Amazon Unveils Warehouse Overhaul With Robotics

to Speed Up Deliveries
Herrera, Sebastian

ProQuest document link

FULL TEXT
Amazon is introducing new artificial intelligence and robotics capabilities into its warehouse operations that will
reduce delivery times and help identify inventory more quickly.
The revamp will change the way Amazon moves products through its fulfillment centers with AI-equipped sortation
machines and robotic arms. It is set to alter how many of the company's army of workers do their jobs.
Amazon says its new robotics system, named Sequoia, is designed for both speed and safety. Humans are meant to
work alongside new machines in a way that should reduce injuries, the company says.
It is unclear how the system will affect Amazon's head count, and the company declined to provide details about its
expectations except to note that it doesn't see automation and robotics as vehicles for eliminating jobs.
Sequoia enables the company to put up items for sale on its website faster and be able to more easily predict
delivery estimates, said David Guerin, the company's director of robotic storage technology. The program reduces
the time it takes to fulfill an order by up to 25%, the company said, and it can identify and store inventory up to 75%
faster. Amazon launched the system this week at one of its warehouses in Houston.
"The faster we can process inventory, the greater the probability that we're going to be able to deliver when we said
we could," Guerin said.
He said Amazon expects the new system to make up a significant portion of the company's operations in the next
three to five years.
Faced with fresh competition in the U.S., Amazon has worked to become faster at delivering its products. The
company transformed its operations to a regionally focused model meant to store items closer to customers.
In the new structure, vehicles transport products inside tote containers to a new sortation machine equipped with
small robotic arms and computer vision. From the sortation machine, the bins are routed to an employee who picks
items for delivery. Remaining inventory is consolidated by Sparrow, a robotic arm Amazon unveiled last year.
In the previous system, vehicles moved around Amazon products, but the new sortation machine, tote containers
and Sparrow weren't involved. Previously, employees might have to reach high up on a shelf to pick a heavy item,
but now the new system delivers containers around the waist level, with a goal to reduce injuries.
Amazon is among several companies that have chased the "holy grail" of robotics, or machines as dexterous, quick
and adaptable as a human arm and hand. Rivals such as Walmart are changing jobs of moving boxes into roles
managing robotic arms.
What Amazon and others have realized is that in order to integrate more robotics, the workflow of warehouses has
to be transformed, said Rueben Scriven, research manager at market research firm Interact Analysis. Amazon's new
system, for example, makes sense for its robotic arms because such robots have an easier time identifying objects
inside of bins than shelves, which have been a part of previous Amazon systems.
"The key thing Amazon is trying to do is integrate," Scriven said. "They have the different pieces, and now it's about,
'How do we bring them together in a harmonious system?'"
Labor researchers and activists have said Amazon's desire for faster speeds can put its workers at risk, and some
have warned that the introduction of robotics could also heighten employee injuries. The company has long
struggled with high turnover among its warehouse employees and repetitive stress injuries.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 1 of 3

With new systems such as Sequoia, Amazon says it is trying to improve safety. Tye Brady, chief technologist at
Amazon Robotics, said the company's robotics are meant to eliminate mundane tasks and work alongside its human
staff, with both needing each other to work efficiently. Amazon has introduced various robotics into its warehouses
over the past decade but maintained large hiring sprees for human workers.
Amazon's delivery strategy has centered on opening facilities focused on delivering popular products to customers
in less than a day. The company launched dozens of the same-day sites, with plans for more expansion. Guerin, the
robotics storage director, said Amazon's plans for Sequoia include the same-day sites.
Aside from trying to get faster, Amazon restarted a shipping business that competes with United Parcel Service and
FedEx by handling external deliveries.
Amazon said it would start to test a bipedal robot named Digit in its operations. Digit, which is designed by Agility
Robotics, can move, grasp and handle items, and will initially be used by the company to move empty tote
containers.
The retailer has one of the nation's largest workforces, employing hundreds of thousands of employees in its
warehouses. It has increasingly introduced robotics into its operations.
The company bought Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775 million, bringing in mobile robots into its facilities. In 2022, it
unveiled a $1 billion fund for innovation in logistics and supply chain, with Agility Robotics being among the fund's
first recipients. And the same year, it unveiled Sparrow, which can pick up a variety of objects as easily as humans
can.
Credit: By Sebastian Herrera

DETAILS

Subject: Warehouses; Employees; Inventory; Employment; Robotics; Competition; Electronic

commerce

Business indexing term: Subject: Warehouses Employees Inventory Employment Electronic commerce;
Corporation: Amazon.com Inc; Industry: 49311 : General Warehousing and Storage
45411 : Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses

Company / organization: Name: Agility Robotics; NAICS: 334111, 541511, 541512

Classification: 49311: General Warehousing and Storage; 45411: Electronic Shopping and Mail-
Order Houses

Publication title: Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.

First page: B.4

Publication year: 2023

Publication date: Oct 19, 2023

Section: Technology

Publisher: Dow Jones &Company Inc.

Place of publication: New York, N.Y.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 3

 Country of publication: United States, New York, N.Y.

Publication subject: Business And Economics--Banking And Finance

ISSN: 00999660

Source type: Newspaper

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 2878615033

Document URL: http://silk.library.umass.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/amazon-

unveils-warehouse-overhaul-with-robotics/docview/2878615033/se-
2?accountid=14572

Copyright: Copyright 2023 Dow Jones &Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Full text availability: This publication may be subject to restrictions within certain markets, including
corporations, non-profits, government institutions, and public libraries. In those cases
records will be visible to users, but not full text.

Last updated: 2023-11-13

Database: The Wall Street Journal

LINKS
Check for Full Text

Database copyright  2023 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.

Terms and Conditions Contact ProQuest

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 3 of 3