To enhance its distribution capacities, Amazon has announced initiatives including the launch of its air hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and major investments in Florida including the development of a robotic fulfillment center.
Amazon Air Hub operations at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport are beginning after more than four years of planning and construction, according to the company. The hub will serve as the locus for Amazon Air’s cargo network in the United States, facilitating the rapid transport of customer packages across the country.
An 800,000-square-foot sortation building is a key site in a 600-acre campus that includes seven buildings, an expansive new ramp for aircraft parking and a multi-story vehicle parking structure. The sortation facility is making innovative use of robotics technology to help move and sort packages, Amazon indicated, including robotic arms and mobile drive units that transport packages across the building, as well as miles of interlinked conveyors and ergonomic workstations that support a comfortable work environment for employees. The building will incorporate a solar rooftop, scheduled for installation over the next year, and all energy generated from the panels will feed directly into the electrical grid of the local community.
Amazon Air, the company noted, has expanded its U.S. presence to more than 40 locations and launched a European air hub in 2020 at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport.
In announcing the commencement of operations at the northern Kentucky air hub, Sarah Rhoads, vp/Amazon Global Air, said. “We’re excited to get rolling in Northern Kentucky, and we’re thrilled to employ thousands of fantastic people from the area in this next-generation, highly sophisticated facility that will connect our air cargo network for years to come.”
We’re excited to get rolling in Northern Kentucky, and we’re thrilled to employ thousands of fantastic people from the area in this next-generation, highly sophisticated facility that will connect our air cargo network for years to come.
-Sarah Rhoads, VP/Amazon Global Air
In Florida, Amazon is building a new 630,000 square-foot robotic fulfillment center, scheduled to open in Tallahassee, during the latter half of 2022. Despite the automation, Amazon stated that the fulfillment center would create more than 1,000 full-time jobs that will give employees the experience of engaging in advanced robotics as they pick, pack and ship small items such as books, electronics and toys to customers. In addition, the company is readying five more Florida delivery stations, one each in Melbourne, Riviera Beach, Coral Springs, Fort Meyers and St. Petersburg.
The latest company news on investment in Florida follows directly on the heels of Amazon’s announcing plans for additional distribution in the form of a Port St. Lucie distribution facility. A fulfillment center there will weigh in at more than one million square feet, Amazon asserted. When it opens next year, employees will pick, pack and ship large customer items such as sports equipment, patio furniture, fishing rods, pet food, kayaks, bicycles and larger household goods.
In a second-quarter conference call, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said the forward pull in consumer demand the company experienced over the past 18 months has and will require significant investment in the fulfillment network. He pointed out that unit volume handled by the company’s distribution operations, generated by both retail and Fulfilled by Amazon operations, has doubled over the past two years, as has volume moving through the delivery system. He noted that Amazon’s distribution network has been running at near-peak levels since May of 2020, which will necessitate ongoing investment to keep the overall business running effectively.
