Lading

The cargo is carried in a transportation vehicle.

Laid-down cost

Cost of product plus relevant logistics costs, such as transportation, warehousing, handling, etc. Also called Total Landed Cost or Net Landed Costs.

LAN

Local Area Network

Land bridge

The movement of containers by ship-rail-ship from Japan to Europe is as follows: ships transport containers to the U.S. Pacific Coast, railways then move the containers to an East Coast port, and finally, ships deliver the containers to Europe.

Landed Cost

Cost of product plus relevant logistics costs, such as transportation, warehousing, handling, etc. Also called Total Landed Cost or Net Landed Costs.

Land Grants

Grants of land were given to railroads during their developmental stage to build tracks.

Lane

A major origin-destination pair, i.e., traffic lane, is an origin-destination pairing. An example could be a manufacturer in Chicago that ships to a destination in New York, producing the Chicago to New York traffic lane.

LashBarges

Covered barges are loaded on board oceangoing ships for movement to foreign destinations.

Last in, first out (LIFO)

A common inventory alternative to first in, first out, LIFO assumes that the products created most recently will also be the first to be sold. This system allows older inventory costs to remain on balance sheets, while more recent inventory costs are expensed promptly.

Last In, First Out (LIFO)

Accounting method of valuing inventory that assumes that the latest goods purchased during a given accounting period are also the first goods used.

Last mile

This is a method of transportation that makes up the final leg of the process between an organization's supply chain and the end customer.

LCC

Life Cycle Costs

LCL

Less-Than-Carload or Less-Than-Container Load.

LDI

Logistics data interchange

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

A building rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

Lead Logistics Partner (LLP)

An organization that organizes other third-party logistics partners for the outsourcing of logistics functions. An LLP serves as the client's primary supply chain management provider, defining processes and managing the provision and integration of logistics services through its own organization and those of its subcontractors. Also, see Fourth Party Logistics.

Lead Time

The total time that elapses between an order's placement and its receipt includes the time required for order transmittal, order processing, order preparation, and transit.

Lead Time from Complete Manufacture to Customer Receipt

Includes the time from when an order is ready for shipment to customer receipt of the order. The time from complete manufacture to customer receipt includes the following elements: pick/pack time, preparation for shipment, total transit time (all components to the consolidation point), consolidation, queue time, and additional transit time to customer receipt.

Lead Time from Order Receipt to Complete Manufacture

Includes times from order receipt to order entry complete, from order entry complete to start to build, and from start to build to ready for shipment. Time from order receipt to order entry completion includes the following elements: order revalidation, configuration check, credit check, and scheduling. Time from order entry completion to start to build includes the following elements: customer wait time, engineering, and design time. Time from start to build to ready for shipment includes the following elements: release to manufacturing or distribution, order configuration verification, production scheduling, and build or configure time.

Lean

A business management philosophy that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful and, thus, a target for elimination.

Learning Management System

A software package for delivering, tracking, and managing training and education within a company or organization.

Least Total Cost

Similar to the Economic Order Quantity method of lot sizing, LTC is based on the idea that the total cost will be least when the carrying cost and ordering cost are essentially equal.

Least Unit Cost

A lot-sizing method is used to consolidate a specified number of future period requirements in order to find the quantity where the total of ordering and carrying costs per unit ordered is at its lowest.

LEED

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to provide a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

Leg

A portion of a complete trip, which has an origin, destination, and carrier, is composed of all consecutive segments of a route booked through the same carrier.

Legacy

A computer term that describes an old computer system or application program that continues to be used because it still meets the user's needs.

Lessee

A person or firm to whom a lease is granted.

Lessor

A person or firm that grants a lease.

Less-Than-Carload (LCL)

Shipment that is less than a complete railcar load (lot shipment).

Less than container load (LCL)

This is a method of ocean freight where products may be shipped in the same container as those that belong to other organizations.

Less than truckload (LTL)

Similar to FTL, this is a method of freight that relies on semi-trucks but handles freight for multiple shippers via a single trailer. LTL loads are typically 1 to 6 pallets.

Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) Carriers

Trucking companies consolidate and transport smaller (less than truckload) shipments of freight by utilizing a network of terminals and relay points.

Letter of Credit (LOC)

An international business document that assures the seller that payment will be made by the bank issuing the letter of credit upon fulfillment of the sales agreement.

Leverage

Taking something small and expanding it, whether it is financial or technological.

License Plate

A pallet tag refers to a uniquely numbered barcode sticker placed on a pallet of products. It typically contains information about the products on the pallet.

Life Cycle Cost (LCC)

In cost accounting, a product's life cycle is the period that starts with the initial product conceptualization and ends with the withdrawal of the product from the marketplace and final disposition. Life cycle cost is the accumulated costs incurred by a product during these stages.

Life cycle (Cradle-to-Grave)

Product Lifecycle.

LIFO

Last In, First Out.

Lift-On Lift-Off

A vessel on which the loading and discharging operations are carried out by cranes and derricks.

Lift Truck

Vehicles are used to lift, move, stack, rack, or otherwise manipulate loads.

Lighter

A flat-bottomed boat designed for cross-harbor or inland waterway freight transfer.

Line

An area within a production or assembly facility where manufacturing occurs in a linear fashion, passing products through one level of completion onto the next process.

Line Functions

The decision-making areas associated with daily operations.

Line-Haul Shipment

A shipment that moves between cities and covers distances of over 100 to 150 miles.

Liner Service

International water carriers that ply fixed routes on published schedules.

Line Scrap

Value of raw materials and work-in-process inventory scrapped as a result of improper processing or assembly, as a percentage of the total value of production at standard cost.

Link

The transportation method used to connect the nodes (plants, warehouses) in a logistics system.

Linked Distributed Systems

Independent computer systems, owned by independent organizations, are linked in a manner that allows direct updates to be made to one system by another. For example, a customer's computer system is linked to a supplier's system, and the customer can create orders or releases directly in the supplier's system.