Last week my sister Jean and I took a tour of the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Monee, Illinois, about an hour southwest of Chicago. It was an interesting look into the inner workings at the huge facility, named MDW in honor of Midway Airport.
Hundreds of employees and robots work together in the 850,000-square-foot facility to prepare and ship small items such as books, cosmetics and other items which could fit into a microwave oven. Just seeing all the moving parts smoothly coexisting was fascinating.
Our tour guide spoke with enthusiasm as she explained the processes. One interesting fact is items are stored in a random fashion due to Harry Potter books. During the height of the Harry Potter craze, there was such high demand for the books, it caused clogs at the bins at the storage locations. That created the need to randomize the items. It seems unconventional at first, but seeing the robots move around picking items, it becomes clearer.
Along with explaining each station, our tour guide discussed the freedom employees have. Flexibility in hours, PTO, breaks and more are just a few of the perks.
The robots move flawlessly thanks to spaced codes on the floor. Knowing when its battery is low, each robot moves itself to a charging spot.
The 90-minute tour covered about a mile of walking through the four floors of the facility. The only downside was pictures were not allowed.
After the tour, we enjoyed lunch at Post Game Pub & Sedona Grill. Located in nearby Mokena, it’s especially fun during Chicago sports games.
— John Wroblewski, online writer
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