195 Supply Chain Trivia Questions (Ranked from Easiest to Hardest)

The supply chain refers to the network of companies, activities, and resources involved in the creation and delivery of a product or service from supplier to customer. It encompasses all stages of production, from sourcing raw materials to delivering the finished product to the customer.

Effective supply chain management is crucial for businesses to ensure the efficient and timely delivery of products, as well as to control costs and improve profitability.

With the increasing globalization of trade and the growth of e-commerce, the supply chain has become a critical component of many businesses and a popular topic for trivia. Here are some questions to test your knowledge of supply chain:

195 Supply Chain Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2025)

1. Warehouse workers know that the acronym "LIFO" stands for which inventory control method?

Answer: Last in, first out.

2. 3PL is an abbreviation for Third-Pary what, which would include outsourcing a leg of the supply chain to someone else—for example, a trucking company?

Answer: Logistics

3. Often abbreviated as B/L, a Bill of what (BOL) document provides key information like proof from the carrier that your cargo has been received.

Answer: Lading

4. The longest-term export between the U.S. and Japan is the shipping of LNG from Alaska. LNG stands for what type of cleaner-than-coal energy?

Answer: Liquefied Natural Gas

5. In April 2021, what U.S. automaker paused production on its popular Bronco line due to COVID-19-related supply chain issues?

Answer: Ford

6. Supply Chain what Reference (SCOR) became the standard model for the industry in 1996 and is based on six processes: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable?

Answer: Operations

7. What is the practice of placing a purchase order to a supplier for a product that’s temporarily out of stock in your warehouse and has already been ordered by your customers?

Answer: Back Ordering

8. 3PL refers to having an outsider handle supply chain functions like warehousing or using a trucking company for transporting. What does 3PL stand for?

Answer: Third-Party Logistics

9. If “downstream” refers to the demand side of the supply chain, what would you call the supply side?

Answer: Upstream

10. In what country can one find the Wolfsburg Plant, the world's largest car-making manufacturing center?

Answer: Germany

11. RFID tags are used, among other things, to facilitate electronic tracking of goods and shipments. What do the “R” and “F” stand for?

Answer: Radio Frequency

12. Which giant global retailer pioneered the “cross-docking” approach to make its supply chain more efficient?

Answer: Wal-Mart

13. If you work in supply chain management, you’re probably familiar with the top software company in the business. What’s the name of the company that started in Germany in 1972 that’s especially well-known for its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and, more recently, its cloud-based products?

Answer: SAP

14. Also known as "lean manufacturing," just-in-time manufacturing is a hyperefficient process pioneered by what Japanese automaker in the 1960s?

Answer: Toyota

15. The deduction from inventory of the component parts used can be referred to as back-what-ing? It’s also an action associated with using a toilet.

Answer: Backflushing

16. What logistics company's orange and purple corporate logo was created in 1994 and has a hidden arrow between the two penultimate letters?

Answer: FedEx

17. On October 11, 2022, Minister for Economic Affairs Wang Mei-Hua said, "If [blank] is safe, the global supply chain will also be secure." What island nation goes in the blank?

Answer: Taiwan

18. Taking a Center-of-what (COG) approach can help you find the “sweet spot” for new distribution centers because it shows the most cost-effective location between your factories and the market? Despite its name, you’re probably not going to save money by breaking ground on the Moon.

Answer: Gravity

19. The Supply Chain Council provides a model of the business practices that lead from production to consumer satisfaction, a model known by what four-letter acronym? It sounds like a word from the first sentence of the Gettysburg Address, minus the “E”.

Answer: SCOR

20. During the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, over 300,000 freelance workers were hired in two months to deliver groceries for what personal shopping app that uses a carrot for its logo?

Answer: Instacart

21. Which four-letter acronym is used for a method of inventory management in which stock is issued and charged out on the basis of the age of the inventory?

Answer: FIFO

22. What chain describes the activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver their product? These chains are linked in a supply chain, and its "V" name describes the worth of something that the firm offers.

Answer: Value Chain

23. Which term applies to buying products in bulk, usually at a discount, directly from the manufacturer or distributor?

Answer: Wholesale

24. In supply chain management, the “last” what refers to the distance that a shipped product has to travel to get from the logistics facility to the person who bought it?

Answer: Mile

25. If you work in supply chain management, you likely use enterprise what planning (ERP) software at each stage of the process—from planning, producing, and moving goods to keeping track of finances?

Answer: Resource

26. No, it's not "package.” What does the P in shipping giant UPS's name stand for?

Answer: Parcel

27. This common manufacturing philosophy is the combination of a number and a Greek letter. Together, they refer to a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. Jack Welch made it central to his business strategy at General Electric in 1995. What is the two-word name of this technique?

Answer: Six Sigma

28. Capable to what (CTP) is a way to figure out if you will be able to get a product shipped to a customer by a certain date. You’ll have to consider factors like supplies, assembly, and distribution.

Answer: Promise

29. BORIS isn’t the guy who handles customer returns, but BORIS is an acronym for Buy [blank], Return In Store.

Answer: Online

30. Former South Bend, Indiana governor Pete Buttigieg became the first openly gay person to serve in the U.S. Cabinet when he was confirmed as the secretary of what department?

Answer: Transportation

31. On shipping, the abbreviation ATUTC stands for “Actual Times Used to ….” what?

Answer: Count

32. The name makes it sound like a cargo ship just for cannabis, but what R-word actually describes a temperature-controlled refrigerated container that can transport perishables?

Answer: Reefer

33. Which term describes everything you have in stock that you intend to sell and is something that you need to carefully track to ensure you can meet customer demand?

Answer: Inventory

34. The magazine run by the Association for Supply Chain Management is known as SCM, plus what three-letter word that implies that its supply chain information is current?

Answer: Now

35. What supply chain management company began life as the American Messenger Company in 1907, providing telegraphs? The Atlanta company is now one of the country’s largest shipping couriers with a new three-letter acronym.

Answer: UPS

36. In 1985, the National Council of Physical Distribution Management changed its name to the Council of Logistics Management. It got yet another name change in the years since—today, you know it as CSCMP which stands for what?

Answer: Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals

37. An OS&D report identifies products that were over- or under-shipped (short) as well as those that arrived in what condition?

Answer: Damaged

38. The United Nations Standard Product and what Code (UNSPSC) is an eCommerce classification standard? It’s made up of 8 digits, which represent four codes: Segment, Family, Class, and Commodity. For example, coffee is 50201706 and a household sponge is 43191501.

Answer: Service

39. The B in the freight index FBX stands for the name of what sea?

Answer: Baltic

40. Usually done for 60 or 180 seconds, a test that determines the amount of water absorbed into the surface of material like corrugated fiberboard is known by what spidery or salad-y C-word?

Answer: Cobb

41. There's an important document issued by a carrier which acknowledges receipt of cargo for shipment. It once referred strictly to goods transported by sea but now refers to land as well. It's a Bill of what?

Answer: Lading

42. A SKU is an alphanumeric identifier that can help you figure out how much of a product you have on hand. What is SKU an acronym for?

Answer: Stock Keeping Unit

43. Which supply chain transport method is primarily used for water, oil, and natural gas?

Answer: Pipeline

44. Take a sip off a longneck beer and tell us: What compound B-word is a constraint, obstacle, or planned control that limits throughput or the utilization of capacity?

Answer: Bottleneck

45. Container ships use TEUs to measure capacity, which stands for how many-foot equivalent unit?

Answer: Twenty

46. Known for delivery and growing the logistics company to be nationwide, UPS actually stands for what?

Answer: United Parcel Service

47. The American Production and what Control Society (APICS) is a nonprofit that was founded in 1957. Today, it’s more commonly known as the Association for Supply Chain Management?

Answer: Inventory

48. What global shipping power founded in San Francisco in the late ‘60s and headquartered in Bonn, Germany got its three-letter name from the last names of its trio of founders?

Answer: DHL

49. A code used to identify a specific production point is the what Number? The “B” term also applies to a quantity of goods produced at one time.

Answer: Batch Number

50. U.S. Customs is fine with what kind of warehouse storing imported goods duty-free, with duties only needing to be paid when the goods are removed?

Answer: Bonded

51. What word beginning with the letter O is used to describe stock held within an organization where there is no longer any organizational reason for holding the stock?

Answer: Obsolete Stock

52. What two-word term with the initials FM is a common clause included in contracts that exempts parties for not fulfilling their obligations due to events beyond their control, such as natural disasters or war?

Answer: Force Majeure

53. What man-made waterway was famously blocked for six days in 2021 by the ship Ever Given, leading to serious disruptions in supply chains?

Answer: Suez Canal

54. Being the measurement of cost factors that go into the servicing of a customer or the production of a product, what do the letters CTS stand for in supply chains?

Answer: Cost to Serve

55. Which Y-term refers to how many of all the products produced can be used (in other words, the ones that are not defective)?

Answer: Yield

56. What is the term for a buyer agreeing to buy a certain amount of goods over time, but not specifying exact shipment dates at time of purchase? It sounds like bed covering is what is being ordered at the time.

Answer: Blanket Order

57. Relating to the size of a standard shipping container, how many feet are mentioned in the acronym FEU?

Answer: Forty

58. What term is given to a type of product distribution in which manufacturers ship products directly to customers on behalf of retailers?

Answer: Dropshipping

59. If you’re shipping something by way of water, you’ll want to know about the what Transport Intermediary (OTI)? Basically, it's moving cargo, dispatching shipments, and organizing documentation for seafaring shippers.

Answer: Ocean

60. Learning from World War I, the Germans famously stockpiled ample oil and gasoline as supplies for what "lightning war" method of warfare employed in WWII?

Answer: Blitzkrieg

61. FOC, or flags of what, is when an owner registers a merchant ship in a different country than their own—usually for advantageous tax or legal reason— and therefore flies the flag of that country?

Answer: Convenience

62. What kind of Stock is product that has been reserved, but not yet withdrawn or issued from stock, preventing it from being used for other purposes? The “A” word also means to be distributed for a particular purpose.

Answer: Allocated Stock

63. After the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest shipping port in the United States is in what West Coast city where the RMS Queen Mary retired and Snoop Dogg grew up?

Answer: Long Beach

64. With a wide variety of vessels crossing it a day, from cargo ships to passenger ferries to fishing boats, what European waterway is considered the busiest shipping lane in the world?

Answer: English Channel

65. What “B” term refers to a warehouse that is managed by the customs office or the government, allowing companies to store taxable goods for business purposes? It is a word also used to describe something that is securely joined to another thing, often by adhesive.

Answer: Bonded Warehouse

66. What’s the term for the information a carrier can give to a customer (for example, showing that the package was signed for) to show a shipment made it to its destination?

Answer: Proof of Delivery

67. The Ports of Los Angeles and New Orleans have been implementing the PortXchange logistics software used by what Dutch seaport, the busiest in Europe?

Answer: Rotterdam

68. What D-word describes the practice of spreading out cargo and logistics across multiple carriers to reduce risk? The term also applies to the strategy of not putting all your fiscal eggs in one investment basket.

Answer: Diversification

69. The Prinzessin Victoria Luise, the world's first ship designed solely for leisure travel instead of also carrying freight, set sail out of what German port in June 1900? This port city has long been Germany's busiest.

Answer: Hamburg

70. When companies carefully purchase an amount of a good to reduce inventory, it is called an EOQ. What does EOQ stand for?

Answer: Economic Order Quantity

71. Once called the Champa Sea by Southeast Asia and where one-third of global shipping passes through, what sea within the Western Pacific Ocean is surrounded by China, Taiwan, Borneo, and the Indochinese Peninsula?

Answer: South China Sea

72. If you've ever seen a container ship at sea, you've likely seen Maersk containers all over it. The Danish shipping container company was the world's largest from 1996 to 2021. What city in Denmark holds its headquarters offices?

Answer: Copenhagen

73. Able to elude way more than 40 thieves, what Chinese e-commerce giant ranked in Gartner's Supply Chain Top 25 for the first time in 2019?

Answer: Alibaba

74. Australia's second-busiest shipping port is just outside Sydney on a bay named for what very earthy science?

Answer: Botany

75. What “A” term describes inventory that has been used or sold within a given period, often 12 months? It is a word often used as the opposite of “passive.”

Answer: Active Inventory

76. What major supply chain storage item started to be used in 1925, revolutionizing the way storage space was used in warehouses?

Answer: Pallets

77. NVOCC is an acronym for non-what operating common carrier? It’s a shipping arrangement where space on an ocean carrier can be leased or bought instead of a company owning the ships.

Answer: Vessel

78. A form of Pareto analysis applied to a group of products in order to apply selective inventory management controls is what kind of “easy-as-1-2-3” Analysis?

Answer: ABC Analysis

79. "Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the origin city?" So asks The Travelling what Problem, a mathematical algorithm that’s often used by folks trying to optimize supply chain management?

Answer: Salesman

80. CHOAM, a gigantic interplanetary conglomerate that effectively controls the supply chain across the cosmos, is a fictional company first introduced in what classic 1965 sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert?

Answer: Dune

81. What is the name of the giant container ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23, 2021, blocking the canal for six days and causing huge supply chain headaches?

Answer: Ever Given

82. Inventory that is held in order to satisfy a demand with seasonal fluctuations that coincides with a production level that does not fluctuate is known as what kind of stock? The “A” word is also the name of a 1971 Carly Simon song, in which the titular concept is “makin’ me late.”

Answer: Anticipation Stock

83. The process by which a company compares its supply chain performance against other leading companies in order to improve performance is what? The first part of the “B” word also refers to a long, usually wooden, seat.

Answer: Benchmarking

84. Which logistics company based in Hong Kong is probably growing fast in 2022 in part due to global supply chain issues since its tech is all about making on-demand delivery simple? Its name is kinda like a double dose of “Do-Ri-Mi” paired with an action verb.

Answer: Lalamove

85. If you don’t offload your cargo within the specified time limit you agreed to, what’s the D-word for the fee you’ll be charged by the shipping line?

Answer: Demurrage

86. Which term that you’d use to describe uncooked meat also applies to materials that have not been processed yet, like cotton, coal, and crude oil?

Answer: Raw

87. What type of facility (abbreviated “DC”) receives products from various manufacturers and groups them to be shipped off to their final destinations (e.g., retailers)?

Answer: Distribution Center

88. COGS doesn’t refer to parts of a machine; it’s actually an acronym for what Of Goods Sold—which includes all money spent to make a product?

Answer: Cost

89. After 9/11, the United States Department of Homeland Security introduced the Known what Program to prevent cargo from being sent anonymously on freight or passenger aircraft?

Answer: Shipper

90. Who is known as the "father of logistics" for his work in developing efficient supply chain management techniques during World War II?

Answer: Brehon Somervell

91. What supply chain metric measures the error-free rate of the entire supply chain process and is a composite of all the orders multiplied in a chain?

Answer: Perfect Order Index

92. To help make sure they’re cost-efficient, factories are often built with one or two focuses. The first is product, in which the facility has a hand in making a product from start to finish. What’s the second focus, which is when a facility mostly just handles one or two parts of the process—for example, assembly—which can apply to multiple products instead of just one?

Answer: Functional

93. In supply chain management, what kind of resource planning (ERP) serves as a framework for keeping track of how everything from a company’s product to its finances flow throughout the system?

Answer: Enterprise

94. Out of what (OOS) is a supply chain term that you won’t want to have to use because it means your inventory is depleted and you’re all out of product?

Answer: Stock

95. What term is given to a repairable inventory item that can be repeatedly restored to a fully serviceable condition and reused over the normal life cycle of the parent equipment to which it is related?

Answer: Rotable

96. What "C" term is the word for the right to transport goods or people between two ports within the same country? Originally applied to coastal shipping and was latter expanded to land and air transportation.

Answer: Cabotage

97. What term, with a disease in its name, refers to the situation where there is more demand for a product than there is supply? This can happen when customer orders exceed the company's production capacity or when there are shortages of raw materials.

Answer: Backflu

98. What two-word term is given to an online repository of products and materials that can be accessed by authorized users from any location?

Answer: Virtual Warehouse

99. What “D” of Production is one way that manufacturers can deal with uncertainties about tariffs and geopolitical issues affecting supply chains?

Answer: Diversification

100. In 1907, a couple of teenagers with $100 came up with a package delivery service. Claude Ryan and Jim Casey’s “American Messenger Company” eventually changed its name, and today, it’s known by what three-letter acronym you’ll see on a fleet of brown trucks?

Answer: UPS

101. What sort of stock is inventory that is kept on hand specifically for emergency situations or unexpected spikes in demand?

Answer: Strategic Stock

102. In supply chain terminology, what is the term for products which are currently being moved from one location to another? This term is also used in surfing.

Answer: Pipeline Stocks

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103. Take the red pill and tell me: what sort of barcode is a type one that encodes information using a two-dimensional array of dots or squares?

Answer: Matrix Barcode

104. What sort of part is any finished goods, end item, or part that is mixed, fabricated, assembled, stirred, or blended from one or more other components?

Answer: Parent Part

105. In 2022, what manufacturer of the Sonata and Santa Fe stepped up their game with a cargo ship that made the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean using autonomous shipping technology?

Answer: Hyundai

106. What term beginning with H refers to the process of combining two or more shipments into a single shipment that is recognized by a single bill of lading?

Answer: Hitchment

107. Indiana and Henry Sr. could probably tell you: The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, which states that shipping between U.S. ports is restricted to U.S. vessels, is more commonly known by what name?

Answer: Jones Act

108. Intermodal containers, or ISO containers, are also known by what common name that makes sense, as they are generally used to transport goods that need to get from point A to point B at least partly by sea?

Answer: Shipping

109. What alliterative method tries to get every enterprise within the supply chain operation on the same page, particularly with regard to inventory?

Answer: Channel

110. Which global services firm beginning with G expanded their partnership with ServiceNow to deliver enhanced Source-to-Pay applications, integrating artificial intelligence to optimize finance and supply chain operations?

Answer: Genpact

111. In 2001, UPS acquired every U.S. and Canadian brick-and-mortar location of what Italian-headquartered packing and shipping service co-founded by Robert Diais, Gerald Aul, and Pat Senn in 1980, and whose initials are “MBE?”

Answer: Mail Boxes Etc.

112. What five-letter C-word is used for material, often wood, placed next to cargo to prevent excessive movement of the cargo during transit in order to avoid damage?

Answer: Chock

113. What sort of charge beginning with B is a surcharge levied on shippers by ocean freight carriers to compensate the carriers for fuel price volatility?

Answer: Bunker Charge

114. What sort of charges beginning with A are imposed by a freight carrier for activities other than the primary task of carrying goods between locations?

Answer: Accessorial Charges

115. Depending on where a shipping company is or the industry it serves, it may have to seek permission before giving up on a route. What’s the official term for such a discontinuation?

Answer: Abandonment

116. Its name coming from the fact that it had services to both Iberia and the Eastern world, what shipping and logistics company founded by Arthur Anderson was sold to DP World in 2006 for £3.9 billion?

Answer: P&O

117. What aspect of supply chain management deals with planning, organizing, and controlling things like labor, raw materials, and technology that are needed to facilitate the entire process from manufacturing to consumers?

Answer: Resource Management

118. What sort of stock is inventory accumulated between dependent activities in the goods flow to reduce the need for completely synchronized operations?

Answer: De-coupling Stock

119. When a Bill of Lading is accepted or signed by a shipper or shipper's agent without protest, the shipper is said to have given this silent form of consent beginning with A?

Answer: Acquiescence

120. What supply chain term did TikTok “revive” and turn into a trend, inspiring people to scour discount stores for extra/leftover products you would have expected to find in a shop in the mid-2000s, but definitely wouldn’t see on shelves today if there wasn’t a surplus of them.

Answer: Dead stock

121. What Latin term applies to a duty that’s calculated based on the value of the imported goods rather than their weight or how many items there are?

Answer: Ad valorem

122. What supply chain resilience strategy that involves moving a company’s production facilities closer to the location of its end consumers increased in popularity amid the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Answer: Nearshoring

123. Not related to the characters on "All in the Family", what B-word collectively refers to all the logistical work of supplying and distributing fuel to ships? The name harkens back to the olden days when ships had special spots for storing coal to burn.

Answer: Bunkering

124. In 2013, companies around the world got serious about auditing their supply chains after what disastrous building collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 1,100 people and injured 2,500? The structural failure of the eight-story building was the deadliest industrial accident in the country’s history and one of the worst garment factory disasters of all time.

Answer: Rana Plaza collapse

125. While the transactional technology might be more well-known for helping people buy NFTs with crypto, what technology can also be used to record and transmit supply chain transactions in a decentralized way?

Answer: Blockchain

126. The Triple Bottom Line focuses on supply chain sustainability by looking at a company’s People, Planet, and what third "P"?

Answer: Profit

127. RFID tracking technology is largely credited to Charles Walton—not because he was the first person to float the idea, but because he was the first to get what intellectual property right for it that the government gives to inventors?

Answer: Patent

128. In ABC analysis, which lettered classification of products are of the lowest value and therefore have the simplest controls?

Answer: C

129. In 2024, Apple said it would ask suppliers to stop sourcing materials from what Central African nation due to ongoing armed conflict there?

Answer: Congo

130. He’s known for coining the term “supply chain management,” but Keith Oliver’s concept actually started out with a longer name: Integrated what Management (I2M)?

Answer: Inventory

131. What is the name of the American truck company that manufactured its first truck in 1907, inspired the name of a Pixar character in the movie "Cars," and was purchased by Volvo in 2000?

Answer: Mack Trucks

132. Given that they are all brands owned by the same company, the supply chains for Hellmann's, Dove, Axe, and Lipton are all managed by what Anglo-Dutch multinational manufacturer?

Answer: Unilever

133. The trivia guru Ken Jennings is known for having the longest win streak of all time on Jeopardy. He lost when he missed this final Jeopardy question: "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year." What was the correct answer?

Answer: H&R Block

134. Manufacturer supply chain audits are one of many things in the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known by the hyphenated last names of what two U.S. senators?

Answer: Dodd-Frank

135. Which “three” theory states that there are three key parts of an effective supply chain: agility, adaptability, and alignment? No, it’s not the company that will come rescue you if your car breaks down…

Answer: Triple A

136. The port of which city that lends its name to a popular foodstuff is Europe’s second largest container port?

Answer: Hamburg

137. Founded in 2012, Buho Logistics has specialized in printed items supply chains and was founded in which North American country?

Answer: Mexico

138. As of 2023, what Asian city was home to the busiest port in the world, shipping a whopping 49 million TEU in 2023?

Answer: Shanghai

139. If you’re shipping cargo via vessel, you’ll want to know the DWT of the ship, which stands for what kind of tons?

Answer: Deadweight

140. A consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton named Keith came up with the terms “Supply Chain” and Supply Chain Management” in a 1982 interview. What is his “O” last name, which is also the name of a 1968 musical about a Dickensian orphan boy who hangs out with some pickpockets?

Answer: Keith Oliver

141. Like watching a boat float along a river, a product is said to be at which point in the supply chain flow when it’s on the demand side?

Answer: Downstream

142. “Dimwit” for short, what’s another name for a package’s volumetric weight?

Answer: Dimensional Weight

143. What 4th-largest trucking company in the United States is based in Lowell, Arkansas and was created in 1961?

Answer: J.B. Hunt

144. Working stevedores and illicit smugglers on the docks of Baltimore are a focus of the action in Season 2 of what acclaimed HBO series?

Answer: The Wire

145. Forty-what Equivalent Unit (FEU) refers to the standard size that’s used for shipping and warehouse containers. Which unit of measurement is it?

Answer: Feet

146. What two-word term is given to the power of a sovereign government to take property for a necessary public use?

Answer: Eminent Domain

147. The truck company Peterbilt got its start in 1939 selling trucks with trailers specifically designed to haul what commodity? The founder was frustrated with trying to use horses or rivers to move the items in question.

Answer: Logs

148. Artificially-induced logistics demand hits super high levels on Black Friday and what Black Friday equivalent in China that sounds like speed dating?

Answer: Singles' Day

149. The term work-in-what (WIP) refers to the goods you have that are not quite finished yet. It includes not just raw materials but the associated labor costs, too.

Answer: Progress

150. What sort of stock is inventory that is owned by someone else but is being stored at your facility?

Answer: Consignment Stock

151. Even if they're not moving earrings or purses, what kind of A-word charge can be tacked on by a carrier to cover the work of loading, unloading, and pickup services?

Answer: Accessorial

152. Pretty basic: what inventory management technique involves ranking items in an alphabetical manner by their importance?

Answer: ABC analysis

153. What management consulting firm, founded in 1926 by a University of Chicago professor, is the biggest of the Big Three management consultancies? In 1975 they debuted overhead value analysis.

Answer: McKinsey

154. A Japanese automobile parts firm employee named Masahiro Hara was inspired to create the QR code while playing what very, very, very old board game of black and white stones?

Answer: Go

155. Which supply chain management theory highlights how important it is to find “bottlenecks” and get rid of them?

Answer: Theory of Constraints

156. What spoopy 363-mile traverse was opened in 1825 and was mocked during construction as a "big ditch" or "folly" but ended up dramatically transforming the transportation network in the United States?

Answer: Erie Canal

157. Which sports-inspired term refers to a tool for measuring a company’s KPIs using easy-to-understand targets grouped by color—for example, red, yellow, and green?

Answer: Scorecard

158. What sort of terms are international trade terms that define the responsibilities of buyers and sellers when transporting goods across borders?

Answer: Incoterms

159. What "CF” supply chain model works well for companies making high-demand products with little variation?

Answer: Continuous Flow

160. Described on its own website as "Trucker's Disneyland," the "World's Largest Truckstop" includes eight restaurants, a chiropractor, and a barbershop. The complex is located off of I-80 near Walcott in what state?

Answer: Iowa

161. Which B-term refers to when a vehicle transporting cargo returns to the place it started at? When the vehicle returns with no cargo, it’s called “deadheading.”

Answer: Backhauling

162. An international standard of product identification used in the grocery and retail areas of business, what does EAN stand for?

Answer: European Article Numbering

163. NYKK or NYK Line is the abbreviation for a shipping company dating back to the 1880s and registered in what Pacific country?

Answer: Japan

164. Co-founded by Leonard X. Bosack and Sandy Lerner, what company known for manufacturing and selling telecommunications equipment and networking hardware is also recognized for its logo, which purposely resembles the Golden Gate Bridge?

Answer: Cisco

165. Built between 1817 and 1825, what transportation infrastructure caused a boom in shipping between New York City and Ohio?

Answer: Erie Canal

166. What three-word term is given to a manufacturing process strategy where finished product is continually held in plant or warehouse inventory to fulfill expected incoming orders or releases based on a forecast?

Answer: Make to stock

167. What treaty outlines the international standards, rules, and procedures for carrying goods by sea?

Answer: Hague-Visby Rules

168. What type of supply chain model relies on stable supply and demand, with processes scheduled to ensure a steady cadence of information and products?

Answer: Continuous-flow

169. What word beginning with the letter “N” is a very small pellet of plastic used as raw material in plastic manufacturing? Its small size makes it very easy to enter and then pollute various bodies of water.

Answer: Nurdle

170. In 2015, the European Union passed legislation to require that appliance manufacturers declare the intended lifespan of products. What two-word "P.O." consumer and environmental protection issue was the EU trying to address?

Answer: Planned Obsolescence

171. What term is given to a forecasting technique that involves averaging out data points over time in order to reduce variability?

Answer: Smoothing

172. What “C” document allows a company to export items and reimport them in the same year, with no import duties? Despite its name, it is not a compound word describing a net for your automobile.

Answer: Carnet

173. Founded in 1956, Linfox is one of the largest supply chain and logistics companies that started in which country?

Answer: Australia

174. In 1903, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was created out of the merging of the Teamsters National Union (from Chicago) and the Team Drivers' National Union (from Detroit), and the headquarters was established in what Midwest U.S. city?

Answer: Indianapolis, IN

175. What two-word term is for a system where products for store orders are not put away into the warehouse racking for later picking but are processed into store orders on arrival at the Regional Distribution Center?

Answer: Cross Docking

176. Made up of a letter and a two-digit number, what is the ANSI standard for inter-industry electronic interchange of business transactions?

Answer: X12

177. What term is given to the internal rules and procedures for positioning stock in a warehouse or store after goods inward processing?

Answer: Put Away Rules

178. Which “big league” M-term designates a certified air carrier that serves large populations and has a revenue of at least $1 billion?

Answer: Major

179. In the UK in 2018, which well-known fast food chain had a massive supply chain failure where all of its supply was in one warehouse, where a massive car accident occurred close by thus cutting off over half the stores, forcing them to close for a few days?

Answer: KFC

180. What term is given to the method of optimizing the pick path in a warehouse, by ensuring that frequently selected items are closer to the dispatch area, or lower down in high rise facilities?

Answer: Slotting

181. What term beginning with H, is an approach to level production throughout the supply chain to match the planned rate of end product sales, in the just in time philosophy?

Answer: Heijunka

182. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon was supplied with boxes thanks to the work of what AI-integrated, Jason Traff-founded Austin logistics startup with a very on-the-nose name?

Answer: Shipwell

183. What A-word is for a type of discount granted to a shipper by a freight forwarder or carrier, typically in response to an overcharge or damage to the shipper’s cargo?

Answer: Abatement

184. Dockyard analogy: working on the dock is to longshoreman, as schlepping stuff around the ships is to what nine-letter S-word profession?

Answer: Stevedore

185. What “Z” cloud based order management system allows for stock flow to be streamlined across multiple channels? Its aim is to simplify a company’s inventory.

Answer: Zoho Inventory

186. What term beginning with A is when a carrier takes on the fees of another carrier without passing the charges on to the shipper?

Answer: Absorption

187. What term beginning with L is when a driver assists with loading and unloading the trailer contents?

Answer: Lumping

188. The acronym DIFOT is always good to see for anyone involved with supply chains. What does the D stand for in the acronym?

Answer: Delivered

189. Started in 1946 and focusing on temperature sensitive products, what company with multiple sites in British Columbia and Alberta is one of Canada’s largest supply chain companies?

Answer: Versacold

190. What P-word is a charge paid by shippers to ship agents for services provided by the agent in certain ports, generally for loading activities conducted by port stevedores?

Answer: Primage

191. What is the name of the Turin, Italy-based trucking company that designs and builds commercial trucks including the Astra, Magirus, and EuroCargo product lines? As a quick hint, this company's name is in fact a five-letter acronym.

Answer: Iveco

192. What two-word term is the primary location in a warehouse at which order picking, of less than pallet loads, is undertaken?

Answer: Pick face

193. Although it sounds like it has something to do with a particular children’s music group, what two-word phrase is a term used in route & fleet planning that converts the ‘straight line’ distance between two points to an approximation of the actual road distance?

Answer: Wiggle Factor

194. What supply chain storage that helps ensure you’re prepared in the event of a shortage can include a mix of raw materials and semi-finished/finished goods?

Answer: Inventory

195. What British supply chain company that shares its name with a small town in Somerset started out as a milk delivery company in 1925?

Answer: Wincanton

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