Amazon's brand-new depot is well and truly open in Poole, shipping tens of thousands of parcels to five counties every day.
The Echo was invited to see first-hand the sheer scale and size of the operation and meet those working in one of the largest Amazon depots in the UK.
Serving five counties – Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon – the depot is the biggest in the south coast and one of the biggest nationwide.
More than 300 people work daily at Amazon Poole, which opened on October 20, to deliver tens of thousands of parcels containing everything from computer monitors and bath lotions, to Lego City sets and Arsene Wenger’s autobiography.
Based at Sterte Avenue West, the 10.70 acre site replaces the former parcel distribution warehouse at Hurn near Bournemouth Airport – where the company had “hit the ceiling” of capacity.
All members of staff have been retained and more will be recruited ahead of the busy Christmas season.
Advanced technology is on full showcase inside the vast warehouse, with almost every aspect of the operation assisted or controlled by some form of tech – be it robot arms for box tagging or illuminous panels indicating to staff exactly where certain boxes are stored.
Despite the technology saving precious time, no staff losses have been incurred. As senior operations manager Jamie Edwards explained it, the technology serves to “reduce risk, not people”.
With hundreds of vans leaving the site within seven waves a day, the external area of the depot is just as well oiled as the rest.
Resembling an airport runway with jets taxiing to get out, a fleet of independently contracted van drivers are waved off the site carrying the cargo.
Speaking to the Echo, while the vans travelled to the likes of Bridport, Yeovil and Ringwood, ops manager Jamie told the Echo: “It’s been a challenging two weeks getting the team from a much smaller site to one of this size, but we’re looking good and there’s a real excitement about the place.”
Opening just before what is known as ‘peak’ (the Black Friday and Christmas period), Jamie said: “We planned to give ourselves the hard stop of October so we have the ability to bed in, tweak and adjust our operations ahead of ‘peak’.”
The depot expects to see a 50-60 per cent increase in demand over the festive period.
It is hoped the site will welcome a new electric delivery fleet in 2023.
Serving five counties – Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon – the depot is the biggest in the south coast and one of the biggest nationwide.
“This has future proofed our capacity in this area,” Jamie added. “This is the future of where Amazon delivery stations are going.
“2023 is going to be an exciting time for us.”
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