Terms and Definitions

Last updated: June 19, 2026

 

  • Action: Actions help record what actions happened. Actions are the verb of the action that occurred. An example of this would be ‘tightened bolt’. ‘Tightened’ would be the action.
  • Actual:  The actual line production output entered either manually by an operator or via API.
  • Area: A functional area within a Branch.
  • Auto Paging: Pages can be setup by Time Frame, By Dispatch Type and by Machine. Pages are sent via email to the wireless provider, who will then send them out as a text message.
    • When setting up Auto Paging to use a new wireless provider, contact the wireless provider so they know the system will be sending a large number of text messages to phones. Otherwise they may “Black Flag” the email server as a spammer and block these messages.
  • Branch: A single physical building or groups of buildings in the organization.
  • Broadcast Message: A message used to notify users of any system activities such as system downtimes and upgrades. If your Dispatch Install is using a server cluster, a message will need to be set on each server node.
  • Changeover: Changing from one product to another in the production process. (Last good part to First Good Part).
  • Component: Components help record what actions happened. Components are the noun of the Maintenance action that occurred. An example of this would be ‘tightened bolt’. ‘Bolt’ would be the component.
  • Cycle Time:  The theoretical rate at which the line is capable of running.
  • Demand: The total quantity of Product to be produced during a Pitch, Shift, Day or Week.
  • Default: A setting or selection, that when made, will default list, drop downs or setting to show on what is set as Default.
  • Default Pitch Length: A site -wide setting defining the length of each pitch on the production schedule.
  • Dispatch Type: The different types of occurrences a machine can experience. Types can include Machine Down, Planned Maintenance, or Out of Material.
  • Dispatch: A single event where activities are tracked.
  • Downtime Minutes:  Dispatches affecting the Line with impact type "Down" during the production schedule.
  • eKanban: Feature in L2L Production Module that allows production quantities to be planned and built in Kanban card sizes to match shipping and Heijunka requirements.
  • eKanban Planner: The planning tool used to plan and schedule ekanban cards across al production lines.
  • eKanban Queue: Product orders in scheduled status waiting to be produced on a line.
  • Inspection Limits: In Product Categories, inspection criteria can be set for products and accessed from the Operator Portal.
  • Line: A work cell within an Area.
  • Line Cycle Time: A feature in the Production Module that identifies and documents Cycle time of individual products by Line. This is used for various calculations and determining Demand.
  • Machine Group: Groups of machines on the Line so if one machine goes down it will affect the OA for the rest of the line.
  • MTBF: Mean-Time-Between-Failures.
  • MTTR: Mean Time-To-Repair.
  • OA: Operational Availability.
  • OEE: Overall Equipment Effectiveness.
  • Operator: Usually defined as the person interacting with L2L on the shop-floor.
  • Operator Count: The quantity of Operators assigned to a pitch or schedule.
  • Operator Fix: A tool that allows the Operator to capture an event and time without the need for a Resource to respond.
  • Operator Portal: A screen in the Production Module where production demand numbers and actuals along with the metrics as well as other features can be accessed by the Operators,
  • Order Planner: A screen and feature in the Production Module that allows the Production Scheduler to plan and schedule production in L2L.
  • Order Routing Templates: Used to set templates for Product Orders that repeat, reducing the need to reproduce the routing of such orders.
  • Overlapping Shifts: Shifts that are configured in the Setup menu that have time overlapping each other on the same line.
  • Pitch: A slice of time in which a defined quantity of product is to be produced. Usually based on Takt Time and customer demand.
  • Pitch Board: A screen in the Production Module akin to the Operator Portal, but displaying the information from a statistical point of view instead of a User friendly point of view.
  • Pitch Details: Detailed information on data pushed from an API call to the Pitches on the Operator Portal.
  • Pitch Schedule: The page in the Production Module that allows Production Planners to input the scheduled time to run production on Lines.
  • Pitch Schedule Template: Allows a Production Planner to save a daily pitch schedule as a template.
  • Pitch Target: A site setting column added to the operator portal showing the quantity of product that should have been produced after decrementing Downtime and Scrap from the Pitch length.
  • Pitch Threshold: Upper and lower limits on pitch metrics that visually indicate based on Red, Yellow, Green shades.
  • Planned Product:  A feature of the Operator Portal that allows the Operator to see the product scheduled for the line and the pitch.
  • Planned Production Minutes:  Total number of minutes scheduled within production scheduled pitch boards.
  • Products: Product Codes/SKU/Names run during production within the plant.
  • Product Categories: Allows for inspection criteria to apply to all Products in the category.
  • Product Orders: The Production Module feature that places a Product in an order to then be scheduled and built by the production line.
  • Production Status Dispatch: A Dispatch that is created when a pitch or metrics move out of the control status set in the Pitch Thresholds.
  • Relationships: The way Dispatch ties machines to lines and lines to areas. These relationships must be setup in order for the system to function.
  • Resource Pool: Displays all active resources and groups them by technology or area.
  • Resources: The site resources available to respond to production downtime issues. Resources with specialized skills can have a technology relationship created to aide in Dispatches on specialized areas/machines.
  • Run Rate:  The actual rate at which the line is running.
  • Scrap:  Product that was produced and either disposed of or re-worked.
  • Scrap Categories: Subset categories that allows production line scrap to be gathered in custom categories from the Operator Portal.
  • Security Setting: Each module in L2L has it's own unique setting for access by User of the software.
  • Shelf Time Per Day: Used in the reporting section select windows of time across multiple days (E.g. 7am to 3pm Monday-Friday).
  • Shifts: Used to help organize downtime and OA for a line by time.
  • Standard Work: In L2L, Standard Work is a digital document that defined actions or tasks to be performed. These documents then be made to appear on the Operator Portal for completion.
  • Takt Time: The rate needed to meet customer demand.
  • Technology: Groups machines in functional families for reporting purposes (i.e. welding, crimping, testing, etc.)
  • Tooling: Tooling can be tied to machines and/or areas. Tooling can be used to track things such as Dies, Tools, Calibrated items, Machine components, etc..
  • Total Available Time: A setting on each line for each workday that tells dispatch how many hours the line is working. Total Available Time is used for OA calculations. This is not a repeating setting and must be set up for a date range and must be maintained.
  • UTC: Universal Time Coordinated, world clock, used in coordination of APIs in particular. 
  • Value Stream: An end-to-end business process which produces a specific product or service. Value Streams can span across multiple areas within a branch.
  • Week Summary: A page in the Production Module showing basic metrics and statistics for selected Production Lines