Jobs are going, and are gone for some of Amazon’s workers. The company is bent on making profit. Human costs are being eliminated, and that includes anything that has a human touch to it. The company is rolling out machines that would be boxing up customers’ orders.
Amazon’s strategy is to install automated machines at warehouses which would kill at least job 24 roles previously done by humans at each warehouse. Everything being equal, more than 1,300 job cuts across 55 U.S. warehouses are expected. Amazon expects to recover the costs of installing these machines in these warehouses in two years, at $1 million per machine.
“We are piloting this new technology with the goal of increasing safety, speeding up delivery times and adding efficiency across our network,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. “We expect the efficiency savings will be re-invested in new services for customers, where new jobs will continue to be created.”
The New Machines Can Pack Four To Five Times Faster Than Humans
Called the CartonWrap and manufactured by the Italian firm CMC Srl, the new machines can pack 600 to 700 boxes per hour making it four to five times faster than humans. All that is needed is one person who loads customer orders and another person who stocks cardboard and glue and a technician who fixes jams on occasion.
Completely Replacing Its Workforce?
Amazon does not have a plan of laying off all its workforce now. However, the game is that one day it will stop recruiting people to package its ordered goods for customers. In fact, Amazon has more workers than Microsoft, Google, and its employee base is one of the largest in the United States, with ranging from an average of $58,578 to $147,825 a year.
Amazon also maintains some hiring deals with governments which often favours it. For instance, for the 1,500 jobs Amazon announced last year in Alabama, the state promised the company $48.7 million over 10 years, its department of commerce said.
Amazon is also asking employees to quit and is offering them help starting their own delivery businesses. Amazon said it would cover up to $10,000 in startup costs, as well as three months’ salary, for employees accepted into the program. So, in many ways, it is still retaining the human touch, but gradually gnawing at its human workforce.
In A Battle To Eliminate Losses And Boost Profit, E-Commerce Companies In The US Are Turning To Automation.
American companies such as JD.com Inc and Shutterfly Inc have also tested the automation machines.
Walmart started 3.5 years ago and has since installed the machines in several U.S. locations.
The boxing machines are already proving helpful to Amazon. The company has installed them in busy warehouses that are driving distance from Seattle, Frankfurt, Milan, Amsterdam, Manchester and elsewhere.
- Interest in boxing technology sheds light on how the e-commerce companies are approaching one of the major problems in the logistics industry today: finding a robotic hand that can grasp diverse items without breaking them.
- These machines are not without flaws. The machines can only box so many per year. However, they need a technician on site who can fix problems as they arise, a requirement Amazon would rather go for.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh, a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.