Conveyor & Warehouse Automation Glossary

30+ plain-English definitions for the acronyms and concepts that show up in every conveyor and warehouse automation project — written by Easy Systems engineers in Benelux.

Conveyor

Accumulation conveyor Queuing conveyor without contact pressure: An accumulation conveyor lets cartons or totes queue up without contact pressure between loads, using zone-controlled drives or air pressure to start and stop sections independently.
Belt conveyor Continuous belt transport: A belt conveyor uses a continuous belt to move small, fragile or irregular items, and tolerates inclines up to ~30° with cleats. Preferred where roller conveyors cannot track the load.
Chain conveyor Heavy pallet transport: A chain conveyor moves pallets and other heavy unit loads using one or more driven strands of chain. Standard for pallet handling above 200 kg and AS/RS infeed.
Cross-belt sorter High-speed item sorter: A cross-belt sorter is a loop of carriers, each holding a short belt perpendicular to travel, that discharge items into chutes at speeds of 1.5–2.5 m/s. Standard for parcel and e-com sortation.
MDR Motor-driven roller: A Motor-Driven Roller is a roller with an integrated 24V brushless motor that drives a short zone of slave rollers via O-rings. The building block of modern zero-pressure accumulation conveyors.
Modular plastic belt Plastic chain belt: A modular plastic belt is a chain of interlocking plastic segments that handles wash-down, curves, inclines and irregular items where rubber belts fail. Standard in food and pharma.
Roller conveyor Roller transport: A roller conveyor moves loads on rotating rollers in a frame. Variants split by drive (gravity, belt, chain, 24V MDR) and load class (carton, tote, pallet).
Spiral conveyor Vertical helical conveyor: A spiral conveyor lifts or lowers cartons through a continuous helical path in a small footprint. Replaces vertical lifts where continuous flow is needed.
Zero-pressure accumulation Contactless accumulation (ZPA): Zero-pressure accumulation (ZPA) is a 24V MDR mode where each zone stops independently as soon as the downstream zone is occupied, so loads never touch. Required for fragile or scanned items.

Automation

AGV Automated Guided Vehicle: An Automated Guided Vehicle is a mobile robot that follows fixed paths defined by magnetic tape, QR markers or embedded wires. AGVs are typically cheaper than AMRs but harder to reconfigure.
AMR Autonomous Mobile Robot: An Autonomous Mobile Robot uses onboard SLAM and LiDAR sensors to navigate dynamically and share the floor with people. AMRs reconfigure in hours instead of days.
AS/RS Automated Storage and Retrieval System: An Automated Storage and Retrieval System uses cranes, shuttles or robots to store and retrieve unit loads from high-density racking without operator intervention.
AutoStore Cube storage system: AutoStore is a goods-to-person cube storage system in which robots retrieve totes from a dense grid and deliver them to picking ports. Common in European e-commerce DCs above 10 000 lines/day.
Goods-to-person G2P picking: Goods-to-person (G2P) brings inventory to a stationary picker via shuttles, AutoStore or robots, eliminating walking time. Pays back fastest in high-SKU, low-unit-per-order operations.
PLC Programmable Logic Controller: A Programmable Logic Controller is a ruggedised industrial computer that executes the real-time control logic for conveyors, sorters and machinery. Common brands: Siemens, Beckhoff, Rockwell.
Shuttle AS/RS Per-aisle shuttle storage: A shuttle AS/RS uses one robot per aisle level to move totes or cartons within high-density racking, then hands them to a lift. Throughput scales linearly with shuttle count.
SLAM Simultaneous Localization and Mapping: SLAM lets a mobile robot build a map of its surroundings and locate itself within that map in real time, using LiDAR or vision. The core technology behind AMRs.

Software

WCS Warehouse Control System: A Warehouse Control System orchestrates conveyors, sorters, AS/RS and robots in real time at sub-second cycles. Required as soon as two or more automated subsystems must hand work between each other.
WES Warehouse Execution System: A Warehouse Execution System sits between WMS and WCS, handling wave release timing, dynamic slotting and resource balancing. Justified above ~30 000 lines/day or with multiple fulfilment models.
WMS Warehouse Management System: A Warehouse Management System is the inventory and order system of record for a warehouse. Manages receiving, putaway, picking waves, labour and shipping. Examples: Manhattan, Blue Yonder, Reflex, Generix.

Standards

IndexNow Instant-indexing protocol: IndexNow is an open protocol by Microsoft and Yandex that lets sites notify search engines of new or updated URLs immediately, instead of waiting for the next crawl.
OPC UA Plant-floor data standard: OPC UA is an open, platform-independent communication standard for industrial automation. Used between PLCs, WCS and plant-level dashboards; replaces legacy OPC Classic.
VDA 5050 Open AMR fleet standard: VDA 5050 is an open communication standard from the German VDA that lets one fleet manager control AMRs from multiple vendors. Required in serious 2026 tenders to avoid lock-in.

Operations

CPH Cartons per hour: CPH (cartons per hour) is the standard throughput unit for case-handling conveyors and sorters. Typical 24V MDR lines run 2 000–4 500 cph; cross-belt sorters reach 10 000+ cph.
Dock-to-stock time Receiving cycle KPI: Dock-to-stock time measures the hours between trailer arrival and inventory being available to pick. Best-in-class European DCs run under 4 hours; typical sites run 12–24 hours.
OTIF On-Time In-Full: On-Time In-Full (OTIF) measures the percentage of orders delivered complete and on time. The composite KPI most retailers use to grade their suppliers.
Pick-to-light Light-directed picking: Pick-to-light uses LED displays at each storage location to direct operators to the right SKU and quantity. Typical throughput: 350–600 lines/hour per operator at 99.9% accuracy.
Put-wall Batch-pick consolidation: A put-wall is a sortation rack where pickers place batch-picked items into order cubbies, often guided by lights. Used for high-mix e-commerce orders where each cubby = one customer order.
Slotting Storage location optimisation: Slotting assigns SKUs to storage locations based on velocity, weight, dimensions and pick affinity. Good slotting cuts pick travel time by 15–30% without any hardware change.
Zone routing Zone-based picking: Zone routing splits the warehouse into picking zones; orders move through zones via conveyor and each picker only walks within their own zone. Cuts walking distance and trains new staff faster.

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