Vendor management is the process of selecting suppliers, agreeing terms and monitoring how they actually perform on quality, delivery and price over time.

Value stream mapping draws every step material and information take to reach the customer, marking which steps add value and which do not, so waste is visible rather than assumed.

A user interface (UI) is everything a person sees and touches when using software - the screens, buttons and layout that decide whether a system is quick to use or quietly resented.

Traceability is the ability to follow a product and its materials through every stage of production - backwards from a finished item to its source, and forwards from a material to every customer who received it.

Throughput is the rate at which a process turns work into finished output over a period - units per hour, jobs per shift. It measures flow, not effort.

Supply chain management (SCM) is the coordination of everything that moves material from your suppliers, through your factory, to your customers - purchasing, inbound logistics, production and distribution.

A smart factory is a plant where connected machines, systems and people share data continuously, so production can adapt to problems as they happen rather than after the event.

Shop floor control is the day-to-day management of work in production - releasing jobs, tracking progress through operations, recording labour and material, and reacting when something slips.