Contrary to a common belief that business automation will erase jobs for many people, in Amazon’s warehouses, the more robots, the more jobs are created. One Kiva robot carrying shelves of items. (Image via Amazon/Kiva Systems)
In the mid-90s, Amazon.com launched as an online retailer of books. Founded by Jeff Bezos, the company quickly grew to become the e-commerce giant it is today. The logo of the company is the letters A and Z separated by a curved arrow that also looks like a smile, to say that the company sells everything possible starting from the letter A to the letter Z in the alphabet. From the beginning, Bezos believed he could make Amazon.com a giant online shopping mall. But today Amazon is more than the online domain; Bezos has expanded his A to Z concept and embrace other letters like T for technology that the company’s Kindle tablets and Echo speakers represent. While Bezos is expanding into other industries, he didn’t neglect his first creation, Amazon.com. As sales increase, the company had to optimize its inventory management systems. Hence the acquisition of Kiva Systems, a robotic company, back in 2012.
Renamed Amazon Robotics after Bezos bought it, Kiva Systems was created in 2003 by Mick Mountz and Pete Wurman with in mind the goal to develop a mobile-robotic alternative to fulfillment service for inventory distribution centers. With Kiva comes a new type of employees Amazon could utilize in its warehouses. The Kiva robots are part of a system in which the robots bring the items that has to be shipped to a human employee who can then prepare the package for shipping. The robots called drive units are guided by a central computer which gives them orders. The drive units first go to the storage section of the store to pick up the storage unit that has the items that should be shipped or stored. A system of QR codes on the warehouse floor determines the direction each robot has to take. The shelves/storage units are kept in a position that allows the drive units to get under them and screw itself to the storage unit to ensure a safe ride to the picker or stower. A picker picks items to ship, while a stower insert in the pod new items to add to the inventory. The drive units have sensors to detect obstacles; that way limiting the possibility of collision between robots. For any warehouse workers, robots that would pick and drop products could mean losing jobs. Luckily, it is the opposite that is happening at Amazon.
Since acquiring Kiva systems, Amazon has added more than 300,000 jobs according to Preet Virdi, the Director of Operations at the Amazon’s New Jersey fulfillment facility. Surprisingly, having robots doing most of the jobs humans would do in a regular warehouse didn’t mean that humans were disposable. A human touch is needed to ensure the products are packaged properly. Humans are also needed to take care of the robotic system: from creating programs to improve their performance to fixing them when they break. A lot of employees at those warehouses powered by robots seem pretty happy to work with their electronic colleagues. Even though they spend most of their day in one place and might feel bored and tired sometimes, they figured out ways to alleviate those issues. For example, employees run stretching sessions during break to get some type of exercising and relieve stress. In addition, they also run friendly challenges that to see who can package more items or who can finish this or that task faster; it probably keeps them engaged with each other despite being surrounded by machines.
Unfortunately, not everyone is in love with the concept of robot and humans working together. In the UK, a journalist, James Bloodworth went undercover to work for an Amazon warehouse and reported that due to the automation, humans are treating like robots. According to Bloodworth, some basic needs like seeing a doctor or going to the bathroom are sanctioned because they are viewed as taking time away from productivity. Bloodworth also complained about employees getting just minimum wage despite working long hours in a stressful environment. It is hard to know if Bloodworth isn't just surprised by the rhythm of work at a warehouse and exaggerating a little. After all, the man only worked at the warehouse for 3 months before moving on to other undercover jobs. In any case, every new technology is bound to have both pros and cons, and unless Amazon workers ring the alarm, it is safe to say that the automation benefits all.
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