Have you ever wondered how exactly your Amazon packages get to your door, sometimes even on the same day? Well, it’s a complex system that relies on efficiency, and Amazon has expanded its free Amazon tours program to Georgia to give customers a glimpse behind the scenes. The tours are available to schedule online for Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Ahead of Amazon Prime Day on July 8-11, The Atlanta Voice scheduled a tour of the ATL 2 fulfillment center at 2255 West Park Place Boulevard in Stone Mountain during the program’s first month to learn more about the state-of-the-art robotics facility and what happens when you click buy. The facility, which opened in October 2020, has become a top ten shipping building in the world due to its geographic location in Atlanta.
During the tour, associates and managers will give you an inside look at how everything operates, taking you safely around the facility while explaining the ins and outs.
The 640,000 square feet building has four floors. Workers receive sort, pack, and label items on the first floor. A mix of AI, robotics, and the human workforce operates on the second through fourth floors. Workers are split up into pick and stow stations. Pick stations receive orders when they arrive, pick the products, and place them into yellow bins. This is done with the help of many robots that roam around in a sequence, bringing products to the associate. At stow stations, products are then placed in coded bins and entered into the inventory so they can be located when needed.
The use of advanced technology helps workers identify whether the items packed are what they received and even how much tape to put on a box. The tour lead also emphasized how warehouses like ATL2 help small businesses, as they don’t have to worry about the logistics of packaging, storing, tracking, and delivering.
During the Amazon Prime Day event, site lead Tony Vozzolo shared that they’re allowed to pick up additional shifts to handle the load of orders coming in. They usually get inventory in advance thanks to the use of AI and various technologies that know where things are going to be bought, what sells, its velocity, and what’s trending. These buying patterns feed into a large algorithm that helps them place items throughout the country.
“The best way to make it faster and cheaper is to put the item in the right location. So, Oklahoma City Thunder hats probably need to be in the Oklahoma area and not near the LA Lakers. That’s a very simple example, but that’s what we look at on a very large scale,” Vozzolo said. “We’re constantly looking at how many of X items we have in any location, and if there’s enough inventory to meet speed, customer demand, etc, because that will all add up at the end of the day and reduce the cost for the customer.”
So, the next time you receive an Amazon order at your doorstep, know it takes a village.