Whether you are new to manufacturing management or optimizing your shop floor operations, this glossary provides clear, structured definitions of essential terminology used in production planning, shop floor scheduling, and lean manufacturing.
- T-Card System
- A classic visual management tool using T-shaped cards placed in board slots to track production status, jobs, or tasks.
- Kanban
- A lean scheduling system designed to optimize workflow and inventory by pulling work through production only when there is demand.
- Shop Floor Scheduling
- The detailed, day-to-day allocation of jobs, machinery capacity, and labor on the manufacturing floor.
- Work in Progress
- Partially finished goods, materials, and sub-assemblies currently moving through the manufacturing process.
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness
- A standardized metric measuring manufacturing productivity by comparing actual output to potential capacity.
- Bill of Materials
- A comprehensive, structured list of all raw materials, components, and sub-assemblies needed to manufacture a product.
- Job Card
- A physical or digital document tracking the specific instructions, routing, and progress of a single manufacturing order.
- Capacity Planning
- The process of matching your production workloads against your available shop floor machinery and labor hours.
- Enterprise Resource Planning
- A complex suite of integrated business software managing inventory, finance, purchasing, HR, and production.
- Lean Manufacturing
- A production methodology focusing on waste minimization and continuous workflow improvement.
- Just-in-Time
- An inventory management strategy aligning raw material orders and production directly with customer demand.
- Takt Time
- The required rate of production needed to match the speed of customer demand.
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Read complete guide →
Ready to modernize your shop floor?
Replace chaotic physical T-card boards with a simple, touch-friendly digital schedule built for the shop floor.