Amazon opens next-gen fulfillment center featuring robotics, AI
Amazon is combining multiple leading-edge robotics and artificial intelligence technologies in a single supply chain facility.
The e-tail giant is operating the new five-story, 3-million-plus-sq.-ft. facility (equivalent to 55 football fields), one of its largest sites, in Shreveport, La. It will employ 2,500 employees once it’s fully ramped up.
For the first time, Amazon has introduced automated technology solutions in all key production areas at the site, with human employees working alongside its robotic systems seamlessly in a way that wasn’t previously possible.
The facility includes Sequoia, a multilevel containerized inventory system designed to make it faster and safer for employees to store and pick goods. In the facility, Sequoia can hold more than 30 million items.
The Sequoia system coordinates the efforts of thousands of mobile robots and a suite of robotic arms to bring items to employees at ergonomic workstations, where they can do all their work between mid-thigh and mid-chest.
Once customer orders are picked, a packaging automation system optimizes the packaging process while also replacing plastic materials with paper solutions that are curbside recyclable.
As inventory and packages move through the facility, Amazon’s AI-equipped Cardinal, Robin and Sparrow robotic arms sort, stack and consolidate millions of items and customer orders.
The latest version of Sparrow can now handle over 200 million unique products of all different shapes, sizes, and weights using advanced computer vision and AI systems.
In addition, Amazon’s Proteus fully autonomous mobile robot navigates carts of packages to the outbound dock so they can be loaded into trucks while safely moving around employees in open spaces.
[READ MORE: Amazon debuts first fully autonomous mobile robot in supply chain]
Amazon estimates its next-generation fulfillment centers and sites with advanced robotics will require 30% more employees in reliability, maintenance and engineering roles.
Within these sites, the company says it reduced fulfillment processing times by up to 25%, enhanced shipping accuracy, and increased the number of items available for same-day and next-day delivery.
During peak delivery seasons, Amazon says it is aiming to drive a 25% improvement in its cost to serve at our next-generation facility.
Amazon upgrades sustainable packaging
Amazon is also continuing its efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of its packaging. As of October 2024, the company removed all plastic air pillows from delivery packaging used at its global fulfillment centers and replaced it with paper filler made with 100% recycled content.
The company is also utilizing a new paper-padded envelope with a shock-absorbent, 100% paper-based lining in Europe which is 100% recyclable in household recycling.
In addition, Amazon has retrofitted more than 120 of its automated packing machines that made plastic bags to now create made-to-fit paper bags across the U.S. The e-tailer has implemented this in more than 20 fulfillment centers, helping it avoid what it says is more than 130 million plastic bags during 2024.
Amazon has developed a new generation of the automated packing machine that enables it to pack larger products, helping to increase the number of products that can be packaged in paper bags by 20%.
New sensors on the machine help us measure all dimensions of a product, allowing Amazon to create more correctly sized packaging, reducing the amount of paper used. Variations of this automated, packaging technology, which cuts made-to-fit paper bags for individual items, are being used in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia.
