In finance, a Front End Load is a fee paid to investment intermediaries (financial planners, brokers, investment advisors) as sales commissions at the time of the initial purchase for an investment.
In Operations management, it is the process for conceptual development of projects in processing industries such as upstream, refining, petrochemical and pharmaceutical.
A front-end load is a commission or sales charge that is applied at the time of the initial purchase for an investment, usually mutual funds and insurance policies. It is deducted from the investment amount and, as a result, it lowers the size of the investment. Definition found at Investopedia.com.