Amazon Introducing Warehouse Overhaul With Robotics to Speed Deliveries

livemint.com:

Amazon.com is introducing an array of 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 new AI-equipped sortation machines and robotic arms. It is also set to alter how many of the company’s vast army of workers do their jobs.

Amazon says its new robotics system, named Sequoia after the giant trees native to California’s Sierra Nevada region, 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 new 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 new 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.