Amazon’s brand new sorting center in Coteau-du-Lac, west of Montreal, will be robotized over 65% of its area, a first in Canada for the e-commerce giant.
The playground for these never-complaining employees will be surrounded by 10-foot-high fences to keep humans away and safe, explained Jason Brown, learning manager and specialist in the field. robotics at Amazon Canada, which inaugurated its 67,000 square meter sorting center on Wednesday in the presence of elected officials and economic officials from the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges.
Two types of Amazon Robitics’ order management robots will be at work in the warehouse: one for heavy loads and another for transporting envelopes and small packages. Strong, each robot weighs 300 pounds, when equipped. The number and cost of the little wonders are kept secret by Amazon.
The use of robotization reduces the need for human resources, which nevertheless remains high at a time of a labor shortage.
Amazon opens 500 jobs in Coteau-du-Lac. Starting salaries range from $ 17.60 to $ 18.10, depending on the job. The new employee receives a bonus of $ 3,000 upon hire and is eligible for benefits from the first day on the job.
So far, 90 out of 500 people have been hired and the first orders have been processed on Wednesday. Site manager for Amazon Canada, Anamaria Zammit, hopes to hit cruising speed for the holiday season and complete 500 hires within six months.
At the time of the site visit, the large warehouse with 126 loading docks was three quarters empty. The robots are not yet installed. The robotics will become operational in the course of next year, assures Mr. Brown. In the meantime, the preparation of orders will be done by hand.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Covering an area of 67,000 square meters, the warehouse has 125 loading docks.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
About 65% of the floor area will be reserved for robots. Here, the robot frame without the motor or the wheels.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The center will provide work for 500 people, who will have access to this rest area.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
View of employee spaces
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The warehouse is located in the Alta industrial park, in Coteau-du-Lac, 60 kilometers west of Montreal.
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Amazon’s supply chain cuts across three levels. The first stop is the distribution center. In the Montreal region, it is located in Lachine, on rue Louis-A.-Amos. The products then go to the sorting center: the first in Quebec was created in the Saint-Hubert borough in Longueuil. Coteau-du-Lac will be the second sorting center in the province. The next stop is the delivery center, which is responsible for delivering the package to the customer’s door. For the moment, there are delivery centers in Laval and soon in Lachine, rue Norman.
Private industrial park
In Coteau-du-Lac, the Amazon warehouse is located in a private industrial park belonging to the company Alta Industriel de Pierre Latreille and the promoter Broccolini. After a legal battle that lasted almost 10 years, Alta succeeded in removing phase 2 land from the agricultural zone. About fifteen organizations are present in phase 1, including CAT Transport, Pival, CRI Environnement and Fedex. Supply Chain (formerly Genco), operator of the Canadian Tire distribution supercentre.
“Coteau-du-Lac benefits from a strategic location for the distribution and logistics industry,” said Andrée Brosseau, mayor, who spoke. For the city of 7,500 people located near highways 20, 30, 40 on the road to Toronto, the park and its 15 million square feet still available is a blessing.
To illustrate, the land account for Amazon’s neighbor, Canadian Tire’s 140,000-square-foot distribution center, is about $ 2 million per year. Moreover, the expansion work of over 300,000 square feet, announced last January, is going well, we have seen. Opened in 2009, the red triangle retailer’s center serves Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces and provides jobs to 1,000 people.
The MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges is well positioned to attract warehouses, said Joanne Brunet, general manager of the economic promotion organization Développement Vaudreuil-Soulanges (DEV). “The MRC has 600 logistics companies giving work to 6000 people”, she underlined, in her speech. In addition to Amazon and the expansion at Canadian Tire, three other constructions totaling more than 50,000 square meters are under construction on its territory.