Amazon fulfillment uses robotics
Amazon robotics product picker
Amazon robotics help product picker

Imagine working ten hours a day picking and packing products in an Amazon warehouse and fulfillment center. It’s labor-intensive, it’s hard physical work, and according to Reuters, Amazon plans to automate some of these processes at its many fulfillment facilities.

Amazon has automated some of its plant processes, but it’s still surprisingly labor-intensive and it’s one area where it may find some needed efficiency and savings.

Efficiencies and job losses

The proposed CartonWrap machines from Italian firm CMC Srl cost more than a million dollars each and pack 600 to 700 orders per hour, four to five times faster than workers. 

CMC CartonWrap automation
CMC CartonWrap technology

CartonWrap produces multi-sized boxes from a simple corrugated paper feed in real time, each one unique to the products being boxed with speeds of up to 15 boxes per minute. Logo printing and shipping labels can also be integrated into production.

While the machines have been tested at several locations, Amazon is considering installing two machines at dozens of locations. The automation replaces up to 24 workers which could result in as many as 1,300 jobs lost in 55 US fulfillment centers.

Several workers on the pilot project told Reuters anonymously that the company could recover the million-dollar investment in as little as two years, excluding operating costs.

Automation advantage

Amazon warehouse product picker
Amazon product picker

Automation leads to speed, a key competitive advantage for Amazon and a necessity for the same day to two-day Prime Member delivery promise.

The company has also utilized “SmartPac” envelope technology that sends you, books, clothing and other items in customized protective envelopes. “Five rows of workers at a facility can turn into two, supplemented by two CMC machines and one SmartPac,” the source told Reuters.

Amazon is famous for investing to meet longer-term goals, so the automation plan makes sense on many levels. It does present a challenge for Amazon in lobbying cities for grants, tax relief, and the promise of new jobs in new facilities it opens.

Amazon robotics drive unit
Amazon robotics drive unit

The company said in addition to the operational efficiencies that job losses would be accommodated by attrition due to the physical challenge and repetition of the job.

“We are piloting this new technology with the goal of increasing safety, speeding up delivery times and adding efficiency across our network,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. “We expect the efficiency savings will be re-invested in new services for customers, where new jobs will continue to be created.”

In 24 X 7 world of e-commerce, automation and artificial intelligence are as much a certainty as taxes. Can an Amazon “lights out” warehouse be very far in the future? It’s essential competitors keep a close eye on what Amazon is doing and how they need to respond and invest in their own systems accordingly.

Visuals courtesy of Amazon