Matrix Organizational Structure

A type of organizational management in which people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments, with employees reporting to multiple managers depending on the project they are working on.

Maturity Level

An identifiable stage towards achieving a mature process is commonly represented in five stages, for example: Ad Hoc, Repeatable, Definable, Managed, and Optimized.

MAX

The lowest inventory quantity desired at a ship-to location or selling location, overriding the forecast number if the forecast climbs above the MAX (maximum stock).

Maximum Competitive Tension

Market analysis and intelligence development describe the various pressures that can be exerted on competitors.

Maximum Inventory

The prescribed maximum level of inventory allowed for a specific item is set in the item database and used in min/max calculations.

Maximum Order Quantity

The maximum quantity allowed when ordering a specific item is typically a value that is calculated and set in the system for a period of time.

m-Commerce

Mobile commerce applications involve using a mobile phone to carry out financial transactions. This usually means making a payment for goods or transferring funds electronically. Transferring money between accounts and paying for purchases are electronic commerce applications. An emerging application, electronic commerce, has been facilitated by developments in other areas in the mobile world, such as dual-slot phones and other smarter terminals, and more standardized protocols, which allow greater interactivity and therefore more sophisticated services.

M-Day 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.

Mean

For a dataset, the mean is the sum of the observations divided by the number of observations.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

The average time between failures in a system.

Measure

A number is used to quantify a metric, showing the result of a part of a process, often resulting from a simple count. An example can be the number of units shipped.

Measurement Plans

A tool through which one can evaluate the success of a program on an ongoing basis is measurement ton. It equals 40 cubic feet and is used in water transportation rate making.

Median

A median is described as the number separating the higher half of a sample, population, or probability distribution from the lower half. It is the midpoint of the list of numbers, as opposed to the average.

Merge In Transit

The process of combining or 'merging' shipments from multiple suppliers, which are going directly to the buyer or to the store, bypassing the seller, effectively, this is a 'drop shipment' from several vendors to one buyer, which is being combined at an intermediary point prior to delivery.

Merger

The combination of two or more carriers into one company for the ownership, management, and operation of the properties previously operated on a separate basis.

MES

A system designed to manage and monitor work-in-process on the factory floor, including manual or automatic labor and production reporting, as well as online inquiries and links to tasks that take place on the production floor. Manufacturing Execution Systems may include one or more links to work orders, receipt of goods, shipping, quality control, maintenance, scheduling, or other related tasks.

Message

The EDIFACT term for a transaction set is a message. A message is the collection of data, organized in segments, exchanged by trading partners engaged in EDI. Typically, a message is an electronic version of a document associated with a common business transaction, such as a purchase order or shipping notice. A message begins with a message header segment, which identifies the start of the message (e.g., the series of characters representing one purchase order). The message header segment also carries the message type code, which identifies the business transaction type. EDIFACT's message header segment is called UNH; in the ANSI X12 protocol, the message header is called ST. A message ends with a message trailer segment, which signals the end of the message (e.g., the end of one purchase order). EDIFACT's message trailer is labeled UNT; the ANSI X12 message trailer is referred to as SE.

Meta Tag

An optional HTML tag that is used to specify information about a web document. Some search engines use 'spiders' to index web pages. These spiders read the information contained within a page's META tag. So, in theory, an HTML or web page author has the ability to control how their site is indexed by search engines and how and when it will 'come up' on a user's search. The META tag can also be used to specify an HTTP or URL address for the page to 'jump' to after a certain amount of time. This is known as Client-Pull. What this means is a web page author can control the amount of time a web page is up on the screen, as well as where the browser will go next.

Metrics

Specific areas of measurement: A metric must be quantitative, support benchmarking, and be based on broad, statistically valid data. Therefore, it must exist in a format for which published data exists within the enterprise or industry. See Performance Measures.

Micro-Land Bridge

An intermodal movement in which the shipment is moved from a foreign country to the U.S. by water and then moved across the U.S. by railroad to an interior, non-port city, or vice versa for exports from a non-port city.

Middleware

A type of software that is able to connect disparate software components or applications, typically used to provide a level of integration between software components that were acquired from different developers.

MIIL Specs

Military Specifications.

Mileage Allowance

An allowance based on distance and given by railroads to shippers using private railcars.

Mileage Rate

A rate based on the number of miles the commodity is shipped.

Milestone

The set of specific deadlines or measurement/decision points that are used to progress in completing an initiative. Milestones include specific completion dates or rates.

Milk run

Delivery method for mixed loads from different suppliers: Instead of each of several (say, 5) suppliers sending a vehicle every week to meet the weekly needs of a customer, one vehicle visits each supplier on a daily basis and picks up deliveries for that customer. This way, while still five vehicle loads are shipped every week, each vehicle load delivers the full daily requirements of the customer from each supplier. This method gets its name from the dairy industry practice where one tanker collects milk every day from several dairy farmers for delivery to a milk processing firm. Also see Consolidation.

Mini-Land Bridge

An intermodal movement in which the shipment is moved from a foreign country to the U.S. by water and then moved across the U.S. by railroad to a destination that is a port city, or vice versa for exports from a U.S. port city.

Minimum Weight

The shipment weight specified by the carrier's tariff is the minimum weight required to use the TL or CL rate, and the rate discount volume.

Min – Max System

A replenishment and inventory management system sets a minimum inventory level, which is used to trigger a reorder when the total of available plus incoming receipts is less than the minimum. The amount of the order is the difference between the calculated inventory (which is less than the minimum) and a predefined maximum. Min-max systems are typically not time-phased.

Mirroring

A computer term that describes an exact copy of a dataset.

Misguided Capacity Plans

Plans or forecasts for capacity utilization, which are based on inaccurate assumptions or input data, can lead to errors.

Mistake Proofing

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.

Mitigation Strategies

Additional efforts are required in event management to take action to lower the likelihood of risk occurring and/or minimize the impact on the program if the risk did occur.

Mixed Loads

The movement of both regulated and exempt commodities in the same vehicle at the same time.

Modal Split

The relative use made of the modes of transportation varies. The statistics used include ton-miles, passenger-miles, and revenue.

Modular Product/Service

A product or service, which can be acquired as individual parts or assembled into a group.

MOTE

A wireless receiver/transmitter that is typically combined with a sensor of some type to create a remote sensor. Motes are being used in ocean containers to look for evidence of tampering. They have huge applications in food, pharma, and other 'cold chain' industries to closely monitor temperature, humidity, and other factors.

Motor Carrier

An enterprise that offers services via land motor carriage.

Move Ticket

A document used to move inventory within a facility, warehouse management systems use move tickets to direct and track material movements. In a paperless environment, the electronic version of a move ticket is often called a task or a trip.

MPS

The top-level schedule is used to set the production plan in a manufacturing facility.

MRO

Any activity – such as tests, measurements, replacements, adjustments, and repairs – intended to retain or restore a functional unit to a specified state in which the unit can perform its required functions. This is a category of software designed to support asset maintenance and management, also sometimes referred to as Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS).

MRP

A decision-making methodology used to determine the timing and quantities of materials to purchase.

MRP-II

The extension of closed-loop MRP includes and integrates financial and simulation systems. It encompasses all organizational functions related to long-term strategic and business planning, demand planning, materials planning, resource planning, and production and vendor scheduling and execution. It assumes the use of a base integrated system and the sharing of a common database and operating parameters by all functions and departments.

MSDS

A form containing data regarding the properties of a particular substance is intended to provide workers and emergency personnel with procedures for handling or working with that substance in a safe manner. It includes information such as physical data, toxicity, health effects, first aid, reactivity, storage, disposal, protective equipment, and spill handling procedures.

MTBF

The average time between failures in a system.

MTO

A manufacturing process strategy where the trigger to begin the manufacture of a product is an actual customer order or release, rather than a market forecast. For Make-to-Order products, more than 20% of the value-added takes place after the receipt of the order or release, and all necessary design and process documentation is available at the time of order receipt.

MTS

Also called Manufacture-to-stock, this manufacturing process strategy involves continually holding the finished product in plant or warehouse inventory to fulfill expected incoming orders or releases based on a forecast.

MTSA

A law was passed in 2002 to create a comprehensive national system of transportation security enhancements. The MTSA designated the U.S. Coast Guard as the lead federal agency for maritime homeland security and requires federal agencies, ports, and vessel owners to take numerous steps to upgrade security. The MTSA requires the Coast Guard to develop national and regional area maritime transportation security plans and requires seaports, waterfront terminals, and vessels to submit security and incident response plans to the Coast Guard for approval. Additionally, the MTSA also requires the Coast Guard to conduct antiterrorism assessments of certain foreign ports.