Glossary
The manufacturing terms on this site, spelled out.
Every acronym and standard we use, in one sentence each. Pages link here from their own short list of terms.
In short
Look a term up by its letters. Each entry gives the full name and what it means on the plant floor.
Production and materials
- BOM Bill of Materials
- The list of materials, and how much of each, needed to make one product.
- CIP Clean-in-Place
- Cleaning tanks and pipes without taking the equipment apart.
- DBR Drum-Buffer-Rope
- A scheduling method that paces the whole line to its bottleneck (the drum).
- DRI Direct Reduced Iron
- Iron ore reduced to metal without melting. Fed to the furnace alongside scrap.
- EAF Electric Arc Furnace
- The furnace that melts scrap and DRI into liquid steel with an electric arc.
- FEFO First Expired, First Out
- Use the material that expires soonest first.
- FG Finished Goods
- The packed product, ready to ship.
- FIFO First In, First Out
- Use the material that arrived first, first.
- FMCG Fast-Moving Consumer Goods
- Everyday products that sell fast: food, drinks, personal care, home care.
- KPI Key Performance Indicator
- A number the team is measured on, such as OEE or yield.
- MTBF Mean Time Between Failures
- The average running time between one breakdown and the next.
- MTTF Mean Time To Failure
- The average running time before a part fails, for parts that are replaced rather than repaired.
- MTTR Mean Time To Repair
- The average time it takes to get a machine running again after a breakdown.
- OEE Overall Equipment Effectiveness
- Availability × performance × quality: how much of the planned time turned into good product.
- PE Polyethylene
- A plastic film, often the sealing layer in flexible packaging.
- PET Polyethylene Terephthalate
- A clear, strong plastic film, often the printed layer in flexible packaging.
- PM Preventive Maintenance
- Maintenance done on a schedule, before the machine breaks.
- PVC Polyvinyl Chloride
- The plastic film blister packs are formed from.
- SFG Semi-Finished Goods
- Product that is made but not yet packed, such as noodle block before packing.
- SKU Stock Keeping Unit
- One sellable product variant, such as one flavour in one pack size.
- SLED Shelf Life Expiration Date
- The expiry date SAP carries for a batch.
- SSCC Serial Shipping Container Code
- The 18-digit GS1 number that identifies one pallet or shipping unit.
- WIP Work in Progress
- Material that has started production but is not finished yet.
Quality
- AQL Acceptable Quality Limit
- The highest defect rate a sampling inspection still accepts for a lot.
- CAPA Corrective and Preventive Action
- The follow-up to a deviation: fix the cause, then stop it happening again.
- CCP Critical Control Point
- A step where a hazard must be controlled for the food to be safe, such as frying temperature. Part of HACCP.
- COA Certificate of Analysis
- The test results that come with a lot, from the supplier or the lab.
- HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
- A food-safety system: find the hazards in the process, then control them at fixed points (CCPs).
- IPC In-Process Control
- Tests taken during production, such as tablet weight or hardness.
- LOD Loss on Drying
- A moisture test: weigh, dry, weigh again.
- NC Non-Conformance
- A record that something did not meet its specification, with what happens to it next.
- QA Quality Assurance
- The team that releases product and owns the quality system.
- QC Quality Control
- The team, usually the lab, that tests samples against specification.
- QMS Quality Management System
- The procedures and records a company runs quality by, such as deviations, CAPA and change control.
- SPC Statistical Process Control
- Charting measurements over time to catch drift before it becomes a reject.
Compliance and validation
- 21 CFR Part 11 Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 11 (US FDA)
- The FDA rule for electronic records and electronic signatures: who did what and when, changes that stay visible, and signatures bound to the record they sign.
- BPOM Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan
- Indonesia's food and drug regulator. It inspects factories against CPOB.
- CPOB Cara Pembuatan Obat yang Baik
- Indonesia's Good Manufacturing Practice for medicines, enforced by BPOM.
- CSV Computer System Validation
- Documented proof that a computerised system does what it should, for its intended use.
- EBR Electronic Batch Record
- The full record of one batch (materials, steps, checks, signatures) kept electronically instead of on paper.
- eDHR Electronic Device History Record
- The same history as an EBR, kept per serialised unit instead of per batch.
- FDA Food and Drug Administration (US)
- The US regulator for food and medicines. It publishes 21 CFR Part 11.
- GAMP Good Automated Manufacturing Practice
- ISPE guidance for validating computerised systems by risk and by category.
- GMP Good Manufacturing Practice
- The rules that make sure products are made consistently and to quality standards.
- IQ Installation Qualification
- Proof that a system is installed as specified. The first of IQ, OQ and PQ.
- OQ Operational Qualification
- Proof that a system works as specified across its operating range.
- PQ Performance Qualification
- Proof that a system performs consistently in real production use.
- SHA-256 Secure Hash Algorithm, 256-bit
- A fingerprint of a record. Change one character and the fingerprint no longer matches.
- URS User Requirement Specification
- The document that says what the plant needs a system to do. Validation tests against it.
Systems and integration
- API Application Programming Interface
- The way one system calls another, such as SAP sending orders to VECHR MES.
- ERP Enterprise Resource Planning
- The company system for orders, stock, purchasing and finance, such as SAP.
- EWM Extended Warehouse Management
- SAP's warehouse module.
- GS1 GS1 standards
- The global body behind product barcodes and identifiers such as GTIN and SSCC.
- HMI Human-Machine Interface
- The screen on a machine that the operator uses to run it.
- ISA-95 ANSI/ISA-95 (IEC 62264)
- The international standard for connecting business systems with plant control. It defines levels 0 to 4; MES sits at level 3.
- LIMS Laboratory Information Management System
- The lab's own system for samples, tests and results.
- MES Manufacturing Execution System
- The system that runs and records production on the floor: orders, materials, steps, quality and machines.
- MM Materials Management
- SAP's module for materials, stock and purchasing.
- Modbus TCP Modbus over TCP/IP
- A long-established industrial protocol, carried over an Ethernet network.
- MQTT Message Queuing Telemetry Transport
- A lightweight publish/subscribe protocol for sending machine data.
- OPC UA OPC Unified Architecture
- The open standard for reading data from PLCs and machines securely.
- OT Operational Technology
- The hardware and software that run machines and processes: PLCs, SCADA, sensors.
- PLC Programmable Logic Controller
- The industrial computer that controls a machine and holds its live values.
- PP Production Planning
- SAP's module for production orders and planning. PP-PI is the process-industry variant.
- QM Quality Management
- SAP's quality module: inspection lots, results and usage decisions.
- RBAC Role-Based Access Control
- Access granted by role (operator, QA, admin) instead of person by person.
- SAP SAP ERP
- The ERP most large Indonesian manufacturers run. S/4HANA is its current generation.
- SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
- The system that monitors and controls machines in real time, one level below MES.
- SD Sales and Distribution
- SAP's module for sales orders and deliveries.
See VECHR MES on your own process.
A walkthrough built around how your plant runs. Not a generic demo.