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"That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory." ... "removing at least 24 roles at each one, these

"That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory." ... "removing at least 24 roles at each one, these people said. These facilities typically employ more than 2,000 people." I'm surprised that number is so low. There's only a couple dozen people out of 2000+ that actually put orders in boxes?

rusticpenn 7y ago
I guess 24 roles could also mean 24 roles like lead packer, junior packer etc ...
- fastball 7y ago
  Looks like they mean 24 people at each center, as 24 * 55 = 1320.
- blakesterz 7y ago
  I know almost nothing about how these places work, but I would've thought there would be way more people putting stuff in boxes to ship.
- richrichardsson 7y ago
  It's no stretch to assume by "role" they might mean a job title, and that each role could possibly be being filled by 3 people (3 * 8 hour shifts for a 24 hours continuous operation), so now you're looking at 72 jobs. I've no idea if Amazon does run 24 hour operations though.
mrec 7y ago
It sounds like a gradual transition to me, not replacing all packers overnight. > A key to its goal of a leaner workforce is attrition, one of the sources said. Rather than lay off workers, the person said, the world’s largest online retailer will one day refrain from refilling packing roles. and > The machines have the potential to automate far more than 24 jobs per facility, one of the sources said.
zdragnar 7y ago
The machines aren't going to operate perfectly at first. This is likely a trial run on very specific types of goods (dimensions, weights, etc). After 6 months or a year, the lessons learned about what worked and didn't will get rolled into the next round of automation, or an entirely different approach will be taken instead. I used to work at a water filter factory, and this is exactly what happened there. One production line used the old, 7 person crew, and a new, more automated one was brought in for a different filter size that needed only 2 or 3 people. The ways that the two lines could cause batches to fail varied, and the company gave it some time to figure out which line ended up being more cost effective over X investment payoff period. I didn't stick around long enough to see which one "won" out, but the automated process wasn't a clear winner by the time I had left.
Avshalom 7y ago
'standard-sized inventory' is probably doing a lot of heavy lifting. If this the same machine several of the videos there's no bubble wrapping by the machine and no option to use dunnage to put several wildly different sized objects in one box, or deal with like a lamp or a toilet plunger. There's still gonna be manual packing it's just now there will by SIOC, automatic-boxed and manual-boxed categories when presorting for shipping instead of just SIOC and boxed.

rusticpenn 7y ago

I guess 24 roles could also mean 24 roles like lead packer, junior packer etc ...

fastball 7y ago
Looks like they mean 24 people at each center, as 24 * 55 = 1320.
blakesterz 7y ago
I know almost nothing about how these places work, but I would've thought there would be way more people putting stuff in boxes to ship.
richrichardsson 7y ago
It's no stretch to assume by "role" they might mean a job title, and that each role could possibly be being filled by 3 people (3 * 8 hour shifts for a 24 hours continuous operation), so now you're looking at 72 jobs. I've no idea if Amazon does run 24 hour operations though.

mrec 7y ago

It sounds like a gradual transition to me, not replacing all packers overnight. > A key to its goal of a leaner workforce is attrition, one of the sources said. Rather than lay off workers, the person said, the world’s largest online retailer will one day refrain from refilling packing roles. and > The machines have the potential to automate far more than 24 jobs per facility, one of the sources said.

zdragnar 7y ago

The machines aren't going to operate perfectly at first. This is likely a trial run on very specific types of goods (dimensions, weights, etc). After 6 months or a year, the lessons learned about what worked and didn't will get rolled into the next round of automation, or an entirely different approach will be taken instead. I used to work at a water filter factory, and this is exactly what happened there. One production line used the old, 7 person crew, and a new, more automated one was brought in for a different filter size that needed only 2 or 3 people. The ways that the two lines could cause batches to fail varied, and the company gave it some time to figure out which line ended up being more cost effective over X investment payoff period. I didn't stick around long enough to see which one "won" out, but the automated process wasn't a clear winner by the time I had left.

Avshalom 7y ago

'standard-sized inventory' is probably doing a lot of heavy lifting. If this the same machine several of the videos there's no bubble wrapping by the machine and no option to use dunnage to put several wildly different sized objects in one box, or deal with like a lamp or a toilet plunger. There's still gonna be manual packing it's just now there will by SIOC, automatic-boxed and manual-boxed categories when presorting for shipping instead of just SIOC and boxed.