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Job Shop ERP Glossary: Terms Machine Shops and ERP Vendors Use

ERP vendors and machine shops often use the same word to mean slightly different things. This glossary helps you write precise requirements and read vendor documentation.

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Term	Area	Meaning	Where it appears in an ERP
Traveler	Production	The paper or electronic document that travels with a job listing its operations, quantities and notes	Printed or displayed from the job and its routing
Routing (router)	Production	The ordered list of operations and work centers needed to make a part	Routing or operations table attached to a part or job
Job	Production	A customer order or internal order to make a quantity of a part	Job or work order header
Operation	Production	One step in a routing, such as turning, milling, deburr or inspection	Job operation lines with setup and run standards
Work center	Production	A machine or group of machines or people that perform operations and share a rate	Work center master with hourly rates and calendar
Setup time	Estimating	Time to prepare a machine for a job, charged once per run or lot	Operation standard, actual time collection
Run time	Estimating	Time per piece, or per hundred pieces, once the machine is set up	Operation standard, actual time collection
Cycle time	Estimating	Time to complete one part on a machine in a single cycle	Often the basis of the run time standard
WIP	Costing	Work in process: cost of material, labor and burden accumulated on open jobs	WIP balance in inventory and general ledger
Burden rate	Costing	Indirect cost applied per labor or machine hour to absorb overhead	Work center or labor rate setup
Overhead absorption	Costing	Allocating indirect factory costs to jobs through rates	Cost roll or job costing postings
Estimate (quote)	Sales	A priced offer built from material, operations, outside processes and margin	Estimating module, convertible to a job
Repeat order	Sales	A new order for a part made before, often reusing the earlier routing and price basis	Part master and job history
Blanket purchase order	Sales	A customer order for total quantity with scheduled releases over time	Sales order with delivery schedule lines
Release	Sales	A dated delivery draw against a blanket order	Sales order release or schedule line
Outside process	Purchasing	Work sent to an outside vendor such as heat treat, plating or anodize	Operation flagged as outside, linked to a purchase order
Heat treat	Purchasing	A thermal process that changes material properties, commonly performed by an outside vendor	Outside operation with vendor certification
MTR (mill test report)	Quality	Mill document certifying chemistry and mechanical properties of a material heat or lot	Attached to lot or heat record at receiving
Certificate of conformance (C of C)	Quality	A statement by the supplier that shipped parts meet the order requirements	Document generated at shipping
Heat or lot traceability	Quality	Ability to trace a finished part back to the material lot it came from	Lot number captured at receipt and job issue
First article inspection (FAI)	Quality	A full verification of the first part produced against the drawing	Quality record linked to the job or part revision
Revision	Engineering	The version of a drawing a part is built to	Part revision field on the part, quote and job
Bill of materials (BOM)	Engineering	List of material and components used to make a part	Part structure; often a single raw material line in machining
Tooling	Production	Cutting tools, inserts and holders consumed or reused in operations	Tool crib or tool inventory, sometimes outside the ERP
Fixture	Production	A work holding device made for a particular part or family	Tool or asset record, sometimes noted on the operation
Dispatch list	Scheduling	Ordered list of operations a work center should run next	Scheduling board or shop floor queue
Finite scheduling	Scheduling	Scheduling that respects work center capacity so loads do not exceed available hours	Scheduling engine or board
Infinite scheduling	Scheduling	Scheduling by lead time only, ignoring capacity limits	Basic MRP style due date planning
Backlog	Scheduling	Total hours or dollars of open orders waiting to be produced	Open jobs and sales order reports
Kitting	Inventory	Gathering the material and components for a job before it starts	Job pick list or material issue
Scrap	Quality	Parts that cannot be used or reworked	Scrap quantity and reason on the operation
Rework	Quality	Parts brought back into conformance through extra operations	Rework operation or non-conformance record
Drop ship	Sales	Shipping directly from a supplier to the customer without receiving in your plant	Purchase order linked to a sales order line

Terms vary slightly between shops and ERP vendors. Use these as a common vocabulary when writing requirements.

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How to use the glossary

Search for a term, read the plain meaning and then check the last column to see where it lives in the ERP. When you write a requirements document, quote the term as defined here so the vendor and your team talk about the same thing. Export the table and add your shop's own terms in extra rows.

Search by term or by area such as Quality or Scheduling
Export to Excel to build a shared team vocabulary
Mark terms your shop uses differently

Terms that cause the most confusion

Router and routing are used interchangeably, but traveler is the printed output, not the data. WIP in costing means accumulated cost, while shop people often use WIP to mean physical jobs on the floor. Finite versus infinite scheduling is the term most often misrepresented in demos, so ask which one the system actually uses by default.

Mapping terms to data when you migrate

During migration every glossary term becomes a field or table that must be cleaned and loaded. Outside process, revision and lot number are the three most often missing from legacy data, and they matter for quality audits. Decide early which of these you will backfill.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a router and a traveler?

A router is the operation list stored in the system for a part or job. A traveler is the printed or on-screen document built from the router, plus quantities, notes and barcodes, that accompanies the job on the floor.

What does WIP mean in job shop ERP?

In costing it means the dollar value accumulated on open jobs: material issued, labor and machine time posted, and burden applied. Operationally it also means the jobs physically in process.

What is an MTR?

A mill test report is the mill certificate showing chemistry and mechanical properties for a heat or lot of material. Aerospace and defense customers usually require it to be kept with traceability records.

Why do setup and run time matter separately?

Setup is paid once per run, while run time scales with quantity. Mixing them hides why short runs are expensive and distorts quotes on small lot sizes.

If your legacy data uses different names for these concepts, Netray can help map them to a new system and test the result before go-live.

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