Amazon’s new machines now box up orders, could eliminate thousands of jobs

Amazon.com Inc. is launching machines to automate a job organized by thousands of workers: Boxing to customer orders.

In recent years, the company began to add technology to some handful of warehouses, which scans the material coming under a conveyor belt and later envelopes them after seconds in custom-made boxes for each item. The two people who worked on the project told Reuters.

Amazon has considered setting up of two machines in dozens of more warehouses, removing at least 24 roles in each, these people said. These facilities usually employ more than 2,000 people.

This will amount to more than 1,300 deductions for the standard size list in 55 American Furnishing Centers. He said Amazon would expect to recover the cost from $ 1 million per machine plus operating expenses within two years.

This previously unconfirmed plan shows how Amazon is promoting the most common warehouse to automate labor and promote profits - the lifting of one thing - is still beyond its reach.

The changes have not been finalized because the vetting technique can take a long time before a major deployment.

Amazon is famous for automating many parts of its business for its drive, whether it is to transport goods in pricing or its warehouses. But the company is in an uncertain position because it replaces the jobs that it has won through subsidies and public goodwill.

A spokesman for Amazon said in a statement, "We are starting this new technology with the goal of increasing security, speeding up delivery time and increasing efficiency in our network.

We expect that new services will be re-invested for efficiency-saving customers, where new jobs will continue to grow."

Amazon canceled its automation efforts to visit its Baltimore Fulfilling Center last month, stating that a complete robot was far from the future.

Its employee base has grown to become the largest in the United States because the company opened a new warehouse and raised wages to attract employees to the tight labor market.

Sources said that a lean workforce is key to its goal. Rather than laying down workers, the person said, the world's largest online retailer will have to refrain from replenishing the roles of packing one day.

They have high turnover because there are many order boxing tasks for more than 10 hours per minute. At the same time, employees living with the company can be trained to take a more technical role.

New machines known as CartonWeeps of Italian firm CMC Srl are much faster than humans. Sources said they crank up to four to five times the rate of 600 to 700 boxes or a human packer per hour.

The machines require a person to load the orders of the customer, the other to a technician to stock the cardboard and glue and fix the jam on the spot.

CMC refused to comment.

Although Amazon has announced that it intends to accelerate shipping to its prime loyalty program, this latest round of automation has not focused on speed.

It's really about efficiency and savings," said one of the people.

Among other machines known as "smart pack", which the company has recently rolled out for the mail item in a patent envelope, Amazon's Technology Suite will be able to automate most of its human packers.

In one facility, five rows of workers can be converted into two, complemented by two CMC machines and a smartpack, the person said.

The company has described it as an attempt to "re-aim" workers, the person said.

It can not be learned where the roles may disappear first and whether the incentive, if any, is tied to those specific jobs.

But the deal with the Amazon near the government, they are often generous. For example, in Alabama 1,500 jobs were announced last year, for example, the state promised the company $ 48.7 million in 10 years, its Department of Commerce said.

PICKING CHALLENGE

Amazon is not alone in testing CMC's packing technology. JD.com Inc. and Shutterfly Inc. have used machines, companies said, as Wal-Mart Inc. has done according to the person familiar with his pilot.

Walmart started 3.5 years ago and has installed machines at several US locations since then, the person said. The company refused to comment.

The interest in boxing technology puts the light on the fact that e-commerce tricks are coming closer to one of the major problems in the logistics industry:

Finding a robotic hand that can catch different things without disturbing.

Amazon employs countless workers in the center of every supply, which translates to the same work. Some stove inventories, while other customers order and still others hold those orders, keep them in the right size box and tap them.

Amazon’s new machines now box up orders, could eliminate thousands of jobs