APICS American Production and Inventory Management Society, now known as the Association for Operations Management.

Benelux Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

BRIC Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

CDMA Code division multiple access (mobile phone technology).

CPIM Certified in Production and Inventory Management (APICS).

CPSD Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity (ISM).

CSCP Certified Supply Chain Professional (APICS).

ERP Enterprise resource planning.

EU European Union.

Eurozone Countries in the EU that have adopted the euro (€) as a common currency.

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1949–93).

GPS Global positioning system.

GSM Global System for Mobile Communication (mobile phone standard).

ISM Institute for Supply Management (see PMA).

JIT Just-in-time. The generic version of TPS.

Malcolm Baldrige Award A competitive quality award for U.S. firms.

MRP Material requirements planning.

MRP II Manufacturing resource planning.

OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

PIGS Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain.

PMA Purchasing Management Association, now known as the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

PPP Purchasing power parity. Tells what an exchange rate should be.

RFID Radio-frequency identification.

SCM Supply-chain management.

SCOR Model Supply-Chain Operational Reference Model from the Supply Chain Council.

SCOR-P SCOR Professional certification by the Supply Chain Council.

SKU Stock-keeping unit. The basic measure of an item in the inventory stock.

TEU Twenty-foot equivalent unit. An ocean container standard size.

TOC Theory of constraints.

TPS Toyota Production System, later known as JIT and lean.

WIP Work-in-process inventory.

WTO World Trade Organization.