Keyword Terms and Definitions

Goods to person is used to describe a traditional method of filling orders that delivers product to an order picker or customer at a retail pick-up location. This can also be referred to as a “goods-to-picker” system.

Eaches is a retail supply chain term used for individual items versus a full case. For example, one box of cereal versus a case of cereal. This term is commonly used in the e-commerce industry, since the need to pick small lots of products for online orders has increased in recent years.

Each picking is an order picking process of picking an individual item from a master carton. It may also known as split-case picking or piece picking.

Cube automated storage and retrieval systems or hive systems are densely packed automated tote storage systems. These systems use interlocking bins stacked inside an aluminum grid or cube with no space for aisles. This robotic cube storage uses a fleet of robots to drive across tracks on top of the grid and work together to move bins out of the system and deliver to operator ports.

Click and collect is placing an order online (‘click’) and driving to the store to collect the order.

Buy online pick-up in store a customer places order online, but drives to store to pick up the order versus home delivery.

An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) is a generic term for a system that automatically stores items in a repository and can also retrieve them. ASRS is a type of warehouse automation technology.

Automated storage and dispense is an automated system that typically stores completed orders and then, at the appropriate time, dispenses those orders for either customer pickup or delivery.

An autonomous mobile robot (AMR) is a robot that can move without human oversight. They can travel in X and Y paths and freely along a warehouse floor with safeguards for potentially interacting with human traffic. They are often built with cameras and sensors to help them navigate and don’t require wired power.

Automated picking storage and dispense is an automated system that contains product inventory so that customer orders can be picked into order totes. It also stores completed orders and, at the appropriate time, dispenses those orders for either customer pickup at store or delivery to home.