Rack
‘A storage device for handling material in pallets. A rack usually provides storage for pallets arranged in vertical sections with one or more pallets to a tier. Some racks accommodate more than one-pallet-deep storage. Some racks are static, meaning that the rack contents remain in a fixed position until physically moved. Some racks are designed with a sloped shelf to allow products to ”flow” down as product in the front is removed. Replenishment of product on a flow rack may be from the rear, or the front in a ”push back” manner.’

Rack Slot
The position occupied by a warehousing unit in the rack. The slot may be one or more units high, or one or more units deep. Rack slots may be fixed or floating. Fixed slots are usually located at the first and second level. Using modern stock picking lift trucks, all slots can be fixed slots. The advantage of the stock picker is that you can substitute moving up and down for travel distance, a fact that is often overlooked in evaluating stock picking trucks.

Rack Unit Clearance
Space allowed for handling clearance between warehousing units stored on a shelf in a shelf rack, between the warehousing unit and the up rights or on either side of the warehousing unit and the uprights in a drive-in or drive-through rack.

Racking
A function performed by a rack-jobber, a full-function intermediary who performs all regular warehousing functions and some retail functions, typically stocking a display rack. Also a definition that is applied to the hardware which is used to build racks.

Radio Frequency
‘A form of wireless communications that lets users relay information via electromagnetic energy waves from a terminal to a base station, which is linked in turn to a host computer. The terminals can be place at a fixed station, mounted on a forklift truck, or carried in the worker’s hand. The base station contains a transmitter and receiver for communication with the terminals. RF systems use either narrow-band or spread-spectrum transmissions. Narrow-band data transmissions move along a single limited radio frequency, while spread-spectrum transmissions move across several different frequencies. When combined with a bar-code system for identifying inventory items, a radio-frequency system can relay data instantly, thus updating inventory records in so-called ”real time.”’

Radio Frequency Identificatrion
Radio Frequency IDentification is a method of remotely storing and retrieving data using devices called RFID tags/transponders. An RFID tag is a small object, such as an adhesive sticker, that can be attached to or incorporated into a product. RFID tags contain antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver.

Railhead
Location for loading and unloading containers at railroad terminal.

Ramp Rate
A statement which quantifies how quickly you grow or expand an operation Growth trajectory. Can refer to sales, profits or margins.

Random-Location Storage
A storage technique in which parts are placed in any space that is empty when they arrive at the storeroom. Although this random method requires the use of a locator file to identify part locations, it often requires less storage space than a fixed-location storage method. Also see: Fixed-Location Storage

Rate Agreement
Group of carriers who discuss rates and common problems with options to file independent tariffs.

Rate basis number
The distance between two rate basis points.

Rate basis point
The major shipping point in a local area, all points in the local area are considered to be the rate basis point.

Rate bureau
A group of carriers that get together to establish joint rates, to divide joint revenues and claim liabilities, and the publish tariffs. Rate bureaus have published single line rates, which were prohibited in 1984.

Rate-Based Scheduling
A method for scheduling and producing based on a periodic rate, e.g., daily, weekly, or monthly. This method has traditionally been applied to high-volume and process industries. The concept has recently been applied within job shops using cellular layouts and mixed-model level schedules where the production rate is matched to the selling rate.

Rationing
The allocation of product among customers during periods of short supply. When price is used to allocate product, it is allocated to those willing to pay the most.

Raw Materials
Crude or processed material that can be converted by manufacturing, processing, or combination into a new and useful product.

Real-Time
The processing of data in a business application as it happens - as contrasted with storing data for input at a later time (batch processing).

Reasonable rate
A rate that is high enough to cover the carrier’s cost but not too high to enable the carrier to realize monopolistic profits.

Recapture Clause
A provision of the 1920 Transportation Act that provided for self-help financing for railroads. Railroads that earned more than the prescribed return contributed one-half of the excess to the fund from which the ICC made loans to less profitable railroads. The Recapture Clause was repealed in 1933.

Received for Shipment Bill of Lading
Can be issued on the carrier’s actual receipt or taking custody of goods, if requested goods are not yet necessarily loaded on board a vessel or other conveyance. This form of bill of lading would usually be switched to an on board bill of lading or added as an on board notation upon the actual loading of goods on board a vessel or other conveyance.

Receiving
The function encompassing the physical receipt of material, the inspection of the incoming shipment for conformance with the purchase order (quantity and damage), the identification and delivery to destination, and the preparation of receiving reports.

Receiving Dock
Distribution center (dc) location where the actual physical receipt of the goods from the carrier occurs.

Receiving Report
A form used by the receiving unit to inform others of the receipt of goods purchased.

Reconsignment
A carrier service that permits changing the destination and/or consignee after the shipment has reached its originally billed destination and paying the through rate from origin to final destination.

Rectangular Pinwheel Course Pattern
An arrangement of warehousing units in which two pair of uni-block patterns are arranged in an unbalanced pinwheel.

Recyclable Materials
Goods that may be collected for reuse as material to manufacture new products.

Reed-Bulwinkle Act
Legalized joint rate making by common carriers through rate bureaus, extended antitrust immunity to carriers participating in a rate bureau.

Reefer
A term used for refrigerated vehicles.

Reengineering
(1) A fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performance. 2. A term used to describe the process of making (usually) significant and major revisions or modifications to business processes. 3. An approach to improving business operations through reinventing, reevaluating, redesigning and redoing. 4. Also called Business Process Reengineering.

Re-engineering
An approach to improving business operations through reinventing, reevaluating, redesigning and redoing.

Refrigerated Carriers
Truckload Carriers (TC) that provide service to keep perishables good refrigerated. While the food industry typically uses this type of carrier, museums, personal art collections, antique and fragile hospitality items also require a temperature-regulated trailer.

Regeneration MRP
‘An MRP processing approach where the master production schedule is totally reexploded down through all bills of material, to maintain valid priorities. New requirements and planned orders are completely recalculated or ”regenerated” at that time.’

Regional carrier
A for-hire air carrier, usually certificated, that has annual operating revenues of less than $74 million, the carrier usually operates within a particular region of the country.

Register Ton
A unit of interior capacity of ships. 1 Register Ton = 100 cubic feet or 2,832 cubic metres. Also known as vessel ton.

Regular-route carrier
A motor carrier that is authorized to provide service over designated routes.

Relay
Marine shipment that is transferred to its ultimate destination port after having been shipped to an intermediate point.

Relay terminal
A motor carrier terminal designed to facilitate the substitution of one driver for another who has driven the maximum hours permitted.

Released-value rates
Rates based upon the value of the shipment, the maximum carrier liability for damage is less than the full value, and in return the carrier offers a lower rate.

Release-to-Start Manufacturing
Average time from order release to manufacturing to the start of the production process. This cycle time may typically be required to support activities such as material movement and line changeovers.

Reliability
A carrier selection criterion that considers the variation in carrier transit time, the consistency of the transit time provided.

Rent
Actual rental cost for space used for warehouse and inventory control functions including office space. For owned buildings a fair market rental value or depreciation should be used.

Reorder point
A predetermined inventory level that triggers the need to place an order. This minimum level provides inventory to meet anticipated demand during the time it takes to receive the order.

Reorder Point
The level of inventory of a given commodity at which a purchase requisition is initiated. It is a combination of expected usage during the lead time period plus a safety stock.

Reorder Quantity
The number of units, determined by logical factors, scheduled for reorder when the reorder point is reached.

REP
see Request for Proposal

Reparation
The ICC could require railroads to repay users the difference between the rate charged and the maximum rate permitted when the ICC found the rate to be unreasonable or too high.

Re-plan Cycle
Time between the initial creation of a regenerated forecast and the time its impact is incorporated into the Master

Replenishment
The process of moving or re-supplying inventory from a reserve (or upstream) storage location to a primary (or downstream) storage or picking location, or to another mode of storage in which picking is performed.

REQ
see Request for Quote

Request for Information
A document used to solicit information about vendors, products, and services prior to a formal RFQ/RFP process.

Request for Proposal
A document, which provides information concerning needs and requirements for a manufacturer. This document is created in order to solicit proposals from potential suppliers. For, example, a computer manufacturer may use a RFP to solicit proposals from suppliers of third party logistics services.

Request for Quote
A document used to solicit vendor responses when a product has been selected and price quotations are needed from several vendors.

Requisition
Internal document by which a using agency requests the procurement office to initiate a purchase. May also be a form used to obtain supplies from a storeroom or warehouse.

Resellers
Organizations intermediate in the manufacturing and distribution process, such as wholesalers and retailers.

Resolution
To arrive at an appropriate disposition of a complaint or protest through administrative action.

Resource Driver
In cost accounting, the best single quantitative measure of the frequency and intensity of demands placed on a resource by other resources, activities, or cost objects. It is used to assign resource costs to activities, and cost objects, or to other resources.

Resources
Economic elements applied or used in the performance of activities or to directly support cost objects. They include people, materials, supplies, equipment, technologies and facilities. Also see: Resource Driver, Capacity

Responsible Bidder
A bidder who is known to have the necessary capabilities and assets to perform and provide all requirements of an intended contract.

Responsive Bidder
A bidder who tenders a bid which meets all requirements of the invitation to bid.

Restrictive Specification
A specification that makes requirements for technical aspects of a commodity which eliminates competitive or generic bidding.

RET
see Rich Text Format

Retailer
A business that takes title to products and resells them to final consumers. Examples include Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Safeway, but also include the many smaller independent stores.

Return Cargo
Cargo to be returned to original place of receipt.

Return Disposal Costs
The costs associated with disposing or recycling products that have been returned due to End-of-Life or Obsolescence.

Return Goods Handling
The process involved with returning goods from the customer to the manufacturer. Products can be returned because of performance problems or simply because the customer doesn’t like the product.

Return Material Authorization
A number usually produced to recognize and give authorization for a defective good to be returned to a distribution center or manufacturer. The RMA number often acts as an order form for the work required in repair situations. See Return Product Authorization .

Return of Investment
(1) A calculation that determines the length of time when an asset, process, or service provides a profit or pay for said investment to a customer. (2) A financial measure of the relative return from an investment, usually expressed as a percentage of earnings produced by an asset to the amount invested in the asset.

Return on Assets
Financial measure calculated by dividing profit by assets.

Return on Net Assets
Financial measure calculated by dividing profit by assets net of depreciation.

Return on owner’s equity
The net income divided by average owner’s equity.

Return on Sales
Financial measure calculated by dividing profit by sales.

Return Product Authorization
Also called Return Material or Goods Authorization . A form generally required with a Warranty/Return, which helps the company identify the original product, and the reason for return. The RPA number often acts as an order form for the work required in repair situations, or as a reference for credit approval.

Return to Vendor
Material that has been rejected by the customer or the buyer’s inspection department and is awaiting shipment back to the supplier for repair or replacement.

Returns Inventory Costs
The costs associated with managing inventory, returned for any of the following reasons: repair, refurbish, excess, obsolescence, End-of-Life, ecological conformance, and demonstration. Includes all applicable elements of the Level 2 component Inventory Carrying Cost of Total Supply Chain Management Cost

Returns Material Acquisition, Finance, Planning an
The costs associated with acquiring the defective products and materials for repair or refurbishing items, plus any Finance, Planning and Information Technology cost to support Return Activity.. Includes all applicable elements of the Level 2 components Material Acquisition Cost (acquiring materials for repairs), Supply Chain Related Finance and Planning Costs and Supply Chain IT Costs of Total Supply Chain Management Cost.

Returns Order Management Costs
The costs associated with managing Return Product Authorizations (RPA). Includes all applicable elements of the Level 2 component Order Management Cost of Total Supply Chain Management Cost. See Order Management Costs.

Returns Processing Cost
The total cost to process repairs, refurbished, excess, obsolete, and End-of-Life products including diagnosing problems, and replacing products. Includes the costs of logistics support, materials, centralized functions, troubleshooting service requests, on-site diagnosis and repair, external repair, and miscellaneous. These costs are broken into Returns Order Management, Returns Inventory Carrying, Returns Material Acquisition, Finance, Planning, IT, Disposal and Warranty Costs.

Returns To Scale
A defining characteristic of B2B. Bigger is better. It’s what creates the winner takes all quality of most B2B hubs. It also places a premium on being first to market and first to achieve critical mass.

Revenue Ton
Number of tonnes which freight is paid for per ton.

Reverse Auction
A type of auction where suppliers bid to sell products to a buyer (e.g. retailer). As bidding continues, the prices decline (opposite of a regular auction, where buyers are bidding to buy products).

Reverse Engineering
A process whereby competitors’ products are disassembled & analyzed for evidence of the use of better processes, components & technologies

Reverse Logistics
Reverse Logistics is a rather general term. In its broadest sense, reverse logistics stands for all operations related to the reuse of products and materials. The management of these operations can be referred to as Product Recovery Management (PRM). PRM is concerned with the care of products and materials after they have been used. Some of these activities are, to some extent, similar to those occurring in the case of internal returns of defective items due to unreliable production processes. Reverse logistics refers however to all logistics activities the collection, disassembly and processing of used products, product parts and/or materials in order to ensure a sustainable (environmentally-friendly) recovery.

Re-warehousing
The practice of rehandling lots already in storage in order to make room or consolidate lots. Re-warehousing is a continuous process that involves handling due to the manner in which withdrawals are made from lots. Re-warehousing also occurs in making letdowns from the upper rack tiers or stacks to facilitate making withdrawals. One of the major hidden costs in re-warehousing.

RF
see Radio Frequency

RFI
see Request for Information

RFID
see Radio Frequency Identificatrion

RFP
See Request for Proposal

RFQ
See Request for Quote

RGA
Return Goods Authorization. See: Return Material Authorization

Rich Media
An Internet advertising term for a Web page ad that uses advanced technology such as streaming video, downloaded applet (programs) that interact instantly with the user, and ads that change when the user’s mouse passes over it.

Rich Text Format
A method of encoding text formatting and document structure using the ASCII character set. By convention, RTF files have an .rtf filename extension.

Rigging
Specialized equipment, such as cranes, heavy-duty forklifts and other tools that are necessary to move heavy and complex items.

Right of eminent domain
A concept that permits the purchase of land needed for transportation right-of-way in a court of law, used by railroads and pipelines.

Risk pooling
The process of reducing the risk among customers by pooling stock in centralized warehouses. Statistically speaking, when one customer demands a lot of a particular product, another customer demands only a little of the same product. The total inventory to maintain the customer service level is smaller, on average, with a centralized warehouse because the risk of a product stockout is pooled across all the customers.

RM
see Raw Materials

RMA
see Return Material Authorization

RO
see Return of Investment

ROA
see Return on Assets

ROF
see Return on owner’s equity

ROI
see Return on investment

Roll on-roll-off
A type of ship designed to permit cargo to be driven on at origin and off at destination, used extensively for the movement of automobiles.

Rolling Average Inventory
An average inventory count or value based on the immediate past 12 month period.

Roll-out
Referring to new store fixtures that are to be distributed throughout the country from one or more origin’s.

Root Cause Analysis
Analytical methods to determine the core problem(s) of an organization, process, product, market, etc.

RosettaNet
Consortium of major Information Technology, Electronic Components, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Telecommunications and Logistics companies working to create and implement industry-wide, open e-business process standards. These standards form a common e-business language, aligning processes between supply chain partners on a global basis. RosettaNet is a subsidiary of the Uniform Code Council

Routing Accuracy
When specified activities conform to administrative specifications, and specified resource consumptions (both man and machine) are detailed according to administrative specifications and are within ten percent of actual requirements.

Routing or Routing Guide
(1) Process of determining how shipment will move between origin and destination. Routing information includes designation of carrier(s) involved, actual route of carrier, and estimated time enroute.(2) Right of shipper to determine carriers, routes and points for transfer shipments.(3) In manufacturing this is the document which defines a process of steps used to manufacture and/or assemble a product.

Rows
Two or more columns beside one another.

RPA
see Return Product Authorization

RTF
See Rich Text Format

RTV
see Return to Vendor

Rule
A policy statement or regulation which may be issued, with appropriate authority, by an administrative government agency to interpret or clarify a statute.

Rule of eight
Before the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, contract carriers requesting authority were restricted to eight shippers under contract. The number of shippers has been deleted as a consideration for granting a contract carrier permit.

Rule of rate making
A regulatory provision directing the regulatory agencies to consider the earnings necessary for a carrier to provide adequate transportation.

Risk management
Managers are increasingly aware that they have to asses risk - both natural and artificial - and plan their actions either to avoid risk or to mitigate the effects. As supply chains become longer, there is inevitably more chance of disruption, ad logistics managers have to take a proactive approach.

Responsiveness
The ability to respond in ever-shorter lead-times with the greatest possible flexibility.

Resilience
The ability of a Supply Chains to absorb shocks and continue to function even in the face of unexpected disruption.

Resource Planning
Allocating resources in line with SCM best practice, for example planning by investigating bottleneck activities and considering use of multi-skilled workforces to provide resource flexibility.