Buffer & Safety Stock

Buffer
1) A quantity of materials awaiting further processing. It can refer
to raw materials, semifinished stores or hold points, or a work
backlog that is purposely maintained behind a work center. 2) In the
theory of constraints, time or material and support throughput and/or
due date performance. Can be maintained at the constraint, convergent
points (with a constraint part), divergent points, and shipping
points.

Buffer stock
Synonym: safety stock.

Safety stock
1) In general, a quantity of stock planned to be in inventory to
protect against fluctuations in demand or supply. 2) In the context of
master production scheduling, the additional inventory and capacity
planned as protection against forecast errors and short-term changes
in the backlog. Synonym: buffer stock. See: hedge, inventory buffer.


Sumber : APICS Dictionary