P - DHL Logistik

Packaging

Packaging is the removable, complete or partial covering of a good (parcel) that is used for protective or other purposes. Packaging performs four principal jobs: production, marketing, application and logistics functions. The logistics functions of packaging are broken down into five areas: protection, storage, transport, manipulation and information.

Packing department

In the packing department, the picked order is consolidated into a dispatch-ready unit. The order can also be a transport to an internal section of a company.

Packing list

The packing list is a list of all cargo that details labeling, type, weight and contents.

Pallet

Pallets are units on which goods can be stored and transported. Pallets come in all forms (e.g., flat and box pallets). Pallets are made of materials such as wood, plastic and metal.

Pallet racks

Pallet racks do not have bottoms. Instead, they consist solely of side supports with traverse and longitudinal beams used to hold the palletized good. They generally are handled by forklift trucks, a fact that requires certain aisle width. Pallet racks are the most popular storage forms in industrial and retail companies. They are used to store small to large quantities of individual items that are part of a large range of products or assortments.

Palletizer

A palletizer is a machine frequently used in warehouses and transshipping points. It stacks parcels and packages on pallets according to a predetermined pattern. For stability reasons, a load group should be achieved.

Parcel post receipt

The parcel post receipt is an acknowledgement showing that a postal service delivered a shipment to a particular recipient. The parcel post receipt can help prove that a shipment was indeed carried out by the service. The postmark date shows the day on which the item was dispatched. If an item is sent by airmail, the corresponding document is the airmail receipt.

Parcel service

Parcel services are a special type of express service that can be viewed as a distinct segment. As system service providers, parcel services concentrate on performing national, regular and sometimes scheduled transports of parcels that are generally standardized and lightweight.

Payment of charges

The payment of charges is a series of clauses in a shipping contract concluded by a customer and carrier. This section identifies the party that is responsible for the costs of a transport. If the shipment is "uncharged" or "free," the sender assumes the costs. In "carriage-forward" shipments, the recipient covers the costs.

Pick list

See packing list

Pick-by-light

In a pick-by-light system, every bin is equipped with a numerical or alphanumerical display and a button that is used to confirm the retrieval and possibly an additional input and correction key. The signal lamp of a bin comes on when an item is to be picked from that bin. The retrieval amount is displayed as well. The picker confirms the retrieval by pressing the receipt button. Simultaneously, a real-time report about the change in inventory is sent to the inventory-management system.

Pick-by-vision

In a pick-by-vision system, the picker is assisted by visual information in his field of vision. The visual information about the article to be picked (primarily item description, storage position, picking load) is communicated to the picker via data glasses.

Pick-by-voice

In a pick-by-voice system, the picker uses a headset that is possibly connected to a pocket PC. The picking order is transmitted to the picker by radio. First, the picker receives oral instructions about the rack where the item is stored. When the picker reaches this rack, he confirms his action by communicating the check digit on this rack. Finally, the picker receives oral instructions about the picking load. After the order is picked, he then confirms this action by using a key word. Simultaneously, a real-time report about the change in inventory is sent to the inventory-management system.

Picking

In picking, one or more pickers (or order pickers) put together batches of goods from the entire assortment. The products are always partial quantities of the entire assortment. The order can be placed either by internal or external customers. A distinction is drawn between single-stage, or order-based, and multi-stage, or item-based, picking.

Picking warehouse

In picking warehouses, small quantities and units of goods are generally stored for only short amounts of time. In this warehouse area, movement processes that help concentrate or dissolve the goods flow (picking) take place. As a result of picking, the goods do not leave the warehouse in the same condition in which they arrived. To keep manual picking times as short as possible, the focus of picking-warehouse design must be placed on time-saving picking processes and short transport distances.

Pick-up principle

If the pick-up principle is used, the customer is largely responsible for retrieval and must take the necessary steps.

Piggyback transports

This type of transport is a variation of combined transport. Road vehicles including trucks and tractor-trailers are driven over ramps or placed by cranes onto freight trains and then continue their journey.

Pipeline transport

Pipeline transports involve the shipment of goods through pipes. They are used primarily for liquid and gaseous products, including natural gas, crude oil, petroleum products, water and chemicals. Natural gas and crude oil are the main products used in pipeline transports.

Point of sale

The point of sale is a form of an information-collection point at the "electronic" interface between the customer and retailer. The POS includes scanner cash registers that register item-based sales as well as purchases made with credit cards or other electronic payment options. Combined with other information (including that from merchandise information systems), the data are used to show potential streamlining options and to improve customer service.

POS

See point of sale

Positioning movement

Positioning movements are the unwelcome provision of cargo carriers at the place of loading. Positioning movements generally involve empty runs.

Postponement

Postponement applies to products that are to be held for as long as possible in a neutral condition at the beginning of the logistics channel without being allocated to a customer or market segment. Individual differentiation based on the customer’s needs is done at a late point in time. Postponement is particularly useful when a large number of product variations is used and customers are widely scattered because, in such cases, it is extremely hard to predict how much of a product variation will be required at what time, in what place and by whom.
For instance, customer-specific manufacturing and assembly (manufacturing postponement) can be put off. Another example is storage of inventories in a central warehouse and the delay of delivery through the channels of the distribution system until a customer order is received (logistics postponement).
The antipode to postponement is the strategy of speculation. In this approach, a product is brought to the end of the logistics channel at an early point in time as a result of predicted customer demand.

Pre-assembly

In pre-assembly, parts, or so-called kits, that are to be used in the end product are put together. Pre-assembly is an important component of the automotive industry. It needs a range of component groups such as the engine, transmission and seating modules in order to manufacture a car.

Prefix

In logistics, the prefix designates the country identification code within the EAN code. It can be two or three digits. The numbers of 400 to 440 stand for Germany, 00 to 13 for the United States and Canada, and 45 and 49 for Japan.

Primary product

The term “primary product” refers to the product originally sold to a customer by a company and is different from replacement parts. These parts are required when individual segments of the primary product break.

Process-cost accounting

Process-cost accounting involves the process-oriented reporting and tracking of fixed costs for products, customers, delivery channels or logistics. It is recommended as an approach to developing logistics-oriented cost-performance accounting. Process-cost accounting makes it possible to create an operational-based disclosure of costs of the indirect service area. The focus of process-cost accounting is process factors, reference values and cost drivers.

Procurement logistics

Procurement logistics forms the connection between a supplier’s distribution logistics and a company’s production logistics. The job of procurement logistics is to provide raw materials, auxiliary supplies, operating supplies, purchased items, merchandise and replacement parts to a company as needed.

Product and service agreements

As part of vendor management, product and service agreements (PSA) are worked out with every supplier. These agreements determine the extent of the relationship.
See supplier relationship management

Product life cycle

The product life cycle comprises all phases that a product covers from the time of market introduction until the termination of production. Traditionally, a distinction is made among the following phases: introduction, growth, maturity, saturation, decline and possibly follow-up.

Production island

Production islands are physically consolidated productive units that have various functions. They facilitate complete processing of a certain group (parts or product families) of similar products or products with similar production features.
The physical consolidation enables transport paths to be significantly shortened, and transport services required to produce a product (or process an order) can be reduced accordingly.
Compared with flexible production systems, production islands use less automation.

Production logistics

Production logistics is an important component of logistics systems in production companies. This form of logistics covers planning, management and monitoring of the material flow – from raw-material warehouses and various production stages to warehouses for finished goods. In the complete value cycle, production logistics follows procurement logistics and precedes distribution and reverse logistics.

Production lots

Production lots describe the quantity of a product that is manufactured from another product in an interrelated and, thus, uninterrupted process.

Productive goods

Productive goods are goods produced for other companies.

PSA

See product and service agreements

PUDO

A PUDO is a combination of “pick-up point” and “drop-off point” in installations like the Packstation. It enables the first and last mile of the delivery to be designed more efficiently.

Pull principle

The pull or pick-up principle is a method used to manage production processes. The resupply of material to all involved parties is based on demand. For this reason, the entire production flow is divided into segments. On a manufacturing line, for instance, this means that each segment acts on its own to request replenishment from the upstream section or from the warehouse based on its particular need. The objective of the pull principle is to create a permanent, uninterrupted flow of production. The pull principle frequently goes hand in hand with the Kanban system.

Push principle

See delivery principle

Push-back rack

Push-back racks are shelf-type or pallet racks compactly located next to each other. They can be pulled out into the aisle or be moved parallel to it. As a result, direct access is always provided to only one or two racks.
Push-back racks are well-suited for long-term storage of inventories that are rarely used. Special areas of use are archives of records, documents and electronic data carriers. Medium amounts of individual papers in a mid-sized to large range of articles are stored in push-back racks.

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