Glossary

(1) in logistics, backhaul refers to the practice of maximising efficiencies through the use of return truck loads. For example, a factory might use a truck to collect new parts from a supplier after it has completed delivery of a batch of finished products to a distribution center.

(2) in telecoms, the backhaul network is the part of the network which connects the ‘core’ (or ‘backbone’) network to the edge networks.

The balanced scorecard is a widely used strategic planning and management system. The original concept identified four perspectives (Customer, Process, Financial, Learning & Growth) as a structure for strategic metrics to cover an entire business. Balanced scorecard systems have built on this concept to help align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals.

Bar Coding uses machine readable patterns to label items. Even though new formats have been proposed, the first barcodes, consisting of varying width bars and spaces, remain very significant in the market.

Barrel is a volumetric unit of measure which when applied to oil is equivalent to 42 US gallons or 34.97 Imperial gallons. Note that a barrel has different definitions when used for materials other than oil.

The Barrel of Oil Equivalent (BOE) is an energy unit that is convenient for expressing the quantity of oil or gas in common terms. It is equivalent to 5.8 million BTU or 6.1 GJ. In terms of oil, a BOE is the energy released (approximately) by burning 42 US gallons (one barrel) of crude oil, and in terms of natural gas is the energy equivalent of about 6000 cubic feet.

All inorganic chemicals used in industrial production can be classified as either Alkali Chemicals or Base Inorganics. Base inorganics are widely used as additives to petrochemical feedstocks, and also in applications such as papermaking, electroplating, and batteries.

Input materials are divided into distinct batch quantities. Each batch is processed and tracked individually to account for variations in recipes and customer attribute requirements. Processing can be through automated systems twenty-four hours a day, or by different steps for each batch.

In batch production, a quantity of ingredients, or a number of identical parts, are grouped into a batch which travels through the plant as one unit. This can improve efficiency and simplify scheduling. The choice of the optimum quantity of materials or number of parts in a batch (the batch size or lot size) is important. It depends on the capacity and machines in the factory, the mix of orders received, and the extent to which parts need to be customized.

Bauxite is the ore from which aluminum is extracted.

See bauxite.