A Must Know: acronyms are used everywhere in technical publications, and it is helpful to regroup the ones specific to Product Design, R&D, startup, and Innovation. We list here acronyms mostly related to mechanics, statistics, standards, project management, lean and process organization, quality, finance, and IT.
This acronyms list does not include foreign language terms such as Japanese Lean Sigma terms but does include organization acronyms (ex.: ASME, ASTM, AWS, BS …) when these are used for standards, codes, or other general interests.
Mind that these acronyms should not be used excessively, as demonstrated here for fun with majestic Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam.
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Most Used Acronyms
Acronyms List version 1.05
| Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|
| ADSL | Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line |
| AES | Advanced Encryption System |
| AISI | American Iron and Steel Institute |
| ANOVA | ANalysis Of VAriance (statistics) |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| APQP | Advanced Product Quality Planning |
| ARR | Annual Recurring |
| ARR | Annual Run Rate |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
| ASM | American Society for Metals |
| ASME | American Society of Mechanical Engineers |
| ASTM | American Society for Testing and Materials |
| ATM | Asynchronous Transfer Mode |
| AWS | American Welding Society |
| BOM | Bill Of Material |
| BS | British Standard |
| CAC | Customer Acquisition Cost |
| CAD | Computer-Aided Design |
| CAM | Computer-Aided Manufacturing |
| CAPA | Corrective Action and Preventative Action |
| CAPEX | CAPital EXpenditures |
| CFD | Computational Fluid Dynamics |
| CGI | Computer-generated imagery |
| CLI | Command Line Interface or Command Line Interpreter |
| CM | Contract Manufacturer |
| CMOS | Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor |
| CNC | Computer Numerically Controlled |
| COGS | Cost of Goods Sold |
| Cpk | calculation of process capability |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management |
| CTQ | Critical To Quality |
| DCR | Document Change Request |
| DDoS | Distributed Denial of Service. A particular hacking method |
| DFM | Design for Manufacturing (or Manufacturability) or Maintainability (rare) |
| DFM | Down For Maintenance (rare) |
| DFMEA | Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (see also FMEA & PFMEA) |
| DfSS | Design For Six Sigma |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
| DHF | Design History File (from FDA) |
| DHR | Device History Record (from FDA) |
| DIN | Deutsches Institut für Normung (German Institute for Standardisation) |
| DMAIC | Define Measure Analyze Improve Control |
| DMR | Device Master Record (from FDA) |
| DOE | Design of Experiment |
| DPO | Direct Public Offering |
| DSL | Digital Subscriber Line |
| DV | Design Validation (test) |
| ECN | Engineering Change Notice |
| EDA | Electronic Design Automation |
| EDI | Electronic data interchange |
| EMC | ElectroMagnetic Compatibility |
| ERP | Enterprise Resource Planning |
| FAI | First Article Inspection |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FEA | Finite Element Analysis (see FEM) |
| FEM | Finite Element Method. Read more in Wikipedia dedicated article. |
| FFF | Form Fit & Function |
| FFF | Forms Follow Function |
| FIFO | First In First Out (see also FILO & LIFO) |
| FILO | First in Last out (see also FIFO & LIFO) |
| FMEA | Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (see also DFMEA & PFMEA) |
| GD&T | Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing |
| GMP | Good Manufacturing Practices |
| GPU | Graphics Processing Unit |
| GTM | Go To Market |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface (see UI) |
| HACCP | Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points |
| HTML | HyperTextMarkupLanguage |
| HTTP | HyperText Transfer Protocol |
| IaaS | Infrastructure as a service |
| IEC | International Electrotechnical Commission |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| IFU | instruction For Use |
| IMAP | Internet Message Access Protocol |
| IMHO | In My Humble Opinion |
| IoT | Internet of Things |
| IP | Industrial Property |
| IP | Index Protection |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IPO | Initial Public Offering |
| IQ | Installation Qualification (see OQ PQ V&V also) |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization |
| ISP | Internet Service Provider |
| JIT | Just In Time |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LBO | Leveraged Buy-Out |
| LIFO | Last in first out (see also FILO & FIFO) |
| LTV | LifeTime Value per customer |
| MAG | Metal Active Gas (welding) |
| MCO | Manufacturing Change Order |
| MCR | Manufacturing Change Request |
| MDD | Medical Devices Directive (medical EU) or (medical FDA). Risk of confusion here |
| MDR | Medical Device Regulation (medical EU) |
| MFA | Multi-Factor Authentication |
| MIG | Metal Inert Gas (welding) |
| MOQ | Minimum Order Quantity |
| MRP | Manufacturing Resources Planning |
| MRR | Monthly Recurring Revenue |
| MSA | Measurement System Analysis |
| MTBF | Mean Time Between Failures. See dedicated post and MTTR below |
| MTTR | Mean Time To Repair |
| NAS | Network-attached storage |
| NDA | Non-Disclosure Agreement |
| NDR | Net Dollar Retention |
| NPD | New Product Development |
| NPI | New Product Introduction |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OOO |  Out Of Office 🙂 |
| OPEX | Operational EXpenditures |
| OQ | Operational Qualification (see IQ PQ V&V also) |
| PaaS | Platform-as-a-Service |
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board |
| PDCA | Plan Do Check Act |
| PDM | Product Data Management |
| PFMEA | Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (see also DFMEA & FMEA) |
| PLM | Product lifecycle management |
| PM | Project Manager |
| PMBOK | Project Management Body of Knowledge |
| PMO | Project Management Office |
| POC | Proof of Concept |
| POC | Point of Contact |
| PoE | Power over Ethernet |
| PPAP | Production Part Approval Process |
| PPC | Pay per Click |
| ppm | parts per million |
| PQ | Performance Qualification (see IQ OQ V&V also) |
| PR | Public Relations |
| QFD | Quality Function Deployment |
| QMS | Quality Management System |
| R&R | (gage) repeatability and reproducibility |
| RFC | Request For Comments |
| RFP | Request For Proposal |
| RMA | Return Material Authorization |
| RoHS | Restriction of Hazardous Substances |
| ROI | Return On Investment |
| ROR | Ruby on Rails |
| RTCP | Real-time Transport Control Protocol |
| SaaS | Software-as-a-Service |
| SDK | Software Development Kit |
| SKU | Stock Keeping Unit |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement |
| SLAM | Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (algorithm) |
| SMART | Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Timely |
| SMED | Single Minute Exchange of Dies |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol |
| SOAP | Service Orchestration And Automation Platform |
| SOP | Standard Operating Procedure |
| SOP | Start Of Production |
| SOW | Statement of Work |
| SPC | Statistical Process Control |
| TIG | Tungsten Inert Gas (welding) |
| TOC | Table Of Content |
| TPM | Total Productive Maintenance |
| TQM | Total quality management |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol |
| UI | User Interface (see GUI) |
| UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| URS | User Requirement Specification |
| USPTO | United States Patent & Trademark Office |
| UX | User Experience |
| V&V | Verification and Validation |
| VOC | Voice of Customer (read Gold Nuggets for Design) |
| VoIP | Voice Over IP |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
| VSM | Value Stream Mapping |
| WAN | Wide Area Network |
| WEEE | Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (directive) |
| WIFI | Wireless Fidelity |
| WIP | Work in Progress |
| WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network |
| XML | Extensible Markup Language |
| YTD | Year To Date |
| TAT | Turn-Around Time |
| RPM | Revenue Performance Management |
| RPM | Revolutions Per Minute |
| RPM | Revenue Per Mille (thousand) |
| RPM | Package Manager (Linux - initially Red Hat) |
| CPM | Cost Per Mille (thousand impressions) |
| CPM | Corporate Performance Management |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator |
| CPC | Cost Per Click |
Use the form on the right to suggest the acronyms we may have missed.
Top must-know acronyms in Innovation and Product Design:
BOM, CAPA, CAPEX, COGS, Cpk, DFMEA, DfSS, DHF, DHR, DMAIC, DMR, DOE, DV, ERP, FIFO, FMEA, GD&T, GMP, HACCP, IFU, IQ, JIT, KPI, MOQ, MTBF, NDA, OPEX, OQ, PDCA, PDM, PFMEA, PM, PMO, ppm, PQ, QFD, QMS, ROI, SMED, UI, UX, V&V, WIP, YTD