Whilst Father Christmas and his elves are stacking their sleigh with gifts in the North Pole, here in Bolton, Amazon factory workers are making sure that orders are picked and shipped in time to deliver festive cheer.
The £50million Amazon Fulfilment Centre on Logistics North stands at over 550,000 square feet, employs a total of 2,000 workers from the local area and uses thousands of robots to deliver seamless results on a day-to-day basis.
Yet despite the high numbers - in the run up to Christmas, it’s all hands-on deck.
Showing me around the warehouse was Daniel Boulger, the site manager for the Bolton branch.
Together, the two of us traced the journey of an Amazon package.
Christmas, usually around Black Friday time things start to ramp up for us and get particularly busy, we get lots of orders in.
Dan said: “We are making sure that we are fully primed for“The inventory is at the fullest point it could get right now, so we make sure to get all hands-on deck to keep the process as streamlined as possible.”
Dan, who joined the business in 2018 as an apprentice area manager, added: “The focus for us is on safety and quality performance.
“We use cutting edge technology and are constantly evolving, whilst keeping the workers at the heart of the business.”
Before beginning our journey, I’m taken to meet Paul Pickup, the area apprenticeship manager for Amazon UK.
He said: “We currently offer 180 engineering apprenticeships, and these are set to increase every year. Each apprenticeship is a quarter million-pound investment and we’re the only apprenticeship in the UK that offers the higher electrical advanced certificate."
Like countless other Christmas packages, we began our journey at the “receive” station, where approximately 60 per cent of items come from small or medium sized businesses.
Dan said: “We know exactly what is going to arrive, along with the dimensions and weight of each product.
“Many of the packages will be decanted at this point and sent to the upper robotics floors where they will be stored in AI-controlled robotic ‘pods’.”
You may be just as surprised as I was to learn that the pods (mobile shelves) are bought to employees on top of robotic drive units, ready for items to be placed inside. In Amazon's lingo, this is called “stowing”.
Each robotic drive unit, Dan informs me, can lift the equivalent of a grand piano. They also use AI technologies to map out a sophisticated route using 2D barcodes on the floor. Once the route is mapped out, the robot will take the correct pod of inventory to employees - for stowing or picking- as quickly as possible.
The pods remained, in appropriately named, ‘pod farms’ and are programmed with an intricate AI system to make sure that any dropped items could be retrieved by members of (human!) staff wearing a robotic vest that signals to the pods to slow down and avoid the employee.
Employees also ‘pick’ items (which may have been ordered just minutes ago) from the same pods, brought to them via robots, which are constantly being upgraded.
I spoke to one of the workers, David Bridge, who has worked at Amazon for four years: “Stowing every day, you never know what it is that you’re going to be stowing. I get lots of my Christmas present ideas for my family here!
“I would say that the most popular Christmas item I’ve had so far is children’s toys, especially Barbie dolls!”
One of the most exciting examples of robots and people collaborating is the robotic tech vest. This uses advanced sciences, like AI and sensors, to signal robotic drive units on the floor.
In true Amazon-package style, we headed to the (miles-long!) packing conveyor line, which is surprisingly technologically advanced.
An employee scans the item, and the computer tells the employee what box size is most optimal for that product’s size and weight.
A tape machine will also dispense just the right amount of tape for that size package to reduce waste. Items are protected with 100 per cent recycled and 100 per cent recyclable packing paper.
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I stopped a chat with one of the packers, Sharon Joy, who was busy packaging up a Christmas advent calendar: “It feels normal now, I enjoy coming to work every day.
“I’ve been here for four years; we are like one big happy family here.”
Next in the surprisingly active life of an Amazon package, we entered the SLAM (Scan, Label, Apply and Manifest) phase.
The technology here scans the box and immediately knows how to print the correct shipping label on the box.
In true Boltonian style, we passed the logo for the warehouse, which is in the style of an elephant as a homage to the town’s rich heritage.
Within seconds, this box is weighed, and the correct label is printed and placed on the package.
Finally, before it is sent out into the wide world and straight into your Christmas stocking, the package is put through a correct sorting chute and bundled into an HGV delivery van.
Dan said: "Workers cover different shifts, night and day, to make sure that the process is covered around the clock.
"Our Black Friday week begins on Saturday and we're highly anticipating an increase in sales, taking us right up to the festive season. It's hard work, but we make sure that the process is as seamless as possible to ensure that people receive their Christmas gifts on time."
Although the van’s quiet departure marks the end of one journey for Amazon’s packages, it symbolises the start of another hallmark of the festive season - the joy of giving.
Got a story? Email me at Leah.Collins@newsquest.co.uk
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