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Amazon Australia has confirmed plans to establish new digs in Australia, revealing that it will open its first local Amazon Robotics fulfilment centre (FC) at Goodman’s Oakdale West Industrial Estate in Western Sydney.
Globally, Amazon has more than 175 fulfilment centres and more than 40 sort centres. To date, it has opened more than 50 Amazon Robotic FCs around the world. The proposed Sydney centre will be the company's first robotics fulfilment centre site in the Southern Hemisphere.
The new fulfilment centre in Sydney, which is scheduled to be completed by late 2021, is expected to create 1500 jobs with the opportunity to work alongside “advanced robotics”, while an additional 700 jobs will be created during construction and fit out of the new centre.
This upcoming centre, which will have a total floor area of around 200,000 square metres across four levels and house up to 11 million items, will be Amazon’s second fulfilment centre in Western Sydney, increasing its capacity to fulfil customer orders as the business continues to expand in Australia.
Amazon claims the planned centre will be equipped with the most advanced Amazon Robotics technology to “better assist employees and serve customers, and contribute to the company’s efforts to deliver a smarter, faster and more consistent experience for its customers around Australia”.
According to the company, robots help speed order processing time by moving shelves to employees, thereby reducing the time and efforts taken to stow items for sale or pick them for new customer orders and creating a more pleasant work environment.
Additionally, Amazon claims the robot workers save space, allowing for 50 per cent more items to be stowed per square metre.
However, the company claims Amazon Robotics will offer a diverse range of job opportunities in its new workplace, ranging from IT, HR and robotics professionals, to workers who will work collaboratively with robots, to pick, pack and ship smaller items such as books, beauty products, electronics and toys to customers.
The majority of jobs will be permanent full-time roles, Amazon said.
“The Amazon Robotics fulfilment centre will more than double our operational footprint in Australia, enhance efficiency and safety for our associates while ultimately providing customers with wider selection and faster delivery,” Amazon Australia operations director Craig Fuller said.
“We look forward to creating more than 1,500 jobs, the majority of which are permanent full time jobs, with the opportunity to work alongside advanced robotics to deliver the ultimate in service for customers.
“This investment will also benefit the 10,000 plus small and medium sized businesses who utilise Fulfilment By Amazon to seamlessly service customers across the country,” he added.
