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u-Chart: When a manufacturing operation is performed that affects a physical area of product of sizeable dimensions, but the extent of the area of product varies from one manufacturing operation to the next, it is not possible to track statistically the number of undesirable quality attributes from area to area because of the variation in their sizes. It is, however, possible to compare the number of attributes per unit area. For example, if there are 510 paint flecks on an object of 1250 square feet, this may be recorded as 4.0 flecks per ten square feet. The results are recorded on a u-chart, time being on the horizontal axis and the number of attributes per unit area on the vertical.
UC: Unit cost.
UCL: Upper Control Limit - see Control Limit.
UCP1993: Uniform Customs and Practice for documentary credits, 1993. A standard letter of credit form issued by the ICC in 1993.
UDDI: Universal Description, Discovery Interface.
UKWA: United Kingdom Warehousing Association - visit www.ukwa.org.uk.
Ultimate Consumer: The person who finally uses a good (eg the person who eats manufactured food).
Ultra Vires: Latin - beyond legal authority or legal powers.
UMASS: A checklist methodology devised jointly by the University of Massachusetts and the University of Salford to assist in the process of product design from the viewpoint of ease of assembly.
Unascertained Goods: Unascertained goods are a seller's stockholding of particular goods from which the buyer's order will be picked when the time comes. When the buyer's goods are so picked from the stock, they become Ascertained Goods - ie they have been identified and selected for sale.
Uncertainty (or absolute uncertainty): suppose that a physical property is measured and that the value of the measurement is x. In the everyday use of the word, there is clearly uncertainty as to whether x is the "true" dimension measured, or whether the true value is different because of deficiencies in the means used to make the measurement (eg due to the lack of precision of the measuring instrument used or variations in the temperature at which the readings were taken). However, if many measurements are taken of what is being measured, it is reasonable to say that there is a "best" value (x best) equal to the average of all the measurements taken. In considering the differences between the various values of x taken and the average (x best), we may conclude that there is an uncertainty, known as dx, between any individual measurement of x and (x best). Note that the fractional uncertainty (or relative uncertainty, or precision) equals dx / (x best). Note also that the percentage uncertainty = the fractional uncertainty x 100%. For an alternative explanation of the foregoing, see Accuracy.
Unfair Contract Terms Act, 1977: Exclusion clauses puporting to limit a consumer's rights under contract law are, in general, invalid under the Act. This includes "manufacturers' guarantees" which attempt to limit liability. As between a manufacturer and supplier, the Act may also limit an attempt by a big company to exclude its liability to a small one. Exclusions in the buyer's standard printed Purchase Order terms which are held to be unreasonable are also liable to be void. No clause is valid which attempts to exclude liability for injury or death.
Uniformity: low variation among repeated outcomes of a process.
Unit Chart: See u-Chart.
Unit Load: Either a load comprising a full standard pallet (see pallet) and the goods placed on its platform or the goods comprising a full standard ISO container. The building up and carriage of unit loads enable great economy and convenience to be realised in the provision of material handling equipment from one industrial user to the next. See sub-section 2.2.2 of the free on-line 'course' on stores/warehouse operations at this site.
Unit of Measure: The system by which the quantity of a specified material is accounted for and expressed. Examples are feet, kilograms, each, milligrams and gallons. Clearly, as we are all aware, the same substance or phenomenon can be recorded in alternative units of measure. Consequently, one might refer to stocking units of measure, as opposed to production units of measure. Lack of clarity in expressing units of measure can lead to mistakes in stock records accuracy.
Unitisation: The design of packages and containers in such a way as to enable them readily to be formed into unit loads (qv).
Unknowns: Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. - Donald Rumsfield, February 12th, 2002. See also Black Swans.
Unliquidated Damages (legal): Damages sought by a party to a contract, the amount of money to be decided by the court after hearing evidence of the injured party's loss. See Liquidated Damages.
Unlucky (or lucky?): The Japanese citizen Sutoma Yamaguchi was resident in Hiroshima on 6th August 1945. After the bomb had fallen, he was able to make his way home to Nagasaki, arriving on 9th August 1945.
Unpacking Note: A document accompanying a supplier's delivery which contains full details of the items sent - eg the identity and quantity of each type of good. The unpacking note is used by the Good Inwards supervisor to verify the delivery and update the stock records. See Delivery of Goods.
Unreasonableness Check: A computer software check which highlights any quantity of a product which is unusually larger or unusually smaller than quantities recorded for this particular product in the past. For example, a raw material receipt may be recorded as 2, but the product concerned is usually received in boxes of 100. Is the receipt really of 2 units, or should it have been recorded as 200 (ie 2 x 100)? The unreasonableness check does not invalidate the transaction - the software simply prompts the person inputting the data to double check his entry.
UNTD12 : a technical standard for the transmission of EDI messages over telecommunications links, being part of the TRADACOMS message set. Frequently used in the UK.
UOM: Unit of Measure, qv.
UPC: (Universal Product System) - a bar coding system devised in 1973 by IBM, and used in bar coding groceries in supermarkets. Its advantage is that the code or label does not have to lie flat when scanned by the bar code reader.
UPS: United Parcel Service, the US domiciled carrier service founded by Jim Casey and Claude Ryan in Seattle in 1907. UPS is one of the world's largest package delivery companies and began operations in Europe in 1976; it has a fleet worldwide of 92,000 vehicles and operates the the world's eighth largest airline. The CEO is Mike Eskew. In the UK, UPS is centred in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Visit www.ups.com.
UPT: Ultrafine Pitch Technology.
Uptime: see availability.
Upper Control Limit: See Control Limit.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator, used as shorthand jargon for the address of an Internet site.
Urstomtaler: a type of schwundgeld originating in October 2004 in Gusen, northwest Germany.
Uruguay Round: Free trade negotiations from 1986 - 1991 connected with GATT (qv).
Usage: Within a bill of materials structure, products are seen to be made from other products. For example, a bicycle is made from 2 wheels. The amount of a component product used in the manufacture is its usage, or quantity per. In the bicycle, the usage or quantity per of wheels in the final assembly is 2.0.
Usage (Annual): The amount used each year of a product or (often) the amount per year purchased. The amount may be expressed in units or in financial value.
USD: = United States Dollars ($).
USP: 'unique selling proposition', a valuable notion used in advertising.
