Amazon has officially inaugurated this Tuesday its new robotic logistics centre in the municipality of Corvera in a ceremony attended by the director of Amazon Customer Fulfillment in France, Italy and Spain, Fred Pattje, accompanied by the president of the Regional Government of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, the Minister of Enterprise, Employment, Universities and Spokesperson, Valle Miguélez, and the mayor of Murcia, José Antonio Serrano.
Covering more than 160,000 square metres, equivalent to 24 football pitches, this Amazon Robotics-equipped logistics centre features a wide range of advanced technologies designed to keep all employees safe at work, while enabling Amazon to meet its customers’ needs. The centre will create 1,200 permanent jobs over the next three years, allowing Amazon to increase its capacity and better support independent sellers in the region.
Pattje said: «We are delighted to open this new logistics centre in Murcia, a region that has become a strategic location for our operations in the country. It will allow us to respond to growing customer demand, better support independent sellers and continue to create high quality jobs. Amazon will end 2021 with 15,000 permanent employees in Spain.
«The Region of Murcia is already a benchmark in many areas and now we will be too with this new Amazon robotised logistics centre,» said López Miras, adding that «welcoming a giant in commerce, communication and services such as Amazon is magnificent news and if, in addition, this centre alone will create 1,200 permanent jobs over the next three years, it is an opportunity that we could not let slip through our fingers.
«The municipality of Murcia welcomes this logistics centre with great satisfaction because it gives us greater visibility, because the name of this land is linked to one of the companies with the greatest international projection and also, of course, because it represents a niche of employment that is already benefiting many families,» said Serrano.
TECHNOLOGY FOCUSED ON EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
Amazon prioritises the safety of all employees and is constantly looking for ways to further improve safety measures at its facilities, in its aim to become the safest workplace in the world. In this regard, advanced technologies at Amazon Robotics-enabled sites, such as this one, aim to support safer ways of working for everyone at the site.
Examples of these technologies include mobile drive units and four-sided yellow shelving towers, which assist employees by bringing items closer to them, reducing the amount of travel around the centre. The Murcia logistics centre has more than 54,000 racks and 2,895 mobile units, which can lift up to 1,500 kilograms.
Robotic palletisers and depalletisers have been installed at this logistics centre in Corvera to improve the experience and well-being of employees by eliminating the need to carry heavy loads, while sorting robots are used to automate repetitive tasks such as lifting, stacking, moving and placing packages, allowing employees to focus on the kind of work that robots cannot do.
The inauguration coincides with Amazon’s tenth anniversary in Spain, a period in which the company has invested 6.8 billion euros in the country and contributed to the creation of 89,000 indirect jobs. Amazon has pledged to reach 25,000 permanent jobs in Spain and to train 50,000 SMEs and entrepreneurs in online sales before the end of 2025. In addition to these targets, the company has made a global commitment to operate 100% on renewable energy by 2030, although it is on track to achieve this by 2025.
The President of the Regional Government, Fernando López Miras, celebrated the more than 1,200 permanent jobs that Amazon’s new robotised logistics centre will create over the next three years, and highlighted «the great attraction of investment that the Region is achieving, with an Investment Acceleration Unit of the Instituto de Fomento that is fully consolidated and which is speeding up the attraction of projects as important as this one».
At the inauguration ceremony of the plant in Corvera (Murcia), López Miras said that this initiative and the associated job creation «represent an opportunity that we could not let slip away». The centre will be used by the multinational to support its operations in Spain and throughout Europe, and is the fourth facility of its kind to be set up by Amazon in Spain, along with two in Barcelona and one in Seville.
With a view to continuing to facilitate the deployment of these investments, López Miras recalled that «from the regional government we are going to implement a law that will further boost private investment, and increase this power of attraction and development of strategic projects. This will be the Law on Public Efficiency and Investment Dynamisation, which will be fundamental in overcoming the economic and social crisis to which the pandemic has led us».
The regional head thanked the Amazon representatives «for choosing the Region of Murcia» and affirmed that it is «a safe bet, for our economic freedom, and because we support business initiatives by reducing taxes and eliminating bureaucracy».
This is the second Amazon centre in the Region, as it joins the logistics station launched in October 2020 and which is barely 200 metres away, also in Corvera. In the Region of Murcia alone, more than 200 SMEs market their goods and services through Amazon, with export sales of more than 10 million euros in 2019.
A SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
As part of Amazon’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2040, the building is 100% electrically powered, including its heating and hot water systems, avoiding the use of fossil fuels (natural gas) and with energy efficiency as a top priority. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning are controlled by a building management system (BMS) that ensures a comfortable working environment for employees while reducing unnecessary energy consumption.
LED lighting is adjusted according to daylight availability and building occupancy, and indoor air quality is constantly monitored. The building will be equipped with solar panels along the entire roof and employees will have access to electric vehicle charging points and bicycle parking.
Amazon is on track to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, reaching 65% by 2020, and is now the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Europe and the world.