Sourcing and Procurement
Glossary
Your trusted guide to exploring sourcing and procurement terms & definitions,
from the world’s leading procurement experts and companies
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
A measure that is of strategic importance to a company or department. For example, a supply chain flexibility metric is Supplier On-time Delivery Performance that indicates the percentage of orders that are fulfilled on or before the original requested date.
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Key performance Indicators
A quantifiable measure used to evaluate the success of an automated process or project.
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Knowledge Acquisition
Process of locating, collecting, and refining knowledge and converting it into a form that can be further processed by a knowledge-based system.
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Knowledge Transfer
Structured process of imparting pre-existing or acquired information to a team or a person, to help them attain a required level of proficiency in skill.
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Kraljic Purchasing Portfolio
A four-box matrix that reflects the segmentation of spend based on an assessment of the value of the spend (X-axis) relative to the market risk to acquire (Y-axis). The matrix typically includes four quadrants: acquisition or non-critical.
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LABOR SURPLUS AREA
A civil jurisdiction designated by the U.S. Department of Labor, usually updated annually in the late fall. Used as one of the criteria for designating economically disadvantaged (ED) vendors.
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Key customer segments
A method of splitting a company’s clients into groups so that marketing efforts can be more focused. It is often based on demographics such as age or geographic location or on buying behaviour
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Kitting
When a warehouse is required to combine multiple products into new product kits, the act of pulling these pieces together is called kitting. This process results in faster field processes by having the exact number of "pieces " available for installation, reduces loss and inventory and can be bundled into kits by manufactures as a value added service.
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Knowledge Assessment and Development
An ongoing process by which employees assess how knowledgeable they are on a series of category management related topics.
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Kraljic Matrix
Born out of Peter Kraljic's pioneering "Harvard Business Review" article. An easy, logical way to segment suppliers in a 2 x 2 matrix based on risk and profit impact.
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Kyoto Protocol
International treaty which commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
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LCL
Less carload. Often refers to a freight rate that is usually higher than for a full carload.
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