CSCA flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Bullwhip effect

Upstream order variability that grows as demand signals move from customer to supplier, driven by forecast updating, order batching, price promotions, and shortage gaming.

SCOR model

Supply chain reference framework with processes Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable, used to describe, measure, and benchmark supply chain performance.

Cash-to-cash cycle

Days inventory outstanding plus days sales outstanding minus days payables outstanding; measures how long cash is tied up in operations before returning from customers.

Postponement

Delaying final product differentiation until customer demand is known, allowing generic inventory to serve many variants while reducing safety stock and stockout risk.

Total landed cost

Sum of unit price, freight, duties, insurance, handling, inventory carrying cost, and quality or risk costs; used to compare sourcing options on true total cost.

Perfect order rate

Percentage of orders delivered complete, on time, damage-free, and with correct documentation; a key SCOR reliability metric reflecting end-to-end order execution.

Decoupling point

Inventory position where a product shifts from forecast-driven to order-driven production; moves upstream as customization increases from make-to-stock to engineer-to-order.

Vendor-managed inventory

Arrangement where the supplier monitors stock levels and replenishes the buyer's inventory under agreed rules, reducing stockouts and order variability across the chain.

Incoterms risk transfer

Rules defining when risk passes from seller to buyer: EXW at seller's premises, FCA when loaded on buyer's carrier, FOB when on board vessel, DAP at destination ready for unloading.

Economic order quantity

EOQ equals the square root of 2DS/H, where D is annual demand, S is order cost, and H is annual holding cost per unit; minimizes total ordering plus holding cost.

Three-way match

Accounts payable control comparing purchase order, receiving report, and supplier invoice for quantity and price agreement before releasing payment to the supplier.

Kraljic matrix

Procurement segmentation by spend and supply risk into leverage, strategic, bottleneck, and non-critical categories, each calling for a different sourcing strategy.

Customs transaction value

Primary customs valuation method using the price actually paid or payable, adjusted for assists, royalties, selling commissions, and certain transport costs to the import point.

LTL versus FTL

Less-than-truckload shipments share trailer space and are priced by freight class and weight; full truckload uses a dedicated trailer and is priced per mile or lane.

Freight accessorial charges

Extra carrier fees beyond base rate, such as liftgate, inside delivery, detention, reweigh, and appointment scheduling, often caused by inaccurate shipment information.

Inventory accuracy metric

Count of inventory records matching physical counts divided by total records counted; low accuracy undermines planning, fill rates, and financial reporting.

CIP insurance requirement

Under Incoterms 2020, CIP requires the seller to obtain Institute Cargo Clauses (A) all-risk insurance, a broader standard than the previous minimum cover.

Mean absolute deviation

MAD equals the sum of absolute forecast errors divided by the number of periods; expresses average forecast error in the same units as demand.

Exponential smoothing

Forecast update F(t+1) = α·A(t) + (1−α)·F(t), where α weights recent actual demand; higher α responds faster but increases sensitivity to noise.

Safety stock formula

Safety stock equals z times demand standard deviation times the square root of lead time; z reflects the desired service level for demand variability during lead time.

Reorder point

Inventory level that triggers a replenishment order, equal to average demand during lead time plus safety stock; ignores quantity already on order.

MRP net requirement

Gross requirement minus on-hand inventory minus scheduled receipts plus safety stock; determines planned order releases by exploding the bill of materials through time buckets.

Seasonal index

Average demand in a period divided by overall average demand; multiplies a trend forecast to adjust for recurring seasonal patterns in demand.

ABC classification

Inventory ranking by annual dollar volume: A items are few but high value and tightly controlled, B moderate, C many but low value with simple controls.

Sales and operations planning

Monthly cross-functional cycle aligning demand review, supply review, financial reconciliation, and executive consensus over a rolling 18-24 month planning horizon.

Forecast bias

Average of forecast minus actual over periods; positive bias means forecasts run high, negative means low, revealing systematic error rather than random noise.

Seven wastes

Transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing, and defects; overproduction is often called the worst because it creates and hides other wastes.

DMAIC

Six Sigma improvement roadmap: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control; applied to existing processes, while DMADV designs new processes or products.

Process capability Cpk

Cpk equals the minimum of upper and lower specification distances from the mean divided by three sigma; below 1 means not capable, 1.33 commonly required.

Takt time

Available production time divided by customer demand; sets the pace a process must meet to satisfy demand without overproduction or delay.

SMED

Single-minute exchange of die: separate internal and external setup tasks, convert internal to external, and streamline remaining steps to cut changeover time.

FMEA risk priority number

RPN equals severity times occurrence times detection; higher values prioritize failure modes for corrective action, and RPN is recomputed after improvements.