clear of the floor to permit easy access of forklift blades or other handling equipment. |
| Skills Matrix | A table that matches personnel, or other resources, with desired skills to provide views of the need for additional development, training or the acquisition of new resources. |
| Skimming Pricing Strategy | If you desire quick cash and have minimal desires for significant market penetration and control, then you set your prices very high (this is sometimes called “skimming”). |
| SKU | Stock Keeping Unit |
| SL/W | Shippers load and count. All three clauses are used as needed on the bill of lading to exclude the carrier from liability when the cargo is loaded by the shipper. |
| Slack Time | The comparison of the projected completion date for an operation or project task as compared to the required date, which indicates the amount of time it, could be delayed without impacting later operations or tasks. |
| Slap-and-Ship | Term used to describe an approach to complying with customer requirements for physical identification of shipped goods. Slap-and-ship implies you are meeting the customer’s requirement by applying the bar code labels or RFID tags, but are not utilizing the technology internally. |
| Sleepers | Loaded containers moving within the railroad system that are not clearly identified on any internally generated reports. |
| Slide-Shoe Sorter | Type of conveyor sorting equipment that uses a series of sliding shoes to move materials off of the conveyor. The sliding shoes are part of the conveyor and travel with the materials, when the sorting point is reached, a several shoes will slide across the conveyor, pushing the materials onto another conveyor or down a chute. |
| Sliding Tandem | An undercarriage with a sub frame having provision for convenient fore and aft adjustment of its position on the chassis/semi-trailer. The purpose being to be able to shift part of the load to either the king pin or the suspension to maximize legally permitted axle loads (road cargo). |
| Sling | Special chain, wire rope, synthetic fiber strap or ropes used for cargo handling purposes. |
| Slip | A vessel’s berth between two piers. |
| Slip Seat Operation | A term used to describe a motor carrier relay terminal operation where one driver is substituted for another who has accumulated the maximum driving time hours |
| Slip Sheet | Similar to a pallet, the slip sheet, which is made of cardboard or plastic, is used to facilitate movement of unitized loads |
| Slip-Sheet Attachment | Lift truck attachment used where slip sheets (a sheet of cardboard, paperboard, or plastic) are used rather than pallets. The slip-sheet attachment has a push/pull mechanism that clamps onto the slip sheet and pulls the load onto a thin platform and then pushes the load off of the platform when the truck reaches the destination. |
| Slot | 1)The position occupied by pallets or cases of products. There are two types of slots: primary (select) and reserve (storage). 2) The space on board a vessel, required by one TEU, mainly used for administrative purposes |
| Slot Charter | A voyage charter whereby the ship-owner agrees to place a certain number of container slots (TEU and/or FEU) at the charterer’s disposal |
| Slotting | Warehouse slotting is defined as the placement of products within a warehouse facility. Its objective is to increase picking efficiency and reduce warehouse handling costs through optimizing product location and balancing the workload |
| Slow Moving Inventory | Items in stock that have had no usage activity for a specified number of days, or whose usage rate is significantly below the historical or expected average. |
| Slurry | Dry commodities that are made into a liquid form by the addition of water or other fluids to permit movement by pipeline |
| Small Group Improvement Activity | An organizational technique for involving employees in continuous improvement activities. |
| SMART | Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Based |
| Smart And Secure Trade Lanes (SST) | Private initiative of the Strategic Council on Security Technology, an assembly of executives from port operators, major logistics technology providers, transportation consultancies, and former generals and public officials. Aims to enhance the safety, security and efficiency of cargo containers and their contents moving through the global supply chain into U.S. ports. |
| Smart Label | A label that has an RFID tag integrated into it |
| SOA | Service Oriented Architecture |
| SOB | Shipped on board An endorsement on a B/L confirming loading of goods on the vessel. |
| Society of Logistics Engineers | A professional association engaged in the advancement of logistics technology and management |
| Soft Currency | Currency which is not fully convertible to all currencies but only to some other soft currencies. |
| Sole Proprietorship | An enterprise that is owned by a single individual. |
| Sole Sourcing | When there is only one supplier for a product or service, and no alternate suppliers are available |
| Solution | Imply a product or service which will “meet the needs” and “solve the problems” of the customer. |
| SOP | Sales and Operations Planning |
| SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) | A set of goods handling procedure which is set in accordance with customer’s instruction. |
| Sorting | The process of grouping products by grade (see also Grading). This may refer to separating batch-picked merchandise for shipping to various retail stores. |
| Sourcing | The process of identifying, conducting negotiations with, and forming supply agreements with vendors of goods and services. |
| SOW | Statement of Work |
| SPA | Subject to Particular Average |
| Space Charter | A voyage charter whereby the ship-owner agrees to place part of the vessels capacity at the charterers disposal. |
| Spares/Service Parts Planning (SPP) | Planning that supports the optimal stock quantities and location of items used to service internal assets or customer equipment. |
| SPC | Statistical Process Control |
| Special | An ordered item that requires custom engineering, components or processing and is not considered a standard offering. |
| Special Comprehensive License | An individual export license established for pre-approved commodities, software, and/or technical data to pre-approved consignees and/or destinations. |
| Special Drawing Rights | Abbreviation: SDR Unit of account from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), i.e. used to express the amount of the limitations of a carrier’s liability. |
| Special Purpose Containers | Any container equipped to carry a specific kind of freight. These may include refrigerated units, platforms, gondolas, open tops, automobile racks and other types of containers |
| Special-Commodities Carrier | A common carrier trucking company that has authority to haul a special commodity; there are 16 special commodities, such as household goods, petroleum products, and hazardous materials |
| Special-Commodity Warehouses | A warehouse that is used to store products that require unique types of facilities, such as grain (elevator), liquid (tank), and tobacco (barn). |
| Specially Designated National | Any individual, organization, or company that has been sanctioned by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. (USA) |
| Specialty Goods | Goods that appeal to a large segment of the buying public and are considered “special” enough that the consumer will specifically ask for the product. For instance, if you invented a cigarette that tasted good and was also proven to be good for your health, people would probably ask for the “healthy cigarette” (even if they didn’t know the name). The type of product is not the issue, but rather whether the product is “special” enough that the consumers will “seek it out.” |
| Specified Rate | A rate specified in an IATA Cargo Tariff Coordination Conference resolution (air cargo). |
| Speech-Based Technology | Also known as voice technology is actually composed of two technologies: Voice directed, which converts computer data into audible commands, and Speech recognition, which allows user voice input to be converted into data. Portable voice systems consist of a headset with a microphone and a wearable computer. See article on ADC for more info, also check out My book on inventory accuracy which provides greater detail on speech-based systems. |
| Speedability | Top speed a vehicle can attain as determined by engine power, engine governed speed, gross weight, driveline efficiency, air resistance, grade and load |
| Spine Car | An articulated five-platform railcar. Used where height and weight restrictions limit the use of stack cars. It holds five 40-foot containers or combinations of 40- and 20-foot containers. |
| Split Case Order Picking | A process used to fill orders for quantities less than a full case thereby requiring ordered items to be picked from a case or some similar container |
| Split Delivery | A method by which a larger quantity is ordered on a purchase order to secure a lower price, but delivery is divided into smaller quantities and spread out over several dates to control inventory investment, save storage space, etc |
| Split Load | 1) A load with more than one terminal destination. 2) The act of breaking down a shipment of one commodity into multiple lots. |
| Split Lot | The division of a single original manufacturing lot or batch into two or lots due to processing or lead time reduction considerations, or the requirement to modify part of the original batch into another form. |
| Split Shipment | Multiple container load shipment booked for one vessel but split and sent on two or more vessels. |
| Split-Case (Broken-Case) | Less than a full case of merchandise. The picking method using individual units that are selected. |
| Spoke | The stretch between a hub and one of the group of consignees and/or consignors being served by the hub. |
| Spontaneous Ignition Temperature | The lowest temperature at which a substance will start burning spontaneously without an external source of ignition |
| Spot | To move a trailer or boxcar into place for loading or unloading |
| Spot (Voyage) | A charter for a particular vessel to move a single cargo between specified loading port(s) and discharge port(s) in the immediate future. Contract rate (“spot” rate) covers total operating expenses, i.e., bunkers, port charges, canal tolls, crew’s wages and food, insurance and repairs. Cargo owner absorbs, in addition, any expenses specifically levied against the cargo. |
| Spot Demand | Demand, having a short lead time that is difficult to estimate. Usually supply for this demand is provided at a premium price. An example of spot demand would be when there’s a spiked demand for building materials as a result of a hurricane |
| Spot Market | A market for unplanned purchases not made under contract terms. Transactions usually made on a one-time basis. Related terms: spot buy, spot demand |
| Spotting | Placing a container where required to be loaded or unloaded. |
| Spreader | A piece of equipment designed to lift containers by their corner castings. |
| Spur Track | A railroad track that connects a company’s plant or warehouse with the railroad’s track; the cost of the spur track and its maintenance is borne by the user |
| SST | Smart and Secure Trade Lanes |
| Stable Demand | Products for which demand does not fluctuate widely at specific points during the year |
| Stack | An identifiable amount of containers stowed in an orderly way in one specified place on an (ocean) terminal, container freight station, container yard or depot (see container stack). |
| Stack Car | An articulated five-platform rail car that allows containers to be double stacked. A typical stack car holds ten 40-foot equivalent units (FEU’s). |
| Stacking | To pile boxes, bags, containers etc. on top of each other. |
| Stacktrain | A rail service whereby rail cars carry containers stacked two high on specially operated unit trains. Each train includes up to 35 articulated multi-platform cars. Each car is comprised of 5 well-type platforms upon which containers can be stacked. No chassis accompany containers. |
| Stackweight | The total weight of the containers and cargo in a certain row. |
| Staff Functions | The support activities of planning and analysis provided to assist line managers with daily operations. Logistics staff functions include location analysis, system design, cost analysis, and planning |
| Staging | Picking material for a production or sales order and moving to a separate area for purposes of consolidation or identifying shortages. Staged material is normally handled as a location transfer and not as an issue to the destination production or sales order. |
| Staging Area | A space on which the receiving and shipping docks used to gather and check inbound and outbound loads. |
| Stakeholders | People with a vested interest in a company, including managers, employees, stockholders, customers, suppliers, and others. |
| Stamping | Generally describes an unfinished item made of metal that is produced through a process that uses pressure to form discrete units from larger raw materials. Also describes the process used to produce stampings. In some cases, stampings may also be referred to as “blanks”. |
| Standalone | A program, function or system that operates on its own and has no interfaces. |
| Standard | The normal or agreed-upon quantity, dollar value or time used as the base against which actual activity is measured. Standards are changed when ongoing, underlying changes in the associated process make continued use of the original value impractical in evaluating performance. |
| Standard Components | Components (parts) of a product, for which there is an abundance of suppliers. Not difficult to produce. An example would be a power cord for a computer |
| Standard Container | A box, carton or other container with specified dimensions that will be used on an ongoing (reusable) basis to facilitate item counts, the design of storage and transportation resources and to limit handling damage. |
| Standard Cost | The normal or specified cost used as the basis for measurement against an actual. Standard costs for manufactured items include labor, material and overhead, and vendor acquisition, freight, duty fees and other categories for purchased items. |
| Standard Cost Accounting System | A cost accounting system that uses cost units determined before production for estimating the cost of an order or product. For management control purposes, the standards are compared to actual costs, and variances are computed |
| Standard Costs | A carefully prepared estimate of the cost of performing a given operation under specified conditions. Note: A standard work order describes a standard operation for which a standard cost is to be established |
| Standard Deviation/Variance | Measures of dispersion for a probability distribution. The variance is the average squared difference of a distribution from the distribution’s mean (average) value. The standard deviation is defined mathematically as the square root of the variance, and is thereby expressed in the same units as the random variable that’s described by the probability distribution. A distribution that varies widely about its mean value will have a larger standard deviation/variance than a distribution with less variation about its mean value |
| Standard Distribution | The allocation of a budget, cost or other value on a predetermined percentage basis. |
| Standard Industrial Classification | The classification standard underlying all economic statistics. |
| Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) | A standard numerical code used by the U.S. Government to classify products and services. |
| Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) | A standard numeric code developed by the United Nations to classify commodities used in international trade, based on a hierarchy. |
| Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) | Instructions and methods used for a specific process or situation. They document the normal or accepted methodology and help form the basis for conformance evaluation. |
| Standard Pallet Rack | A one-deep, self-style rack originally designed for pallets, but also used for shelf storage of large units (usually one or two of a kind). It consists of uprights and beams that may be fixed or adjustable. Racks are secured to the floor, or rows are positioned back to back and secured to each other. |
| Standard Product Module | The building blocks used by business management to define services (shipment products) which can be offered to customers. They describe a more or less isolated set of activities with a standard cost attached to it. |
| Standardization | The methods used to reduce or eliminate custom, one-time and seldom-used components and processes that introduce variability and potential added costs and quality problems. Standardization techniques include rationalizing product line offerings and performing cost studies to determine the true costs associated with designing, documenting, performing, etc. a custom or variable process. |
| Standing Order | Recurring authorization to purchase or pay. |
| Starboard | The right side of a ship when facing the bow. |
| Start Date | The date required to initiate an operation or process in order to achieve on time completion by the due or finish date. The start date is often determined by establishing a required due date and backing into the start date based on the standard lead time for a given quantity. |
| Start Manufacture To Order Complete Manufacture | Average lead-time from the time manufacturing begins to the time end products are ready for shipment, including the following sub-elements: order configuration verification, production scheduling, time to release order to manufacturing or distribution, and build or configure time. (An element of Order Fulfillment Lead Time) |
| Startup | 1)The period of time starting with initial design or setup and ending with acceptable volume production, or achieving a stable process. 2)a newly established business. |
| Statement Of Work (SOW): | 1) A description of products to be supplied under a contract. A good practice is for companies to have SOWs in place with their trading partners especially for all top suppliers. 2) In projection management, the first project planning document that should be prepared. It describes the purpose, history, deliverables, and measurable success indicators for a project. It captures the support required from the customer and identifies contingency plans for events that could throw the project off course. |
| Static Lead Time | A fixed lead time that does not vary based on process or quantity considerations |
| Statistical Process Control (SPC) | A visual means of measuring and plotting process and product variation. Results are used to adjust variables and maintain product quality |
| Statute of Limitation | A law limiting the time in which claims or suits may be instituted. |
| Statutory Notice | Length of time required by law for carriers to give notice to changes in tariffs, rate rules, and regulations. |
| STCC | Standard Transportation Commodity Code |
| Steamship Conferences | Collective rate-making bodies for liner water carriers |
| Steamship Guarantee | An indemnity issued to the carrier by a bank; protects the carrier against any possible losses or damages arising from release of the merchandise to the receiving party. This instrument is usually issued when the bill of lading is lost or is not available. |
| Steering Committee | A cross-functional executive group that sets overall parameters and provides high-level project guidance by interaction with the project leader, milestone status review and approval of resource requirements. |
| Steering Of Containers | The function, with the aid of specific software for tracking and forecasting (IRMA, MINKA), to direct empty containers to demanding areas at minimum costs |
| Stem | The foremost part of a vessel |
| Stern | The end of a vessel. Opposite of bow. |
| Stevedore | Person in charge of loading/unloading ships at the wharf. |
| Stickering | Placing customer-specific stickers on boxes of product. An example would be where Wal-Mart has a request for their own product codes to be applied to retail boxes prior to shipment |
| Stock | The materials in a supply chain or in a segment of a supply chain, expressed in quantities, locations and or values. Synonym: Inventory when used as a generic term, common in the USA and extensive in the UK. |
| Stock Control | The systematic administration of stock levels with respect to quantity at all times |
| Stock Keeping Unit | The description of the unit of measurement by which the stock items are recorded on the stock record. |
| Stock Locator System | A system in which all places within a warehouse are named or numbered |
| Stock Order | A production order used to replenish inventory to the desired level, as opposed to a requirement for a specific customer order. |
| Stock Out | A term used to refer to a situation where no stock was available to fill a request from a customer or production order during a pick operation. Stock outs can be costly, including the profit lost for not having the item available for sale, lost goodwill, substitutions. Also referred to Out of Stock (OOS) |
| Stock Point | A point in the supply chain meant to keep materials available |
| Stock Record | A record of the quantity of stock of a single item, often containing a history of recent transactions and information for controlling the replenishment of stock |
| Stock Status Report | A report of on-hand inventory that may also include days of supply, allocation and availability information. |
| Stockchase | Moving shipments through regular channels at an accelerated rate; to take extraordinary action because of an increase in relative priority. Synonym: Expediting |
| Stockless Purchasing | A practice whereby the buyer negotiates a price for the purchases of annual requirements of MRO items and the seller holds inventory until the buyer places an order for individual items |
| Stockout Cost | The opportunity cost associated with not having sufficient supply to meet demand |
| Stockroom | A storage area physically separated from production or other areas that has limited access. It is typically used to control critical or high dollar value items by issuing from the stockroom only against authorized order pick slips, as opposed to keeping them as open stock on the production floor. |
| Storage | The activity of placing goods into a store or the state of being in store (e.g. a warehouse). |
| Storage And Replenishment | A basic operation of the grocery distribution center in which merchandise is moved to assigned storage or reserve locations until needed to replenish the selection line. |
| Storage Charge | The fee for keeping goods in a warehouse. |
| Storage Cost | The cost associated with inventory storage facilities, such as material handling equipment and personnel. It does not include the costs of holding inventory due to insurance, scrap, etc. |
| Store | A general term for provisions, materials and supplies used aboard ship for the maintenance of the crew, and for the navigation, propulsion and upkeep of the vessel and its equipment. |
| Store-Door Pick-Up Delivery | A complete package of pick up or delivery services performed by a carrier from origin to final consumption point. |
| Stores | The function associated with the storage and issuing of items that are frequently used. |
| Stowage | A marine term referring to loading freight into ships’ holds. |
| Stowage Factor | Ratio of a cargo’s cubic measurement to its weight, expressed in cubic feet to the ton or cubic meters to the tonne, used in order to determine the total quantity of cargo which can be loaded in a certain space. |
| Stowage Instructions | Imperative details about the way certain cargo is to be stowed, given by the shipper or his agent. |
| Stowage Plan | Ground cross section of every hold on a vessel showing the containers in each slot. It is prepared at each port where cargo is loaded/unloaded and forwarded to the next port of call. A plan indicating the locations on the vessel of all the consignments for the benefit of stevedores and vessel’s officers |
| Stowaway | An unwanted person who hides on board of a vessel or an aircraft to get free passage, to evade port officials etc. |
| Straddle Carrier | Wheeled vehicle designed to lift and carry shipping containers within its own framework. It is used for moving, and sometimes stacking, shipping containers at a container terminal. |
| Straddle Crane | A crane usually running on rails and spanning an open area such as rail-tracks or roadways. |
| Straddle Trucks | Lift trucks that incorporate outriggers set wide enough to allow a pallet to fit between them. Common examples would include straddle reach trucks and straddle stackers. |
| Straddle-Lift Truck | A narrow-aisle lift truck. |
| Straight Bill Of Lading | A non-negotiable bill of lading which states a specific identity to whom the goods should be delivered. See Bill of Lading. |
| Straight Line Depreciation | A depreciation method that writes off an equal amount of the value of an asset over all periods in its estimated useful life. |
| Straight Load | Merchandise delivered to retail stores in trucks carrying only one product group, or a whole trailer carrying different products for one customer. |
| Straight Truck | Vehicle which carries cargo in a body mounted to its chassis, rather than on a trailer towed by the vehicle. |
| Stranding | The running of a ship on shore on a beach. |
| Strap | A band of metal, plastic or other flexible material used to hold cargo or cases together. |
| Strategic Alliance | Business relationship in which two or more independent organizations cooperate and willingly modify their business objectives and practices to help achieve long-term goals and objectives. |
| Strategic Plan | The long range, highest-level company plan that describes its overall goals and objectives in determining what businesses to participate in, which strategic resources are required, assesses company strengths and weaknesses vs. the competition, and serves as the basis or target for the next detail level (the business plan). |
| Strategic Relationships | An agreement between two or more enterprises to conduct specified business processes in a joint manner. Usually related to technology development and/or marketing and distribution efforts. |
| Strategic Sourcing | The process of determining long-term supply requirements, finding sources to fulfill those needs, selecting suppliers to provide the services, negotiating the purchase agreements and managing the suppliers’ performance. Focuses on developing the most effective relationships with the right suppliers, to ensure that the right price is paid and that lifetime product costs are minimized. It also assesses whether services or processes would provide better value if they were outsourced to specialist organizations |
| Strategic Variables | The variables that effect change in the environment and logistics strategy. The major strategic variables include economics, population, energy, and government |
| Strategy | A specific action to achieve an objective |
| Stretch Pallet Wrap | Bands of plastic film applied by an associate used to encase palletized loads prior to shipment. Depending on fragility or shape of the merchandise, the number of bands can be varied to protect against product damage. |
| Stripping | The unloading of cargo out of a container. Synonym: Devanning, Unstuffing, Unpacking. |
| Structural Pallet Rack | Racking system that uses bolts or other mechanical fasteners (as opposed to Boltless Pallet rack). Structural Pallet Rack is sometimes used to support the roof of the structure (Rack-supported buildings), eliminating the need for posts. |
| Structured Query Language | A computer programming language. |
| Stuffing | The loading of cargo into a container. Synonym: Vanning, Packing. |
| Stuffing Sheet | See Container Detail Report |
| STW | Said to weigh. |
| Sub-Assembly | An intermediate level assembly used in the production of an upper level. |
| Subcontracting | Sending production work outside to another manufacturer. This can involve specialized operations such as plating metals, or complete functional operations. Also see: Outsource |
| Subcontractor | A person or organization who performs work and is paid on an hourly or volume basis, but is not considered on the payroll and does not receive company benefits. |
| Sub-Optimizing | Striving for optimum performance in one element of an organization disregarding the effects this may cause to the performance of the other elements. In other words, a solution for a problem that is best from a narrow point of view but not from a higher or overall company point of view. |
| Subrogate | To put in place of another; i.e., when an insurance company pays a claim it is placed in the same position as the payee with regard to any rights against others. |
| Subrogation | The right of the insurer, upon payment of a loss, to the benefit of any rights against third parties that may be held by the assured himself. |
| Substitutability | The ability of a buyer to substitute the products of different sellers |
| Substitution Variance | A cost variance created by using an alternative component or material on a production order that has a higher or lower cost than the standard component. Substitution variances should be separated from usage variances, which track over or under quantity usage of standard material. |
| Sufferance Wharf | A wharf licensed and attended by Customs authorities. |
| Suggested Order | A planned purchase, production or interplant replenishment order generated by MRP or other planning system in response to a projected shortage against the specified safety stock level or order point. A suggested order generates capacity and lower level component requirements, but is not released and treated as an incoming receipt until reviewed and accepted. |
| Sunk Cost | A cost already incurred that is not able to be affected by subsequent actions and thus has no relevance in evaluating future decisions. |
| Supercargo | Experienced officer assigned by the charterer of a vessel to advise the management of the vessel and protect the interests of the charterer. |
| Supplemental Carrier | A for-hire air carrier subject to economic regulations; the carrier has no time schedule or designated route; service is provided under a charter or contract per plane per trip |
| Supplier | 1) A provider of goods or services. Also see: Vendor 2) This term can refer to a wholesaler, jobber, wholesale agent, or manufacturer. with whom the buyer does business, as opposed to vendor, which is a generic term referring to all sellers in the marketplace. |
| Supplier Certification | Certification procedures verifying that a supplier operates, maintains, improves, and documents effective procedures that relate to the customer’s requirements. Such requirements can include cost, quality, delivery, flexibility, maintenance, safety, and ISO quality and environmental standards. |
| Supplier Rating | A supplier evaluation based on quality, delivery performance, price, involvement in process improvement programs and other parameters that often results in vendor classifications such as preferred, approved (qualified) or unsatisfactory. |
| Supplier-Owned Inventory | A variant of Vendor-Managed Inventory and Consignment Inventory. In this case, the supplier not only manages the inventory, but also owns the stock close to or at the customer location until the point of consumption or usage by the customer. |
| Supplies Goods | Production support products that will not become a part of the purchaser’s end product. Examples are drill bits, machine lubricants, wiping rags, etching chemicals, pencils, paper, paper clips, etc. |
| Supply Chain | 1) starting with unprocessed raw materials and ending with the final customer using the finished goods, the supply chain links many companies together2) the material and informational interchanges in the logistical process stretching from acquisition of raw materials to delivery of finished products to the end user. All vendors, service providers and customers are links in the supply chain. |
| Supply Chain Design | The determination of how to structure a supply chain. Design decisions include the selection of partners, the location and capacity of warehouse and production facilities, the products, the modes of transportation, and supporting information systems |
| Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM): | SCEM is an application that supports control processes for managing events within and between companies. It consists of integrated software functionality that supports five business processes: monitor, notify, simulate, control and measure supply chain activities. |
| Supply Chain Execution (SCE) | The set of supply chain activities that focus on fulfillment rather than planning- raw material delivery, manufacturing operations and shipments to customers and internal and external distribution points. Execution functions receive requirements from the planning cycle and provide the actual data in plan vs. actual measurements. |
| Supply Chain Integration (SCI): | The degree. to which a manufacturer strategically collaborates with partners within its supply chain and. collaboratively manages inter- and intra-organizational processes. Likely to become a key competitive advantage of selected e-marketplaces. Similar concept to the Back-End Integration, but with greater emphasis on the moving of goods and services. |
| Supply Chain Inventory Visibility: | Software applications that permit monitoring events across a supply chain. These systems track and trace inventory globally on a line-item level and notify the user of significant deviations from plans. Companies are provided with realistic estimates of when material will arrive. |
| Supply Chain Management- | The coordinated set of techniques to plan and execute all steps in the global network used to acquire raw materials from vendors, transform them into finished goods, and deliver both goods and services to customers. It includes chain-wide information sharing, planning, resource synchronization and global performance measurements. |
| Supply Chain Network Design Systems | The systems employed in optimizing the relationships among the various elements of the supply chain manufacturing plants, distribution centers, points-of-sale, as well as raw materials, relationships among product families, and other factors-to synchronize supply chains at a strategic level. |
| Supply Chain Operations Reference Model (SCOR) | This is the model developed by the Supply-Chain Council SCC and is built around six major processes: plan, source, make, deliver, return and enable. The aim of the SCOR is to provide a standardized method of measuring supply chain performance and to use a common set of metrics to benchmark against other organizations |
| Supply Chain Optimization | The coordination of linked resources across all or part of a supply chain in eliminating or reducing manufacturing and logistics bottlenecks and creating optimized schedules based on shared inventory and order information. |
| Supply Chain Planning | The set of supply chain activities that focus on evaluating demand for material and capacity and formulate plans and schedules based on meeting that demand and company goals. System functions often involved in the planning cycle include MPS, MRP, Rough Cut Capacity, CRP, DRP and Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS). |
| Supply Chain Resiliency | A term describing the level of flexibility of the supply chain against disasters. |
| Supply Chain Strategy Planning | The process of process of analyzing, evaluating, defining supply chain strategies, including network design, manufacturing and transportation strategy and inventory policy |
| Supply Chain Vulnerability | Of equal importance to Variability, Velocity and Volume in the elements of the Supply Chain. The term evaluates the supply chain based on the level of acceptance of the five steps of disaster logistics being planning, detection, mitigation, response and recovery. |
| Supply Chain-Related Finance And Planning Cost Element | One of the elements comprising a company’s total supply-chain management costs. These costs consist of the following: 1. Supply-Chain Finance Costs: Costs associated with paying invoices, auditing physical counts, performing inventory accounting, and collecting accounts receivable. Does NOT include customer invoicing/ accounting costs (see Order Management Costs). 2. Demand/Supply Planning Costs: Costs associated with forecasting, developing finished goods, intermediate, subassembly or end item inventory plans, and coordinating Demand/Supply |
| Supply Chain-Related IT Costs | Information Technology (IT) costs associated with major supply-chain management processes as described below. These costs should include: Development costs (costs incurred in process reengineering, planning, software development, installation, implementation, and training associated with new and/or upgraded architecture, infrastructure, and systems to support the described supply-chain management processes), Execution costs (operating costs to support supply-chain process users, including computer and network operations, EDI and telecommunications services, and amortization/depreciation of hardware, Maintenance costs (costs incurred in problem resolution, troubleshooting, repair, and routine maintenance associated with installed hardware and software for described supply-chain management processes. Include costs associated with data base administration, systems configuration control, release planning and management. These costs are associated with the following processes |
| Supply Item | A purchased, inventoried item not usually charged to production orders or included in product standard costs. |
| Supply Planning | The process of identifying, prioritizing, and aggregating, as a whole with constituent parts, all sources of supply that are required and add value in the supply chain of a product or service at the appropriate level, horizon and interval |
| Supply Vessel | Vessel which carries stock and stores to offshore drilling rigs, platforms. |
| Supply Warehouse | A warehouse that stores raw materials. Goods from different suppliers are picked, sorted, staged, or sequenced at the warehouse to assemble plant orders |
| Support Costs | Costs of activities not directly associated with producing or delivering products or services. Examples are the costs of information systems, process engineering and purchasing. |
| Surcharge | An additional charge added to the usual or customary freight. |
| Surety Bond | A surety bond must be posted with the Customs Service to cover potential penalties, duties, or taxes before imported merchandise can be entered into the United States |
| Surface Transportation Board (STB) | The U.S. federal body charged with enforcing acts of the U.S. Congress that affect common carriers in interstate commerce. |
| Surtax | An additional extra tax. |
| Survey | An inspection of a certain item or object by a recognized specialist. |
| Surveyor | A specialist who carries out surveys. Note: A surveyor is representing a classification bureau or a governmental body. |
| Sustaining Activity | An activity that benefits an organizational unit as a whole, but not any specific cost object |
| Switching Company | A railroad that moves rail cars short distances; switching companies connect two mainline railroads to facilitate through movement of shipments |
| Switching Costs | Costs incurred in changing suppliers or marketplaces. Net markets often seek to re-architect procurement, search, and other processes so buyers stay put, a key reason switching costs are higher in business-to-business than consumer e-commerce. |
| SWL | See Safe Working Load. |
| SWOT | An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of and to an organization. SWOT analysis is useful in developing strategy. |
| Synchronization | The concept that all supply chain functions are integrated and interact in real time; when changes are made to one area, the effect is automatically reflected throughout the supply chain |
| Synergy | The simultaneous joint action of separate parties which, together, have greater total effect than the sum of their individual effects. |
| System | A set of interacting elements, variables, parts, or objects that are functionally related to each other and form a coherent group |
| System For Tracking Export License Applications | An automated voice response system that provides applicants with the status of their license application. |
| System Integration Test (SIT) | A project implementation activity that tests the interfaces between sets of programs or functional areas in a proposed new system. It verifies the ability of the system to handle data and operating requirements common to more than area, and to verify the impacts from one department to another. A unit test of a single function may show optimization of that function at the expense of a negative impact on other areas |
| System Mark-out | When the host shows a quantity on hand for a product, but the inventory system shows a quantity of zero, the item ordered is marked out within the system. |
| Systems Integrator | A firm which purchases various components and accessories and integrates them into a unique system for resale. Virtually always classified as a reseller. |
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