Place Utility

A value is created in a product by changing its location. Transportation creates place utility.

PlainText

Data before it has been encrypted or after it has been decrypted, e.g., an ASCII text file.

Plan Deliver

The development and establishment of courses of action over specified time periods that represent a projected allocation of supply resources to meet delivery requirements.

Plan-Do-Check-Action (PDCA)

A four-step quality improvement cycle, based on a process described by Walter Shewhart, involves continuous improvement based on analysis, design, execution, and evaluation. Sometimes referred to as plan/do/study/act, it emphasizes constant attention and reaction to factors that affect quality. Synonyms: Shewhart Cycle.

Plan Make

The development and establishment of courses of action over specified time periods that represent a projected allocation of production resources to meet production requirements.

Planned Date

The date of an operation, such as a receipt, shipment, or delivery of an order, is planned to occur.

Planned Order

An order proposed by an MRP system to cover forecasted demand in a future period. Planned orders will change dynamically over time to accommodate changes in forecasts and actual usage until they become 'firm planned orders', either through manual intervention or by virtue of the associated period moving within a planning horizon. The next step in the process would be to create an actual purchase or production order.

Planned Receipt

Any line item on an open purchase or production order that has been scheduled but not yet received into stock.

Planning Bill

A Bill of Materials (BOM) has been created to facilitate the practice of forecasting by family group rather than by individual product. It specifies the products as components and the expected percentage of each in terms of overall family usage or sales. The MRP system will then use the family-level forecast to derive individual product forecasts using the relative percentages.

Planning Bill of Material

A Bill of Materials (BOM) has been created to facilitate the practice of forecasting by family group rather than by individual product. It specifies the products as components and the expected percentage of each in terms of overall family usage or sales. The MRP system will then use the family-level forecast to derive individual product forecasts using the relative percentages.

Planning Calendar

A tool used in the production environment to note the capacity available by working day. While it may resemble the traditional calendar with a representation of months and days, the unique features are the units of capacity available and the ability to block specific days, shifts, or work periods. Calendars are set by work center to allow for differing schedules.

Planning Fence

A point, usually a set length of time beyond the current date, is used as a boundary for making changes in a planning system. It is used to stabilize the master production schedule by allowing various changes to planned orders only beyond the fence. However, changes under certain circumstances can be made within the fence. Also, see Cumulative Lead Time, Demand Time Fence, Firm Planned Order, Planned Order, Planning Horizon, and Time Fence.

Planning Horizon

In an MRP system, this is the length of time into the future (number of periods or days) for which the planning system will generate requirements. The horizon should be set long enough to accommodate the longest cumulative lead time for any item in the population. Also, see Cumulative Lead Time and Planning Time Fence.

Planning Time Fence

A point, usually a set length of time beyond the current date, is used as a boundary for making changes in a planning system. It is used to stabilize the master production schedule by allowing various changes to planned orders only beyond the fence. However, changes under certain circumstances can be made within the fence. Also, see Cumulative Lead Time, Demand Time Fence, Firm Planned Order, Planned Order, Planning Horizon, and Time Fence.

Planogram

The end result of analyzing the sales data of an item or group of items is to determine the best arrangement of products on a store shelf. The process determines on which shelf your top-selling product should be displayed, the number of facings it gets, and what is best to surround it with. It results in a graphical picture or map of the allotted shelf space, along with a specification of the facing and depth.

Plan Source

The development and establishment of courses of action over specified time periods that represent a projected allocation of material resources to meet supply chain requirements.

Plan Stability

The difference between planned production and actual production, as a percentage of planned production, is calculated by dividing the sum of the monthly production plans and the sum of the absolute value of the difference between planned and actual production by the sum of the monthly production plans. The base production plan is the three-month removed plan.

Plant Finished Goods

Finished goods inventory is held at the end manufacturing location.

PLM

The process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product, from its conception, design, development, and manufacture, to the management of its introduction, growth, and decline.

PLU

Used for retail products sold loose, bunched, or in bulk (to identify the different types of fruit, for example). As opposed to UPC (Universal Product Codes) for packaged, fixed-weight retail items, a PLU code contains 4-5 digits in total. The PLU is entered before an item is weighed to determine its price.

PO

The purchaser's authorization is used to formalize a purchase transaction with a supplier. It is the physical form or electronic transaction that a buyer uses when placing an order for merchandise.

POD

Signed by the recipient, this document verifies that the products were delivered in acceptable condition.

Point-of-Purchase (POP)

A retail sales term referring to the area where a sale occurs, such as the checkout counter, POP is also used to refer to the displays and other sales promotion tools located at a checkout counter.

Point of Sale Information

Price and quantity data are collected from retail locations as sales transactions occur.

Point of Sale (POS)

1) The time and place at which a sale occurs, such as a cash register in a retail operation or the order confirmation screen in an online session. Supply chain partners are interested in capturing data at the POS because it is a true record of the sale, rather than being derived from other information such as inventory movement. 2) Also, a national network of merchant terminals at which customers can use client cards and personal security codes to make purchases. Transactions are directed against client deposit accounts. POS terminals are sophisticated cryptographic devices with complex key management processes. POS standards draw on activity-based management (ABM) network experiences and possess extremely stringent security requirements.

Point-of-Use delivery

This is when components are delivered directly to where they will be used, instead of being stored in inventory in a warehouse or distribution center.

Point-of-use inventory

Material used in production processes that is physically stored where it is consumed.

Poka Yoke (Mistake-Proof )

The application of simple techniques prevents process quality failure, a mechanism that either prevents a mistake from being made or makes the mistake obvious at a glance.

Police Powers

The United States constitutionally granted right of the states to establish regulations to protect the health and welfare of its citizens includes truck weight, speed, length, and height laws as examples.

Poly Mailer

This is an alternative method of packaging shipments that involves using a polyester bag as opposed to a box. This is usually leveraged for small, lightweight e-commerce orders.

Pooling

A shipping term for the practice of combining shipments from multiple shippers into a truckload in order to reduce shipping charges.

Port

A harbor, airport, or other facility where ships will anchor, planes will land, or trucks and trains will enter.

Portal

Websites that serve as starting points for other destinations or activities on the Internet. Initially thought of as a 'home base' type of web page, portals attempt to provide all Internet needs in one location. Portals commonly provide services such as email, online chat forums, shopping, searching, content, and news feeds.

Port Authority

A state or local government that owns, operates, or otherwise provides wharf, dock, and other terminal investments at ports.

Port of Discharge

Port where the vessel is offloaded.

Port of Entry

A port at which foreign goods are admitted into the receiving country.

Port of Loading

Port where cargo is loaded aboard the vessel.

POS

Point of Sale

Possession Utility

The value created by marketing's effort to increase the desire to possess a good or benefit from a service.

Post-Deduct Inventory Transaction Processing

A method of inventory bookkeeping where the book (computer) inventory of components is reduced after issuance. When compared to a real-time process, this approach has the disadvantage of a built-in differential between the book record and what is physically in stock. Consumption can be based on recorded actual use or calculated using the finished quantity received times the standard BOM quantity (backflush).

Postponement

The delay of final activities (i.e., assembly, production, packaging, etc.) until the latest possible time is a strategy used to eliminate excess inventory in the form of finished goods. This strategy also allows for the goods to be packaged in a variety of configurations and maximizes the opportunity to provide a customized end product to the customer.

POU

Point-of-Use

Power-By-the-Hour (PBH)

Under PBH, an hourly rate is negotiated, and the contractor is paid in advance based on the forecasted operational hours for the system. Actual hours are reconciled with projected hours, and overages and shortfalls are either added to or credited from the next period's forecasted amounts. Since the contractor receives funding independent of failures, he is then incentivized to overhaul the asset the first time it fails so it stays in operation as long as possible. Bottom line, under the PBH concept, the fewer times the contractor touches a unit, the more money he makes.

P&P

Pick and Pass.

PPAIS

Past Performance Automated Information System.

PPB

Part Period Balancing

PPP

Public-Private Partnering

Pre-Bid SupplierQualification Evaluation

Preliminary audit of new suppliers helps to identify the capacity of suppliers, their responsibility to fulfill contract requirements, and their ability to meet the specifications defined in the system of quality control and the principles of the supplier's policy.