Controllable Returns

These are errors or problems caused by the company or a member of the company's supply chain and can often be resolved by the company. Examples of errors or problems include picking and packing errors, improper forecasting, product handling, poor quality control, and lack of communication with customers.

Controlled Access

Referring to an area within a warehouse or yard that is fenced and gated, these areas are typically used to store high-value items and may be monitored by security cameras.

Conveyor

A materials handling device that moves freight from one area to another in a warehouse is called a roller conveyor. Roller conveyors make use of gravity, whereas belt conveyors use motors.

COO

The country of manufacture, production, or growth is where a product comes from.

Cookie

A piece of information from your computer that references what the user has clicked on or references information that is stored in a text file on the user's hard drive (such as a username). Another way to describe cookies is to say they are tiny files containing information about individual computers that can be used by advertisers to track online interests and tastes. Cookies are also used in the process of purchasing items on the Web. It is because of the cookie that the 'shopping cart' technology works. By saving the name and other important information about an item a user 'clicks' on as they move through a shopping website, a user can later go to an order form and see all the items they selected, ready for quick and easy processing.

Cooperative Associations

Groups of firms or individuals have common interests. Agricultural cooperative associations may haul up to 25% of their total interstate tonnage in non-farm, non-member goods in movements incidental and necessary to their primary business.

Co-opetition

A combination of cooperation and competition offers rivals the counterintuitive possibility to benefit from each other's seemingly competitive activities. An example can be found in the group-buying setting where its use refers to the activity of multiple, normally competitive buying group members leveraging each other's buying power to gain reduced pricing.

Coordinated Transportation

Two or more carriers of different modes transport a shipment.

Co-Packer

A contract co-packer produces goods and/or services for other companies, usually under the other company's label or name. Co-packers are more frequently seen in CPG and foods.

COPC

Call center consulting, certification, training, and benchmarking company.

Co-product

The term co-product is used to describe multiple items that are produced simultaneously during a production run. Co-products are often used to increase yields in cutting operations, such as die cutting or sawing, when it is found that scrap can be reduced by combining multiple-sized products in a single production run. Co-products are also used to reduce the frequency of machine setups required in these same types of operations. Co-products, also known as byproducts, are also common in process manufacturing, such as in chemical plants. Although the concept of co-products is fairly simple, the programming logic required to provide for planning and processing of co-products is very complicated.

Core Competency

A specific factor that a business sees as being central to the way it or its employees work, it fulfills three key criteria: 1. It provides consumer benefits, 2. It is not easy for competitors to imitate, and 3. It can be leveraged widely across many products and markets. A core competency can take various forms, including technical/subject matter know-how, a reliable process, and/or close relationships with customers and suppliers. It may also include product development or culture, such as employee dedication.

Cost Accounting

A management accounting practice that establishes the budget and actual cost of operations, processes, departments, or products, and the analysis of variances, profitability, or use of funds. Managers use cost accounting to support decision-making, cut a company's costs, and improve profitability.

Cost Allocation

An accounting practice that assigns indirect costs, such as overhead, to products or services using a known factor, such as pieces produced or direct labor costs/hours.

Cost Center

In accounting, a subunit in an organization is responsible for costs.

Cost Driver

In accounting, any situation or event that causes a change in the consumption of a resource or influences quality or cycle time is referred to as an activity. An activity may have multiple cost drivers. Cost drivers do not necessarily need to be quantified; however, they strongly influence the selection and magnitude of resource drivers and activity drivers.

Cost Driver Analysis

In cost accounting, the examination, quantification, and explanation of the effects of cost drivers are conducted. The results are often used for continuous improvement programs to reduce throughput times, improve quality, and reduce costs.

Cost Element

In cost accounting, the lowest level component of a resource, activity, or cost object is referred to as a 'cost driver'.

Cost, insurance, and freight (CIF)

Paid by the seller, this add-on covers various expenses incurred by the buyer while orders are in transit. As soon as the freight is loaded, the buyer becomes responsible for expenses not categorized under CIF.

Cost Management

The management and control of activities and drivers to calculate accurate product and service costs, improve business processes, eliminate waste, influence cost drivers, and plan operations are essential in logistics. The resulting information will be useful in setting and evaluating an organization's strategies.

Cost of Capital

The cost of borrowing or investing capital.

Cost of Lost Sales

The foregone profit associated with a stock-out.

Costs per Unit Moved

A measure to calculate the cost of moving one unit of product is as follows: Calculation: (Total Costs to Move Units) / (Total Number of Units Moved).

Cost-to-Serve

A chain of activities is required to get a company's products or services into their customers' stores and onto their shelves. This includes order taking, picking and freighting the order, arranging promotions by sales reps, processing credits, and merchandising the product.

Cost Trade-off

The interrelationship among system variables indicates that a change in one variable has a cost impact on other variables. A cost reduction in one variable may be at the expense of increased cost for other variables, and vice versa.

Cost Variance

A term used in cost accounting to describe the difference between actual cost and what was budgeted or expected.

COTD

Complete and On-Time Delivery

COTS

Commercial off-the-shelf

Council of Logistics Management (CLM)

Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)

The CSCMP is a not-for-profit professional business organization consisting of individuals throughout the world who have interests and/or responsibilities in logistics and supply chain management, and the related functions that make up these professions. Its purpose is to enhance the development of the logistics and supply chain management professions by providing these individuals with educational opportunities and relevant information through a variety of programs, services, and activities.

Count Back

A process in which order pickers select full cases from pallet rack locations and perform an immediate cycle count at the completion of the pick for that location, using a Radio Frequency or voice terminal. The use of the count-back program is just one component of being able to prove perfect order picking and the highest degree of inventory accuracy.

Country of Origin(COO)

The country of manufacture, production, or growth is where a product comes from.

Courier Service

A fast, door-to-door service for high-value goods and documents; firms usually limit the service to shipments of 50 pounds or less.

CPAF (Cost Plus Award - Fee)

A type of PBL contract pricing that combines a cost basis with an award fee feature. The incentive feature allows a base fee to be adjusted based on success in meeting target performance goals.

CPAR

Contractor Performance Assessment Report

CPFR

A concept that aims to enhance supply chain integration by supporting and assisting joint practices, CPFR seeks cooperative management of inventory through joint visibility and replenishment of products throughout the supply chain. Information shared between suppliers and retailers aids in planning and satisfying customer demands through a supportive system of shared information. This allows for continuous updating of inventory and upcoming requirements, essentially making the end-to-end supply chain process more efficient. Efficiency is also created through the decrease in expenditures for merchandising, inventory, logistics, and transportation across all trading partners.

CPG

Consumable goods, such as food and beverages, footwear and apparel, tobacco, and cleaning products, are items that generally get used up and need to be replaced frequently. This is in contrast to items that people usually keep for a long time, such as cars and furniture.

CPI

Continuous Process Improvement is a strategic approach for developing a culture of continuous improvement in the areas of reliability, process cycle times, costs (in terms of less total resource consumption), quality, and productivity. Also, see Kaizen.

CPIF (Cost Plus Incentive-Fee)

A type of PBL contract pricing that combines a cost basis with an incentive fee feature. The incentive feature allows a base fee to be adjusted based on the relationship of actual costs to target costs.

Cradle to Grave

Product Lifecycle.

Credit Level

The amount of purchasing credit a customer has available is usually defined by the internal credit department and reduced by any existing unpaid bills or open orders.

Credit Memo (CM)

A document issued to provide authorization for a customer account credit, typically due to product returns, billing errors, or other adjustments.

Critical Differentiators

This is what makes an idea, product, service, or business model unique.

Critical Success Factor (CSF)

Those activities and processes must be completed and controlled to enable a company to reach its goals.

Critical Value Analysis

A modified ABC analysis is conducted, wherein a subjective value of criticalness is assigned to each item in the inventory.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management

Crossdock / Cross Docking (XDK)

A distribution system in which merchandise received at the warehouse or distribution center is not put away, but instead is readied for shipment to retail stores. Cross-docking requires close synchronization of all inbound and outbound shipment movements. By eliminating the put-away, storage, and selection operations, it can significantly reduce distribution costs.

Cross docking

This is the practice of unloading freight from an inbound load and then loading it directly into an outbound shipment with little to no storage in between.