You surely know this little orange robot at Amazon commonly known as Kiva, which powers many Amazon Fulfillment Centers. Turns out, there are more robots in use at Amazon, some for similar tasks, some for something completely different. In this post I would like to give you an overview of all the robots at Amazon (that I know of). There’s at least six different robots in action.
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Amazon Kiva Storage Strategies
Amazon uses a pretty neat and nifty way to store its materials using robots. These are commonly known as Kivas, although Kiva is only the name of the company that originally invented them. Amazon calls them Amazon Robotics. In this post I will look in detail at both the design of their storage pods and how Kivas manage their inventory.
The Inner Workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers – Part 6
This is the sixth and last post on my series on the inner workings of the Amazon Fulfillment Center. Here I will look at some supporting processes as well as the all-important employee satisfaction. I will look at the process of taking inventory, security, their interesting office locations on the warehouse floor, Amazon Go stores, and Employee Satisfaction.
The Inner Workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers – Part 5
This is the fifth post on my series on the inner workings of the Amazon Fulfillment Center. Here I will look at the software that runs behind all the processes and makes this performance possible. Other companies would probably plaster the label “Industry 4.0” all over this, but at Amazon they just do it.
The Inner Workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers – Part 4
This fourth post in the series on the inner workings of the Amazon Fulfillment Center will continue to look at the outbound material flow, including pack, SLAM, and the loading of the trucks. In the next and last posts, I will also look at the software behind it as well as some surrounding processes.
The Inner Workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers – Part 3
This is the third post on my series on the inner workings of the Amazon Fulfillment Center. In this post I start with the highly interesting process of the outbound value stream (i.e., how the goodies go from storage to your door). Since this is the core process, the next post will continue this outbound value stream.
The Inner Workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers – Part 2
This is the second post in my series on the inner workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers. In this post I will look at the typical layout of the fulfillment centers and start with the inbound value stream. After all, while we all are looking forward to getting stuff from Amazon, Amazon first has to get the stuff from somewhere else.
The Inner Workings of Amazon Fulfillment Centers – Part 1
Recently I had the chance to visit two Amazon Fulfillment Centers to take an in-depth look at their inner workings. While many articles about Amazon go over the basics, I will give you a deep dive into the workings of their fulfillment centers. Due to the amount of information, I divided the content across a series of posts. In this first post I will go through their general layout as well as their Kiva robotics system.