How Amazon Warrington is coping with busy Christmas demand

The continued presence of coronavirus and the prospect of tightened restrictions has meant companies such as Amazon are busier than ever.

But an army of staff at the firm’s Warrington fulfilment centre are up for the challenge of making sure your orders arrive in time.

We visited Amazon’s Great Sankey warehouse to see just what happens from the moment you click ‘place your order’ behind the scenes.

Amazon Warrington >

When you see the warehouse while passing on the M62, you realise it is large. But it is not until you get up close and even inside that you realise just how large.

The site opened in October 2017 and has a footprint of approximately 400,000 square feet – or in other words, the size of five football pitches.

Under its roof is a workforce of more than 1,000 permanent employees, the majority of which are based in the local area, as well as more than 200 seasonal workers to cope with peak Christmas demand.

That same roof has been fitted with more than 4,400 modular solar panels, which generate the equivalent amount of electricity required to power 320 homes for a year.

Tony Carr, site leader at Amazon Warrington

And this electricity is required to power around five miles of conveyors to move products around the centre through different departments.

The Warrington site processes hundreds of thousands of orders each day, with more than 10 million items stored in the centre.

Receive >

The first department your order will see is the receive area, where lorries full of supplier and small and medium business seller items arrive at the bay doors by appointment.

Around 60 per cent of the items sold on Amazon are from small and medium-sized businesses, which are shipped from the Warrington centre across Europe.

Despite robotic assistance, humna staff are still absolutely essential

The whole process is meticulously planned, with staff knowing exactly what is going to arrive at what time, as well as the dimensions of each product and the weight.

Depending on the demand of the product and the delivery option chosen, products can arrive and depart the centre in hours.

Around five miles of conveyors take items to various departments around the centre

This is thanks in part to amazing technology, but also due to the amazing members of staff who operate it and ensure everything runs smoothly, according to site leader Tony Carr, who led the tour of the centre.

Stow >

After being unloaded at the centre, products are transported via conveyor belt to the stow section, where they are placed into the warehouse’s inventory.

Employees store inventory onto mobile shelves, where technology enables the company to know exactly what is available for customers and where it is in the building.

Items are stowed after arriving in the centre on lorries

It may come as a surprise that all the items are stored randomly, instead of grouped together in categories such as electronics or under a theme of sport.

Research has shown that this is the most efficient way to store products, as if there was a high demand for particular items, the pressure is spread equally across the floor.

Robots ensure products are stored quickly and efficiently

Stock is moved on shelves by robots at a rapid pace – these robots know exactly where they are going, are able to travel without bumping into any other robots and even know when to charge themselves.

While it may seem that a range of jobs are operated by robotics, it was pointed out that the technology employs more staff in skilled roles such as software programmers and engineers.

Pick and pack >

When an inventory item is required, robotics are able to calculate where it is and bring it to the nearest workstation for an employee to pick in just seconds.

Rodrigo Tomaz picks the products ready for them to be packed

Products are then scanned and sent via conveyor to the pack department ready to be boxed up for the customer.

An employee scans the item and the computer tells the employee what box size is most optimal for that particular product’s size and weight, ensuring as little packaging is wasted as possible and saving space on lorries.

Andressa Tomaz packs the products ready for delivery

Tape machines also ensure just the right amount of tape is used to secure each box.

SLAM >

SLAM is an acronym which stands for scan, label, apply and manifest.

The technology here scans the box and immediately knows to print the correct shipping label on the box. There are also quality control measures in place.

The SLAM department ensures products are labelled ready for delivery

The box is weighed at this point and the system knows exactly what the item should weigh.

Should the wrong item be accidentally packed, the order would be routed off of the conveyor because the weight does not match what the computer expects.

The SLAM department ensures products are labelled ready for delivery

Within seconds, boxes are weighed and the correct label is printed and placed.

Outbound >

Once an item is ordered, picked and then packed, it comes to the shipping area.

Here, a complex set of calculations happens to get items to customers, taking into account different delivery options and considering different methods of transport.

Once labelled, the products are ready to be shipped

From here, parcels will go to a sorting centre and then out for delivery to customers.

Staff areas >

To boost staff morale during the festive period, the fulfilment centre runs daily games and offers Christmas dinner, as well as employee discounts.

Staff who started as temporary seasonal workers are able to climb the ranks, with degree and apprenticeship schemes also on offer.

Donations coordinatorJosh Griffiths explains the charitable work of Amazon Warrington

Roles encompassed in the centre range from engineers, HR and IT professionals through to health and safety and finance specialists and operations managers, as well as employees who perform a crucial role of picking, packing and shipping customer orders.

In addition to providing thousands of jobs in the area, also outlined was the work the centre does for charities and schools in Warrington.