 |
| UCL |
Upper control limit (see Control limit) |
| undesirable effect (UDE) |
In the theory of constraints, a current state or reality that negatively impacts reaching an objective or goal. |
| unfavorable variance |
A variance created by using or spending more of a given resource than specified by the standard, often categorized as rate (spending more per hour for labor for a given amount of production), efficiency (using more hours for a given amount of production), usage (using more material for a given amount of production) or price (paying more to a vendor for a given purchased item). |
| unit cost |
The total of material, labor and overhead costs allocated to a single unit and used in inventory valuation, and margin and variance analysis. |
| unit of measure |
The base unit by which an item is normally stocked, costed and ordered. Planning and costing systems must translate vendor or customer orders based on alternate measures into a common unit for consistency. |
| unit of measure conversion |
A transaction or report for a specific product that translates its value from one unit of measure into another, as in the conversion of cases specified on a customer order into the planning and stocking measure of units or each. |
| unit test |
A test used to verify the acceptable functionality of a single program, operation or process that does not also test the impact and integration points with other programs or operations. |
| univariate |
A process or mathematical expression with only one variable. |
| Universal Product Code (UPC) |
A numeric code used to identify a specific product, normally composed of a six digit code that identifies the manufacturer, a six digit code used by the manufacturer to identify the product, and a two digit check code. |
| unnatural pattern |
Any pattern in which a significant number of the measurements do not group them-selves around a center line; when the pattern is unnatural, it means that outside disturbances are present and are affecting the process. |
| unplanned issue |
Issues to production orders not originally specified on the pick slip that indicate usage variances, bill of material errors or process changes. |
| upper control limit (UCL) |
The measurement point above the centerline in a process control chart or report that indicates an out-of-bounds condition or a warning signal. |
| usage variance |
Actual material usage for a given order or schedule that is different than the standard amount. Variance analysis seeks to isolate dollar variances due to usage (using more or less of the correct material) from substitution (using different material than originally intended). |
| usage-based pricing |
Pricing a service or item based on its consumption or usage, rather than a flat rate for a given service or period of time. |
| USL |
Upper specification limit (see Specification) |
| utilization |
The measurement of actual hours as compared to scheduled or available hours. The downtime that represents the difference is often categorized by material shortage, equipment failure or other cause. |
