Digital Manufacturing Glossary: Your A-Z Guide to Industry Terms

Navigate the world of smart manufacturing with confidence. From ERP and MES to IoT and digital twins, this comprehensive glossary defines the essential terms every manufacturer should know to drive operational excellence.

A

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS)

API (Application Programming Interface)

Automated Data Collection

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

B

Batch Tracking

Bill of Materials (BOM)

Bottleneck

C

Capacity Planning

Cloud ERP

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Cycle Time

D

Dashboard

Data Analytics

Digital Transformation

Digital Twin

Discrete Manufacturing

E

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

F

Forecast

G

Gantt Chart

H

Human-Machine Interface (HMI)

I

Industry 4.0

Internet of Things (IoT)

Inventory Management

ISO Certification

J

Job Costing

K

Kanban

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

L

Lead Time

Lean Manufacturing

Lot Traceability

M

Machine Learning

Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

Material Requirements Planning (MRP)

N

Non-Conformance Report (NCR)

O

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)

Order Management

On-Premise Software

P

Predictive Maintenance

Production Planning

Purchase Order (PO)

Q

Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality Control (QC)

R

Real-Time Tracking

Routing

S

Serial Number Tracking

Shop Floor Control

Smart Factory

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

T

Throughput

Traceability

U

User Interface (UI)

V

Value Stream Mapping

Vendor Management

W

Work in Progress (WIP)

Work Order

X

XML (Extensible Markup Language)