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Terminology

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Lading: - The cargo carried in a transportation vehicle.



Laid-down cost: - The sum of the product and transportation costs. The laid-down cost is useful in comparing the total cost of a product shipped from different supply sources to a customer's point of use.



LAN: - See Local Area Network



Land bridge: - The movement of containers by ship-rail-sip on Japan-to-Europe moves



Land grants: - Grants of land given to railroads during their developmental stage to build tracks.



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



Lash barges: - Covered barges that are loaded on board oceangoing ships for movement to foreign destinations.



Last In, First Out (LIFO): - Accounting method of valuing inventory that assumes latest goods purchased are first goods used during accounting period.



LCL: - See Less-Than-Carload



LDI: - See Logistics data interchange



Lead Logistics Partner (LLP): - An organization that organizes other 3rd party logistics partners for outsourcing of logistics functions. Also see: Fourth Party Logistics



Lead Time from Complete Manufacture to Customer Receipt: - Includes time from when an order is ready for shipment to customer receipt of order. Time from complete manufacture to customer receipt including the following elements: pick/pack time, prepare for shipment, total transit time (all components to 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 complete includes the following elements: order revalidation, configuration check, credit check, and scheduling. Time from order entry complete to start to build includes the following elements: customer wait time and 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.



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



Least Total Cost: - A dynamic lot-sizing technique that calculates the order quantity by comparing the setup (or ordering) costs and the carrying cost for various lot sizes and selects the lot size where these costs are most nearly equal. Also see: Discrete Order Quantity, Dynamic Lot Sizing



Least Unit Cost: - A dynamic lot-sizing technique that adds ordering cost and inventory carrying cost for each trial lot size and divides by the number of units in the lot size, picking the lot size with the lowest unit cost. Also see: Discrete Order Quantity, Dynamic Lot Sizing



Less-Than-Carload (LCL): - Shipment that is less than a complete rail car load (lot shipment).



Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) Carriers: - Trucking companies that consolidate and transport smaller (less than truckload) shipments of freight by utilizing a network of terminals and relay points.



LesSee: - A person or firm to whom a lease is granted.



Lessor: - A person or firm that grants a lease.



Letter of credit: - 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 exploding it. Can be financial or technological.



Life Cycle Cost: - 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. A product life cycle is characterized by certain defined stages, including research, development, introduction, maturity, decline, and abandonment. Life cycle cost is the accumulated costs incurred by a product during these stages.



LIFO: - See Last In, First Out



Lift truck: - Vehicles used to lift, move, stack, rack, or otherwise manipulate loads. Material handling people use a lot of terms to describe lift trucks, some terms describe specific types of vehicles, others are slang terms or trade names that people often mistakenly use to describe trucks. Terms include industrial truck, forklift, reach truck, motorized pallet trucks, turret trucks, counterbalanced forklift, walkie, rider, walkie rider, walkie stacker, straddle lift, side loader, order pickers, high lift, cherry picker, Jeep, Towmotor, Yale, Crown, Hyster, Raymond, Clark, Drexel.



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



Line functions: - The decision-making areas associated with daily operations. Logistics line functions include traffic management, inventory control, order processing, warehousing, and packaging.



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



Line-haul shipment: - A shipment that moves between cities and distances over 100 to 150 miles.



Line: - 1) A specific physical space for the manufacture of a product that in a flow shop layout is represented by a straight line. In actuality, this may be a series of pieces of equipment connected by piping or conveyor systems.  2) A type of manufacturing process used to produce a narrow range of standard items with identical or highly similar designs. Production volumes are high, production and material handling equipment is specialized, and all products typically pass through the same sequence of operations. Also see: Assembly Line



Liner service: - International water carriers that ply fixed routes on published schedules.



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, linked in a manner to allow 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.



Little Inch: - A federally built pipeline constructed during World War II that connected Corpus Christi and Houston, Texas.



Live: - A situation in which the equipment operator stays with the trailer or boxcar while it is being loaded or unloaded.



LLP: - See Lead Logistics Partner



Load factor: - A measure of operating efficiency used by air carriers to determine the percentage of a plane's capacity that is utilized, or the number of passengers divided by the total number of seats.



Load Tendering: - The practice of providing a carrier with detailed information and negotiated pricing (the tender) prior to scheduling pickup. This practice can help assure contract compliance and facilitate automated payments (self billing).



Loading allowance: - A reduced rate offered to shippers and/or consignees who load and/or unload LTL or AQ shipments.



Local Area Network (LAN): - A data communications network spanning a limited geographical area, usually a few miles at most, providing communications between computers and peripheral devices.



Local rate: - A rate published between two points served by one carrier.



Local service carriers: - An air carrier classification of carriers that operate between areas of lesser and major population centers. These carriers feed passengers into the major cities to



Locational determinant: - The factors that determine the location of a facility. For industrial facilities, the determinants include logistics.



Locator System: - Locator systems are inventory-tracking systems that allow you to assign specific physical locations to your inventory to facilitate greater tracking and the ability to store product randomly. Location functionality in software can range from a simple text field attached to an item that notes a single location, to systems that allow multiple locations per item and track inventory quantities by location. Warehouse management systems (WMS) take locator systems to the next level by adding functionality to direct the movement between locations.



Logbook: - A daily record of the hours an interstate driver spends driving, off, duty, sleeping in the berth, or on duty but not driving.



Logistics Channel: - The network of supply chain participants engaged in storage, handling, transfer, transportation, and communications functions that contribute to the efficient flow of goods.



Logistics data interchange (LDI): - A computerized system to electronically transmit logistics information.



Logistics Management: - As defined by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP): "Logistics management is that part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers' requirements. Logistics management activities typically include inbound and outbound transportation management, fleet management, warehousing, materials handling, order fulfillment, logistics network design, inventory management, supply/demand planning, and management of third party logistics services providers. To varying degrees, the logistics function also includes sourcing and procurement, production planning and scheduling, packaging and assembly, and customer service. It is involved in all levels of planning and execution--strategic, operational, and tactical. Logistics management is an integrating function which coordinates and optimizes all logistics activities, as well as integrates logistics activities with other functions, including marketing, sales, manufacturing, finance, and information technology."



Long ton: - Equals 2,240 pounds.



Lot Control: - A set of procedures (e.g., assigning unique batch numbers and tracking each batch) used to maintain lot integrity from raw materials, from the supplier through manufacturing to consumers.



Lot Number: - See Batch Number



Lot size: - The quantity of goods purchased or produced in anticipation of use or sale in the future.



Lot Sized System: - See Fixed Reorder Quantity Inventory Model



Lot-for-Lot: - A lot-sizing technique that generates planned orders in quantities equal to the net requirements in each period. Also see: Discrete Order Quantity



LTL: - See Less-than-truckload Carriers



Lumping: - A term applied to a person who assists a motor carrier owner-operator in the loading and unloading of property: quite commonly used in the food industry



Lumpy demand: - See Discontinuous Demand