Supply Chain Glossary & Terms

Building Service Contractors (BSC)

Provide janitorial cleaning, maintenance, grounds keeping and other services in buildings, plants, healthcare facilities, schools, residences and other types of building on a contract or outsources basis.

Category Management

Marketing strategy in which a full line of products (instead of the individual products or brands) is managed as a strategic business unit (SBU). It is based on the concept that a marketing manager is better able to judge consumer buying patterns and market trends by focusing on the entire product category.

Centralized Procurement

The act of obtaining goods or services from a specific, general location. A department with a staff of acquisition specialists can know the market better than the managers of individual projects or it can reduce bias.

Client Discovery

In a consultative and problem-solving approach to selling, client discovery is the process where one uncovers and fully understands all of the needs of the client.

Cold Chain

A temperature-controlled supply chain. An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted series of storage and distribution activities which maintain a given temperature range. It is used to help extend and ensure the shelf life of products.

Cost of Acquisition

A concept that includes all costs associated with buying goods, services, or assets, including but not limited to ordering, carrying, transporting and shortage costs.

Cost of Application

Cost assigned to an activity, department, or product on the basis of a predetermined overhead rate, and which may or may not be based on the actual cost.

Cost of Possession

Also referred to as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), this is the purchase price plus the additional costs of operation.

Distributors

An entity that buys noncompeting products or product lines, warehouses them, and resells them to retailers or direct to the end users or customers.

Ecommerce

Business conducted through the use of computers, telephones, fax machines, barcode readers, credit cards, ATMs or other electronic appliances (whether or not using the internet) without the exchange of paper-based documents.

ELEVATE

AFFLINK’s proprietary approach to the marketplace that moves the focus away from product and price in order to build a strong foundation centered around consultative selling, relationship building, and understanding the end user’s universal business needs of today. It is a web-based program that quantifies cost savings across product, supply chain processes and work-loading practices, as well as dives into the end user’s goals around cost, health and hygiene, image, productivity and sustainability. It enables our Distributor Members to identify the best solutions and strategic decisions for their clients.

Facilities Maintenance

A science that focuses on the improved performance and longevity of buildings, facilities, and systems through more consistent, effective, and proper facility maintenance and operation.

Food Borne Illnesses

Any illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as chemical or natural toxins such as poisonous mushrooms.

Green Seal Certification

Is used to demonstrate that a product or service is safe for human health and the environment and has met a high level of functional performance. Its mission is to work towards environmental sustainability by identifying and promoting environmentally responsible products, purchasing, and production.

HCAHPS

Hospital consumer assessment of health plans surveys

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI)

An infection whose development is favored by a hospital environment, such as one acquired by a patient during a hospital visit or one developing among hospital staff. Such infections include fungal and bacterial infections and are aggravated by the reduced resistance of individual patients.

Industrial Packaging

The protective wrapping and boxing of finished industrial goods for shipping.

Integrated Supply

One that has full responsibility across the corporation (including different divisions, business units, and geographies) for the planning and management of all activities involved in end-to-end supply chain processes, including direct sourcing and procurement, conversion/manufacturing, and all logistics management activities.

Jan-San

Janitorial sanitation products and solutions

Maintenance Repair and Operation (MRO)

Supplies consumed in the production process but which do not either become part of the end product or are not central to the firm’s output. MRO items include consumables (such as cleaning, laboratory, or office supplies), industrial equipment (such as compressors, pumps, valves) and pant upkeep supplies (such as gaskets, lubricants, repair tools), and computers, fixtures, furniture, etc.

Procurement

The act of obtaining or buying goods and services. The process includes preparation and processing of a demand as well as the end receipt and approval of payment.

Site Needs Analysis (SNA)

An evaluation of an organization’s systems, processes, and practices. A critical step in the process of delivering value added solutions and it should be viewed positively.

Solution Selection

A consumer’s choice of a product or service. The available products or services that a company offers a consumer. A business with a wide array of available choices is considered to have a wide selection.

Suppliers

A manufacturer that supplies goods or services.

Supply Chain

The material and informational interchanges in the logistical process stretching from acquisition of raw materials to delivery of finished products to the end user. All vendors, service providers and clients are links in the supply chain.

Sustainable Packaging

The development and use of packaging which results in improved sustainability. It is a relatively new addition to the environmental considerations for packaging. It requires more analysis and documentation to look at the package design, choice of materials, processing, and life cycle.

Total-Costs

The addition of all costs – direct and indirect.

Work Loading

A system in which one analyzes the total amount of time it takes to complete tasks to ensure the most efficient and cost-effective scheduling of labor.

Supply Chain Management Glossary

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