Amazon Australia is clearly going well with the company announcing a new fulfilment centre in Sydney. This is absolutely massive, in its scale and ambition, with at 200,000 sqm, it’ll be around the same land size as Taronga Zoo or 22 rugby fields.
The first Amazon Robotics Fulfilment Centre (FC) will be located at Goodman’s Oakdale West Industrial Estate in Western Sydney. It is expected the construction will be complete in late 2021.
The fulfilment 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.
The new FC will create more than 1,500 jobs with industry-leading pay and the opportunity to work alongside advance robotics. The construction and fit out of the state-of-the-art facility will create an additional 700 jobs.
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.
There’s also a significant space saving, allowing for 50% more items per square metre. The fulfilment centre’s total floor area of around 200,000 square metres across four levels will house up to 11 million items.
Globally, Amazon has more than 50 Amazon Robotic FCs around the world, such is the demand for products sold through their website and the logistics challenge of getting products to customers as quickly as possible.
“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. 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 & medium sized businesses who utilise Fulfilment By Amazon to seamlessly service customers across the country.
We remain committed to enriching and giving back to the local communities and look forward to working with the Council and local schools and groups to contribute and support the community around our new facility in a meaningful way.”
Craig Fuller, Director of Operations, Amazon Australia.
“This new centre, once up and running, will create more than 1,500 jobs in addition to 700 construction jobs at a time when we need them most. Amazon’s decision to locate its first robotic centre in the Southern Hemisphere right here in Western Sydney is another great example about what the future holds.”
The Premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian
Amazon.com.au launched in Australia in December 2017 and now offers customers 125 million products across 31 different categories including Amazon devices.
Amazon Robotics will complement Amazon’s existing network of three Australian fulfilment centres launched in Dandenong South, Melbourne in December 2017, followed by Moorebank, Sydney in August 2018 and Perth’s Airport Precinct in November 2019. Earlier this month it announced its fourth fulfilment centre which will begin operating in Lytton, Brisbane before Christmas 2020.