To get your goods to your customers in the fastest and most effective way, Amazon has a number of different logistics centers, many of them automatedstrategically located in communication hubs that allow products to reach their recipients as quickly as possible.
The shelves in Amazon’s logistics centers are mobile, moved by robots that move them to the line where operators handle goods
The last of these robotic logistics centers to be inaugurated is located in the Murcian town of Corvera, in facilities adjacent to the International Airport of the Region of Murcia, and located halfway between the capital of the Region and Cartagena, important port of goods, so it is configured in the middle of a privileged air, sea and land connection with the southeast of Spain and with the rest of Europe and the world.
Named RMU1 after the callsign of the international airport next to which it is located, this robotised logistics centre covers more than 160,000 m² and expands Amazon’s facilities in Murcia, since 200 meters away it already has a last mile logistics station, inaugurated last year 2020. In a period of three years these facilities will employ 1,200 permanent employees that are integrated into a workforce of more than 15,000 employees that Amazon has in Spain, maintaining the forecast that by the year 2025 will reach 25,000 workers.
In a logistics center of these characteristics Amazon has at its disposal more than 54,000 shelves and 2,895 mobile units capable of lifting and moving up to 1,500 kilos in weight. The well-being of employees is guaranteed in their work thanks to the presence of robotic palletisers and depalletisers, capable of preventing operators from being forced to carry heavy loads.
There are also an army of automated sorters which also avoid repetitive tasks such as lifting, stacking, moving, or placing packages, making it easier for workers to concentrate and devote themselves only to those tasks that robots cannot take on.
The process begins when the logistics center is attended by trucks with cargo, stowed on pallets that are unloaded and sorted. In this case Amazon chooses to sorting the products according to their shape and size rather than by product type or category. The products are then organized into a complex network of moving lanes and shelves which are moved in a robotized way to the line where the workers are located, who pick up the product indicated by a system of light signals, placing it in a box that moves along the mobile line to the next stage.
Depending on whether the same customer has placed an order for several products, the products will be grouped so that the result is a single package per customer. Otherwise the shipments are packed and ready for transport to the destination.
At all times the goods are subject to strict monitoring and traceability, ensuring anonymity with respect to the recipient of the goods and that the operators, once the package is closed and only need to label it, do not know the contents of the same.
At all times the goods are subjected to a strict monitoring and traceabilityThis guarantees anonymity with respect to the recipient of the goods, as well as the fact that the operators, once the package is closed and when it only needs to be labelled, do not know its contents. In the final phase of the process, the package is weighed to check if it matches the sum of the different products it should contain, and if there is no match, it will be opened and checked manually by an operator.
This complex process, and subject to maximum mechanization, is supported by a huge warehouse where there are stocks of multiple goods, and the shipment management system also reaches the distribution between different logistics centers, so that depending on the forecasts by areas there is always stock availability in all geographical points that cover the Amazon facilities.
Thanks to the perfection achieved with these complex processes, it also takes just a few hours for the goods to move from the shelves to the customers’ homes, as is the case with Amazon Fresh and its shipment of fresh food products.
