There is an Amazon package on the doormat outside the front door. It came to you a little while ago, and it would have a beautiful story to tell you. Unfortunately, however, that package cannot speak and we at Tech Princess will tell you this story.
Once upon a time there was science fiction, the good one, the one that did not speak of alien invasions but of a future in which the machine would leave man the opportunity to devote himself to its full realization, saving him the most tiring or boring tasks. Let’s imagine for a moment, this future in which robots with the strangest shapes work in unison to support people, in perfect synchronized and efficient harmony. We have seen it many times on TV and on the big screen. But are we sure that all this belongs to the future?
No. We went to Torrazza Piemonte, near Turin, to visit one of the five Italian Amazon centers equipped with Amazon Robotics technology, where innovation at the service of man. And we were pleased to discover that the future has already arrived.
Because it is not the employees who move here, but the shelves.
Inside an Amazon Fulfillment Center
Safety first of all
Once the documents were handed over and the necessary checks were carried out, including the green pass, we entered the huge complex, a sort of unsuspected technological cathedral.
The mask never takes off, ever. And yet the necessary distances are maintained between the participants while walking along the paths marked on the ground.
That of Torrazza Piemonte is one of the 5 robotic centers currently present in Italy, the second to have been opened. In addition to these highly technological complexes, we also find the centers dedicated to the management of large products that are stored through racks that develop in height, up to 10 meters.
Bigger than that? It’s hard to imagine considering that TRN1 – the code name of the Distribution Center we are in – is already immense. I am 60,000 sq m. Virtually the equivalent of a dozen soccer fields they work over 1,500 permanent employees.
From your order to shipping
We entered we entered. But the protagonists this time are not us but our pack friend. In short, we order something on amazon.it and then what happens?
Well, first of all – he tells us Federica, our guide within TRN1 – the fate of our order is decided by extremely advanced proprietary algorithms able to make the best choices so that our package arrives as efficiently as possible. Curiously, in fact, it is not said that the closest distribution center to home is chosen but the one that will take the least time. In short, even if you live in Turin, your package does not necessarily come from the place where we are.
The RSP: the beating heart of the Distribution Center
But let’s assume that TRN1 is the most suitable center for managing your order.
The first step is simple: we need to retrieve the ordered object.
This is done in an area called RSP, Robotic Storage Platform.
And it is precisely here that it seems to be catapulted into the future. In a sort of magical dance, elegant, orderly and even hypnotic, here the shelves, called pods, move by themselves.
It is not magic, mind you. It’s all technology. In fact, Amazon has adopted a system that is based on the use of very sturdy robots that are positioned under the pods, lift them and they take them directly to the employees’ stations following paths traced through a series of QR codes glued to the floor.
Once the pod reaches its destination, the employees in charge of the picking verify, through a monitor, what to pick from bin, i.e. the compartments on the pod shelves,
The operation takes just a few seconds thanks to the principle with which the items were previously stored: randomness.
To explain it to you, let’s take a practical example.
Imagine having to retrieve a book. If the book is among other books it takes longer because you have to find the right one. But if that book were on the same shelf as a toy, colored pencils and a pair of headphones, it would take very little to identify it.
Here, the principle of random storage it is exactly that.
A truly intelligent method that abandons the classic division into categories which, while making everything easier and more intuitive, requires you to understand the logic. And this is why the staff undergoes specific training courses to carry out the task safely and efficiently.
Know that we are not talking about huge products: TRN1 only handles small objects and that is why the bins, the compartments, measure from 6 to 18.5 inches. Translated in a nutshell it means that the largest product you find here is more or less the size of a coffee machine that uses pods.
Packaging and Shipping: Privacy is vital
Once the item has been recovered, your order must be packaged. The choice of casing is not accidental. Again it is the Amazon system which suggests to the operator which packaging to use based on the size of the object to be packed. Also to favor space saving and cardboard waste. The empty spaces inside the package are filled using recycled paper to prevent the product from having too much play.
Once ready, it is applied to the package a label called SP00 (which reads as in English: “spu”) with a code composed solely of numbers and letters. It is about a sort of identity card of that specific package and contains all information about your order.
And no, it’s not code that employees can read or scan. This means that no one knows who that specific product will go to, so as to ensure your privacy.
In short, if we were to order a glass ball with snow, no Amazon employee would be able to associate it with us.
The label with the destination address is affixed later, by a named machine SLAM. The SLAM first reads the SP00 label, weighs the package to understand if the weight is congruent with the object it should contain and in 4-5 seconds print and paste the information needed for shipping.
After the intervention of the SLAM, the package cannot be opened by any Amazon employee to guarantee, once again, the privacy of the customers. The only ones authorized to carry out this operation are you.
Will you still be able to look at your package the same way?
Well, that’s all that happened in one day to that package, your package, resting on the doormat at home.
Only you know that inside there is a glass ball with snow, which you have not been able to keep from buying. But it doesn’t matter, because it’s important for Amazon to keep the delivery promise.
Do you want to live the same experience too? Well, you can take a virtual tour of the Amazon fulfillment centers. The procedure is not complicated at all: just register on the dedicated page to live a fun and instructive experience.
We wanted to tell you this story not only to dispel old clichés but also to make you understand what technology can really do today. Why, after all, are we or are we not Tech Princess?