The production-line glossary.
Every term a first-time line buyer meets, defined in plain language. If a supplier uses a word that isn't here and won't explain it, that tells you something too.
Buying & cost
FOB (Free On Board)
The price of equipment loaded onto a ship in China — and nothing after that. The number most quotes lead with, and only 35–55% of what a running line actually costs. See: what a line really costs →
Landed cost
What the equipment has cost by the time it's through your port and at your site: FOB plus freight, insurance, duty, VAT and clearance. Still excludes installation and commissioning.
Landed-and-installed factor
The multiplier that turns an equipment price into a realistic total project budget — typically ×1.25–1.45 into coastal African markets and ×1.45–1.60 landlocked. Planning with it is the single best defence against a half-finished project.
HS code (Harmonised System code)
The international classification number that determines what duty your machinery pays at the border. Getting it right (and in writing, at quote time) prevents expensive surprises at clearance.
Incoterms
Standard trade terms (FOB, CIF, DAP…) that define exactly where a seller's responsibility ends and yours begins — who pays freight, who carries risk at sea, who clears customs. Always ask which one a quote uses.
Letter of credit (LC)
A bank-guaranteed payment method: your bank promises to pay the seller when documents prove shipment. Protects both sides across borders, and is one of the two payment structures we use in FX-constrained markets like Mozambique.
Capital ladder
The four honest entry points to production capacity, by budget: recover what you own (from US$60k) → build with used equipment (40–60% of new) → new small line (US$150k+) → new mid line (US$400k+). See: new, used, or recover →
Delivery & commissioning
FAT (Factory Acceptance Test)
Testing the equipment at the factory in China, before it ships — the last moment problems are cheap to fix. A line that skips FAT exports its problems to your floor.
SAT (Site Acceptance Test)
Proving the installed line performs on your site, on your product, at the agreed rate. The test that turns "delivered" into "done."
Commissioning
The staged process of bringing an installed line up to real production: checks, dry running, product trials, then sustained running at rate. "Installed" and "commissioned" are different products — only the second one earns money.
Rated output / "at rate"
The production speed a line is designed — and contractually committed — to sustain. The single most important number to have in writing before you pay.
Ramp-up
The weeks after commissioning while operators build skill and the line settles to steady output. Real projects budget cash for it; optimistic ones discover it.
P&ID (Piping & Instrumentation Diagram)
The engineering drawing showing how process equipment, piping and instruments connect. You don't need to read one — your solution partner does — but its existence in your handover file matters when anything is modified later.
Abnormal load
Freight too big or heavy for standard road transport, needing permits and escort — common for production-line components moving inland (e.g. Johannesburg to Zambia), and a reason installations are planned, not improvised.
Running & maintenance
Preventive maintenance (PM)
Servicing on a schedule — daily, weekly, quarterly checklists — so wear is caught before it becomes a breakdown. The cheapest form of uptime. See: maintenance & support →
Breakdown maintenance
Fixing things after they fail. Always part of life; as a strategy, it's the most expensive one, because it converts cheap parts into down-days.
Remote diagnostics
Diagnosing a stoppage over phone, video and the line's documentation before anyone travels — so the right part and the right person make one trip, not two.
Bottleneck
The one station that limits the whole line's output. Finding the real one (by measurement, not opinion) is the first step of every recovery project — it's often not where everyone assumes.
PLC (Programmable Logic Controller)
The industrial computer that runs the line. Obsolete or failed PLCs are the most common single reason a repairable line stands idle — and a controls upgrade is often the heart of a recovery.
Changeover
Switching a line between products or pack sizes. Changeover time is invisible in brochures and decisive in real economics — ask for it whenever you'll run more than one product.
Throughput / tpd
How much a line actually processes per hour or day (tpd = tonnes per day, the standard sizing unit for mills and oil plants). Sizing throughput to your market, not the brochure, is the feasibility stage's whole job.
Parts & supply
Wear parts
Components designed to wear and be replaced: bearings, seals, belts, blades, heating elements, filters. Their availability — not the machine's brand — decides your uptime. See: what to hold →
Wear-part kit
The starter set of spares specified and priced when you buy the line — what goes on your shelf, what sits in a regional buffer, what stays reachable on the channel. If a seller can't produce this list, they don't know the machine.
Buffer stock
Spares held regionally (ours: Johannesburg) so mid-value parts are days away instead of an ocean away.
Consignment stock
Spares physically stored at or near your site but still owned by the supplier — you pay when you use one. The closest a part can live to your line without your capital holding it.
Supply channel
A standing route for goods that is already moving — established suppliers, scheduled consolidated freight, routine clearance — as opposed to a shipment arranged from scratch. The difference between parts in a week and parts in three months.
Consolidated freight
Many consignments travelling as one shipment, sharing cost and schedule. Why a single carton on an established channel costs a fraction of the same carton shipped alone.
Met a term that isn't here?
Send it over — you'll get a straight answer, and the glossary gets better.