Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs
SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon.com Inc is rolling out machines to automate a job held by thousands of its workers: boxing up customer orders.
The plan, previously unreported, shows how Amazon is pushing to reduce labor and boost profits as automation of the most common warehouse task – picking up an item – is still beyond its reach. The changes are not finalized because vetting technology before a major deployment can take a long time.Amazon is famous for its drive to automate as many parts of its business as possible, whether pricing goods or transporting items in its warehouses.
The new machines, known as the CartonWrap from Italian firm CMC Srl, pack much faster than humans. They crank out 600 to 700 boxes per hour, or four to five times the rate of a human packer, the sources said. The machines require one person to load customer orders, another to stock cardboard and glue and a technician to fix jams on occasion.Though Amazon has announced it intends to speed up shipping across its Prime loyalty program, this latest round of automation is not focused on speed.
Interest in boxing technology sheds light on how the e-commerce behemoths are approaching one of the major problems in the logistics industry today: finding a robotic hand that can grasp diverse items without breaking them.
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