Logistics Glossary

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S T U V W X Y Z

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Safety Stock	A stock reserve to protect against unexpected increases in product movement and to prevent out-of-stocks.
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)	A formal planning process used to determine the sales and operations strategy that best meets all aspects of the enterprise's objectives. The SOP process mediates sales, marketing, finance, operations and logistics objectives to formulate a single, achievable plan for the near-term ¡ª usually under one year.
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.
Scan Gun	This is used with an RF unit or terminal to scan (read) bar codes.
Scratch (Markout)	When the item ordered shows quantity on hand, but the selector is not able to find the expected quantity.
Seal	Small metal or plastic strip and lead fastener used for locking totes, freight car, or truck doors. Seals are numbered for record purposes.
Selection Line	The arrangement of warehouse inventory in an orderly system to facili-tate selecting (picking) units to fill orders.
Service Level	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).
Shipping	The loading and delivery (usually on trucks) of orders from the grocery distribution center to the retailer.
Shipping Unit/Shiping Case	Represents the single unit that a warehouse selects for a store. The col-umn in a table represents the number of retail units in a shipping unit. The number of retail units in a shipping case must be evenly divisible into the number of retail units in a case. If the two numbers are equal, then the warehouse is receiving and shipping in master cases. If the numbers are not equal, then the warehouse is re-packing (breaking down) the master cases into smaller units before shipping.
Shrink Wrap	A layer of plastic film encasing a palletized load of merchandise. The film is subjected to heat, causing it to shrink and conform to the shape of the load.
Shrinkage	Inventory or profit loss caused by faulty inventory counts, incorrect records, checkout errors, spoilage, or pilferage.
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.
Slot (Location)	The position occupied by pallets or cases of products. There are two types of slots: primary (select) and reserve (storage).
Sorting	The process of grouping products by grade (see also Grading). This may refer to separating batch-picked merchandise for shipping to vari-ous retail stores.
Spares/Service Parts Planning (SPP)	Planning that supports the optimal stock quantities and location of items used to service internal assets or customer equipment.
Split-Case (Broken-Case)	Less than a full case of merchandise. The picking method using individual units that are selected.
Staging Area	A space on which the receiving and shipping docks used to gather and check inbound and outbound loads.
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.
Stockkeeping Unit (SKU)	A multi-character item that must be stored and accounted for sepa-rately. A single stockkeeping unit may have to be stored in different lots for quality control or maintaining stock rotation. It may also be necessary to split units between reserve storage and pick line when the entire stock cannot be maintained in the selection area.
Storage and Replenishment	A basic operation of the grocery distribution center in which merchan-dise is moved to assigned storage or reserve locations until needed to replenish the selection line.
Straddle-Lift Truck	A narrow-aisle lift truck.
Straight Load	Merchandise delivered to retail stores in trucks carrying only one product group, or a whole trailer carrying different products for one customer.
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 mer-chandise, the number of bands can be varied to protect against product damage.
Supplier (Vendor)	Any person or company who sells goods of any nature to a store. This term can refer to a wholesaler, jobber, wholesale agent, or manufacturer.
Supply Chain Execution (SCE)	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.
Supply Chain Inventory Visibility (SCIV)	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 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.
Supply Chain Management (SCM)	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 that encompasses a trading partner community 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. Functionally, SCM encompasses both transactional execution systems (e.g., enterprise resource planning, warehouse management system, MES, transportation management system and ITS); planning; optimization systems e.g., supply chain planning); and supply chain analytics (e.g., data warehousing).
Supply Chain Planning (SCP)	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.
System Markout	When the host shows a quantity on hand for a product, but the inven-tory system shows a quantity of zero, the item ordered is marked out within the system.
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Three-Level Slots (Three-Level Pallet Racks)	A rack designed for items stored in less-than-full-pallet quantities, or for pallets that do not require a full slot height. This rack can also be used for handstacking items from partially filled pallets into slot locations.
TI x HI	The number of cases on a single tier (layer), and the number of tiers high on a pallet.
Tier (TI)	A single layer of units forming part of a unit load.
Time Study	A technique to develop standard time periods for performing various tasks.
"To" Location	A code identifying the type of location and location ID to which the product is currently being moved.
Tote	A smooth, seamless, plastic or fiberglass container with a lid for trans-porting small items (e.g., candy, HBA, and general merchandise) from the distribution center to the retail store. It is a lightweight container used to separate and protect high value items.
Transportation Management System (TMS)	System used to plan freight movements, do freight rating and shopping across all modes, select the appropriate route and carrier, and manage freight bills and payments.
Transportation Planning and Scheduling	Specifies how, when and where to transport goods. Transportation planning and scheduling applications may provide weight/size restrictions, merge-in-transit, continuous move, mode or carrier selection, and less than truckload (LTL)/full truckload (FTL) planning functionality.
Turnover (Turns)	The rate at which products must be restocked due to customer sales. Turnover may also refer to the number of employees hired to replace those who have left an establishment.
Turret Truck	A type of lift truck that is counterbalanced with a long wheel base to stabilize it when heavy loads are lifted to high levels. It can lift and rotate loads left or right, and move loads sideways for storing and retrieving merchandise in pallet racks.
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U-Pick Selection (Perimeter, Horseshoe, or Quad Selection)	A selecting (picking) pattern in which selectors move up one side of the aisle and down the other, returning to the point where the selection cart or truck is placed.
Unicart	A means of handling a unit load from the selection aisles to the retail store aisles. It moves on four wheels and has strong sides that prevent product damage. Note: Using carts to ship merchandise lowers the cube capacity of a trailer. Carts are normally off-loaded into the trailer.
Universal Product Code (UPC)	A computer code identifying a product. An electronic scanner reads the code and sends the information to a central computer. Also known as bar code.
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Variable-Measure Trade Item	An item always produced in the same predefined version (e.g., type, design and packaging) that may be sold at any point in the supply chain. However, it may vary in weight and size by its nature, or it may be traded without a predefined weight/size/length.
Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI)	In the VMI process, the vendor assumes responsibility for managing the replenishment of stock. Rather than a customer submitting orders, the vendor will replenish stock as needed. This is sometimes referred to as supplier-managed inventory (SMI) or co-managed inventory.
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Warehouse	A physical facility in which the primary purpose is storage of merchandise.
Warehouse Management System (WMS)	A software application that manages the operations of a warehouse or distribution center. Application functionality includes receiving, putaway, inventory management, cycle counting, task interleaving, wave planning, order allocation, order picking, replenishment, packing, shipping, labor management and automated material-handling equipment interfaces. The use of radio frequency technology in conjunction with bar codes provides the foundation of a WMS, delivering accurate information in real time.
Warehouse Point	The ID for a place in the warehouse. The first three characters are the point's type; the last three digits identify the point. For example, DOR003 identifies dock door number 3. Types of points are: assign-ment, dock, door, haul, office, passage, P-N-D, stage, and twilight zone.
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Z-Pick Selection (Zigzag or Pivot Selection)	A selection pattern in which selectors pick back and forth on alternate sides of the aisle.
Zero Latency	A goal of to keep moving goods or information in the supply chain to provide near-real-time information management and reduce in-transit inventory costs.
Zone Picking	A system in which the facility is divided into areas that are determined by physical characteristics of the products, order types, or balancing of volume. Order selectors pick only in their assigned zone and move the merchandise to a staging area for assembly prior to loading for ship-ment.