Amazon will open a new fulfilment centre in Tilbury, Essex, close to London, in 2017, creating more than 1,500 new permanent jobs, and featuring the use of robots for some tasks.
It will be the company’s 13th fulfilment centre in the UK and the third where robots will support humans in warehousing activities.
The e-commerce giant said it is increasing the size of its UK fulfilment centre network to meet increasing customer demand, expand its product selection of more than 150 million items and support the needs of a growing number of independent small businesses selling on Amazon Marketplace using Fulfilment by Amazon warehousing and delivery.
“We are excited to announce that we will be opening our 13th fulfilment centre in the UK in Tilbury in spring 2017 to enable us to continue to expand our product selection, support more third party sellers including small businesses with our fulfilment expertise and meet growing customer demand in the UK,” said John Tagawa, Amazon’s Vice President of UK Operations. “We are delighted to be creating more than 1,500 new permanent full-time jobs with competitive wages and comprehensive benefits starting on day one.”
Amazon also disclosed that the Tilbury fulfilment centre will be equipped with the latest and most advanced Amazon Robotics technology which launched earlier this year in the UK at Amazon’s fulfilment centres in Dunstable and Doncaster.
According to the company, these “robots” slide under a tower of shelves where products are stowed, lift it and move it through the fulfilment centre. Robots help speed order processing time and reduce walking time by moving the shelves to employees, reducing the time taken to stow items for sale or pick them for new customer orders. They also save space, allowing for 50% more items to be stowed per square foot.
Tagawa said: “The Amazon teams are dedicated to innovating in our fulfilment centres to increase speed of delivery while enabling greater selection at lower costs for our customers. The introduction of Amazon Robotics is the newest example of our commitment to invention in logistics on behalf of our employees and our customers.”
Amazon currently has ten fulfilment centres in the UK, including two in Doncaster and one each in Dunfermline, Dunstable, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley and Swansea Bay.
In the autumn, two new fulfilment centre with open, in Manchester and Coalville, Leicestershire, creating 1,500 new permanent jobs over three years. The new fulfilment centre in Manchester will also use Amazon Robotics technology. Amazon announced earlier this month it will also open a new fulfilment centre in Doncaster in summer 2017, creating 500 new full-time permanent jobs.
Amazon underlined that it has invested more than £4.6 billion in the UK economy to build and run its UK business since 2010. Across the UK, Amazon plans to have more than 15,500 permanent employees by the end of this year at its locations, including the London head office, three Research and Development (R&D), 12 fulfilment centres, 29 local delivery stations nationwide and other sites.
