Sales forecasting
and inventory optimization
Become a retail mastermind you always wanted to be.
16 minutes read
Dictionary T
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Tactical Planning | The process of developing a set of tactical plants (e.g., production plan, sales plan, marketing plan, and so on). Two approaches to tactical planning exist for linking tactical plans to strategic plans , production planning and sales and operations planning. |
| Taguchi Method | A concept of offline quality control methods conducted at the product and process design states in the product development cycle. This concept, expressed by Genichi Taguchi, encompasses three phases of product design, parameter design, and tolerance design. The goal is to reduce quality loss by reducing the variability of a product’s characteristics during the parameter phase of product development. |
| Takt Time | Sets the pace of production to match the rate of customer demand and becomes the heartbeat of any lean production system. It’s computed as the available production time divided by the rate of customer demand. For example, assume demand is 10,000 units per month, or 500 units per day, and planned available capacity is 420 minutes per day. The takt time = 420 minutes per day/500 units per day = 0.84 minutes per unit. This takt time means that a unit should be planned to exit the production system on average every 0.84 minutes. |
| Tallyman | A person who records the number of cargo items together with the condition thereof at the time it is loaded into or discharged from a vessel. |
| Tank Container | A tank, surrounded by a framework with the overall dimensions of a container for the transport of liquids or gasses in bulk. |
| Tanker | A vessel designed for the carriage of liquid cargo in bulk. |
| Tare Weight | The weight of a substance obtained by deducting the weight of the empty container from the gross weight of the full container. |
| Target Costing | A target cost is calculated by subtracting the desired profit margin from an estimated or market-based price to arrive at a desired production, engineering, or marketing cost. This may not be the initial production cost, but one expected to be achieved during the mature production stage. Target costing is a method used in the analysis of product design that involves estimated a target cost, then designing the product/service to meet that cost. |
| Target date | A projected start or finish date for a project task. |
| Target pricing | Establishing a sales price based on market penetration or price points rather than building from standard cost. |
| Tariff | The schedule of rates, charges and related transport conditions. |
| Tarpaulin | Waterproof material, e.g. canvas, to spread over cargo to protect it from getting wet. |
| Tasks | The breakdown of the work in an activity into smaller elements. |
| Taxonomy | A classification system for items based on their relationship to one another. Related terms: ontology, normalize. |
| Teardown | The activities required to remove tooling and preset parameters used for the last production run that must occur before setup for the next run can start. |
| Tender | A tender is a formal offer to supply goods or to do a particular job, and a statement of the price that you or your company will charge. |
| Terminal | A location on either end of a transportation line including servicing and handling facilities. |
| Terms of Delivery | All the conditions agreed upon between trading partners regarding the delivery of goods and the related services. |
| TEU | See Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit. |
| Theoretical capacity | The maximum output a given resource could generate if operated full-time and the optimal production rate was met. |
| Theory of Constraints (TOC) | TA production management theory which dictates that volume is controlled by a series of constraints related to work center capacity, component availability, finance, etc. Total throughput cannot exceed the capacity of the smallest constraint, and any inventory buffers or excess capacity at non-related work center is waste. |
| Thermal Container | A container built with insulating walls, doors, floor and roof by which heat exchange with the environment is minimized thus limiting temperature variations of the cargo. |
| Third Party Logistics | Abbreviated as 3PL. The integration and management of all logistics services of a complex supply chain. Also, to be the sole point of contact between a customer and its array of logistics and information service providers. This includes storage, transshipment and other value-added services as well as the services of subcontractors. These are typically complex service chains. |
| Third Party Warehousing | The outsourcing of the warehousing function by the seller of the goods. |
| Through Charge/route | The total rate from point of departure to point of destination. It may be a joint rate or a combination of rates (aircargo). |
| Throughput | A measure of warehousing output volume (weight, number of units). Also, the total amount of units received, plus the total amount of units shipped divided by two. |
| Tier | A horizontal division of a vessel from bottom to top. The numbers run from bottom to deck and from deck upwards and are used as a part of the indication of a stowage place for containers. |
| Tilt Transport | Road transport whereby the cargo area is protected against the elements by means of a tilt made of canvas or other pliable material. |
| Time Charter | A contract whereby a vessel is let to a charterer for a stipulated period of time or voyage, for a remuneration known as hire, generally a monthly rate per ton deadweight or a daily rate. The charterer is free to employ the vessel as he thinks fit within the terms as agreed, but the ship-owner continues to manage his own vessel through the master and crew who remain his servants. |
| Time series | A data distribution that represents the consecutive changes in values over a period of time. |
| Time Sheet | Statement, drawn-up by the ship’s agent at the loading and discharging ports, which details the time worked in loading and discharging the cargo together with the amount of lay time used. |
| Time stamp | The record of the exact date and time a transaction occurred. |
| Time-based competition | A corporate strategy that has identified a focus on time as providing a competitive edge due to its value by the customer. It may assume no advantage in product or quality characteristics while focusing on the reduction of variability and total design, production and delivery lead time. |
| Timeliness | The characteristic of a measurement reported in real time or shortly after the events it measures. A timely measurement can be used for preventive or corrective action, as opposed to a measurement that may be accurate but only serves as a status report due to the time lag between the events and the report. |
| Timesheet | A document or entry program used to record actual labor time against an order or project, that may also specify the operation, location and category or type of task being performed. |
| TOFC | See Trailer on Flat Car. |
| Ton | Unit of weight measurement: 1000 kilograms (metric ton) or 2,240 lbs (long ton). Unit of cubic measurement, mainly used to express the cubic capacity of a vessel. Unit of weight or measurement used as a basis for the calculation of freights (freight ton). |
| Tonnage | Cubic capacity of a merchant vessel. Total weight or amount of cargo expressed in tons. The displacement of a vessel in tons of water; or a duty charged per ton of cargo at a port, pier, dock or canal. |
| Tool crib | A specific area dedicated to the storage of tooling items, which typically does not include production components. Locator and limited-physical access systems are often useful based on the amount of tooling stored. |
| Total Annual Sales | Total Annual Sales are Total Product Revenue plus post-delivery revenues (e.g., maintenance and repair or equipment, system integration) royalties, sales of other services, spare parts revenue, and rental/lease revenues. |
| Total Average Inventory | Average normal use stock, plus average lead stock, plus safety stock. |
| Total Cost Analysis | A decision-making approach that considers minimization of total costs and recognizes the inter-relationship among system variables, such as transportation, warehousing, inventory, and customer service. |
| Total Cost Curve | In cost-volume-profit (break-even) analysis, the total cost curve is composed of total fixed and variable costs per unit multiplied by the number of units provided. Break-even quantity occurs where the total cost curve and total sales revenue curve intersect. In inventory theory, the total cost curve for an inventory item is the sum of the costs of acquiring and carrying the item. |
| Total Make Cycle Time | The average processing time between commencement of upstream processing and completion of all manufacturing process steps up to, but not including, packaging and labeling operations (i.e., from start of manufacturing to final formulated product ready for primary packaging.) Does not include hold or test and release times. |
| Total quality control (TQC) | The comprehensive set of principles that focuses company-wide attention on the aspects of design, production and logistics that lead to quality conformance and customer acceptance. It maintains a cross- functional view of the processes involved, and stresses that quality is not the responsibility of a separate quality control department. |
| Touch Labor | The labor that adds value to the product , assemblers, welders, packagers, etc. This does not include indirect resources like material handlers who move and stage product, and mechanical and electrical technicians who maintain equipment. |
| Tracing | The action of retrieving information concerning the whereabouts of cargo, cargo items, consignments or equipment. |
| Tracking | The function of maintaining status information, including current location, of cargo, cargo items, consignments or containers either full or empty. |
| Tracking and Tracing | Monitoring and recording shipment movements from origin to destination. |
| Traction | The power to grip or hold to a surface while moving without slipping. |
| Tractor | The tractor is the driver compartment and engine of the truck. It has two or three axles. |
| Trade | The exchange of goods, funds, services or information with value to the parties involved. This value is either previously agreed or established during business. A commercial connection between two or more individual markets. |
| Trade allowance | The allowance or refund given by a manufacturer to a retailer or distributor who participates in a sponsored advertising or promotion campaign. |
| Trade program | A government or international organization program that specifies duties, tariffs, documentation and other conditions for countries doing business within the program. Trade programs are often designed to spur business for companies and countries inside the program, at the exclusion or penalty to outside companies. Consideration of established and proposed trade programs are critical in evaluating sourcing, facility locations and other factors. |
| Trading exchange | An internet site or sites that conduct sourcing, pricing, delivery and other operations on a business-to-business (B2B) basis. Exchanges are often classifies as private, which link two or more specific companies and do not communicate with a larger group, or public, which provide for a sourcing and bid process for any company that has joined the exchange. |
| Trading Partner | Companies that do business with each other via EDI (e.g., send and receive business documents such as purchase orders). |
| Trading partner | A supply chain vendor or customer that does business with a given organization and normally has linked communications. |
| Trading Partner Agreement | The written contract that spells out agreed upon terms between EDI trading partners. |
| Traffic | The number of passengers, quantity of cargo etc. carried over a certain route. |
| Traffic | A department or function charged with the responsibility of arranging the most economic classification and method of shipment for both incoming and outgoing materials and products. |
| Trailer | A vehicle without motive power, designed for the carriage of cargo and to be towed by a motor vehicle. |
| Trailer | The part of the truck that carries the goods. |
| Trailer Drops | When a driver drops off a full truck at a warehouse and picks up an empty one. |
| Trailer on Flat Car | Carriage of piggyback highway trailers on specially equipped railway wagons. |
| Tramp Vessel | A vessel not operating under a regular schedule. |
| Trans Siberian Landbridge | Overland route from Europe to the Far East via the Trans Siberian Railway (TSR). |
| Transaction | A single completed transmission, e.g., transmission of an invoice over an EDI network. Analogous to usage of the term in data processing in which a transaction can be an inquiry or a range of updates and trading transactions. The definition is important for EDI service operators who must interpret invoices and other documents. |
| Transaction Set | Commonly used business transactions (e.g., purchase order, invoice, etc.) organized in a formal, structured manner consisting of a transaction set header control segment, one or more data segments, and a transaction set trailer control data segment. |
| Transactional Acknowledgement | Specific transaction sets, such as the Purchase Order Acknowledgement (EDI 855), that both acknowledges receipt of an order and provides special status information, such as reschedules, price changes, back order situation, etc. |
| Transfer Cargo | Cargo arriving at a point by one flight and continuing there-from by another flight (aircargo). |
| Transferring Carrier | A participating carrier who delivers the consignment to another carrier at a transfer point (aircargo). |
| Transit Cargo | Cargo between outwards customs clearance and inwards customs clearance. Cargo arriving at a point and departing there-from by the same through flight (aircargo). |
| Transit Shipment | A shipment passing between one port and another, or between a port and a final destination. |
| Transit Time | The total time that elapses between a shipment’s pickup and delivery. |
| Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol | A compilation of network and transport level protocols that allow a PC to speak the same language as other PCs on the Internet or other networks. |
| Transponder | A device (chip) used for identification, which automatically transmits certain coded data when actuated by a special signal from an interrogator. |
| Transport | The assisted movement of people and or goods. Transport is often used as a generic term for various means of transport, and is distinguished from ‘movement’ in that it requires such means. |
| Transport International by Road | A set of rules following a customs convention to facilitate the international, European transport of goods by road with minimal interference under cover of TIR-carnets. |
| Transportation Mode | The method of transportation: land, sea, or air shipment. |
| Transportation Planning | The process of defining an integrated supply chain transportation plan and maintaining the information which characterizes total supply chain transportation requirements, and the management of transporters, both inter- and intra- company. |
| Transportation Planning Systems | The systems used in optimizing assignments from plants to distribution centers, and from distribution centers to stores. The systems combine moves to ensure the most economical means are employed. |
| Traveler | A document used to tag and accompany material as it moves through receiving dispositions or production operations and work centers, that identifies the items, quantities and order number involved. |
| Trend analysis | The analysis of data that exhibits an ongoing upward or downward pattern that is not due to seasonality or random noise. Analyzing trends is useful in detecting patterns that could lead to future quality problems, and in forecasting future demand periods. |
| Trend | General upward or downward movement of a variable over time such as demand for a product. Trends are used in forecasting to help anticipate changes in consumption over time. |
| Trip Leasing | Leasing a company’s vehicle to another transportation provider for a single trip. |
| Trip Recorder | Cab-mounted device which electronically or mechanically records data such as truck speed, engine rpm, idle time and other information useful to trucking management. |
| TRIZ | The acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, a technique that attempts to define a specific problem as a system and identify elements in the system that need correction to reach the desired solution. |
| Truck | Class of automotive vehicles of various sizes and designs for transporting goods. |
| Truck Stop Electrification (TSE) | Provides power outlets at truck parking spaces in which truck drivers can simply plug in, and turn off their engines, rather than idle their truck engine. |
| Truckload | The quantity of freight required to fill a trailer; usually more than 10,000 pounds. |
| Trunk | The stretch between two hubs mutually. |
| Trunking | Movement of containers between terminal and carrier’s inland facilities. |
| Tugmaster | Brand name of tractor unit used in ports to pull trailers. They are equipped with a fifth wheel or a gooseneck type of coupling. |
| Turnaround time | The lead time an operation or process takes to process an input and return the output to the original source, such as documents submitted to a department that returns them after entry or approval, or dry cleaning. |
| Turnkey | A system designed to be fully operational at purchase or implementation time and not require additional modification or investment. |
| Tweendeck | Cargo carrying surface below the main deck dividing a hold horizontally in an upper and a lower compartment. |
| Twistlock | Device which has to be inserted into the corner fittings of a shipping container and is turned or twisted, thus locking the container for the purpose of securing or lifting. |
| Two Way Pallet | A pallet of which the frame permits the entry of forks of (e.g. a fork lift at two opposite sides). |
| Type of Cargo | An indication of the sort of cargo to be transported, (e.g. Break Bulk, Containerized, RoRo). |
| Type of Equipment | The type of material used, e.g. 40 feet container, four way pallet or mafi trailer. |
| Type of Load indicator | A general reference or a classification of loads of cargo like ‘FCL’, ‘LCL’, ‘unpacked’ and even ship’s convenience container, though this is rarely used nowadays. |
| Type of Means of Transport | The type of vehicle used in the transport process, e.g. wide-body aircraft, tank truck or passenger vessel. |
| Type of Movement | Description of the service for movement of containers. The following type of movement can be indicated on B/L and Manifest all combinations of FCL and LCL and break bulk and RoRo. Whilst only on the manifest combinations of House, Yard and CFS can be mentioned. |
| Type of Packing | Description of the packaging material used to wrap, contain and protect goods to be transported. |
| Type of Transport | The indication whether the carrier or the merchant effects and bears the responsibility for inland transport of cargo in containers i.e. a differentiation between the logistical and legal responsibility. |
| Type of Vessel | The sort of vessel used in the transport process e.g. Container, RoRo, or Multi Purpose. |
Sales forecasting
and inventory optimization
Become a retail mastermind you always wanted to be.