El Paso’s Amazon Fulfillment Center opens doors for media tour
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A tap on your phone can lead to a package being dropped off at your door in mere hours, thanks to the innovative minds of Amazon. But so much happens from the moment you tap "buy now" to the moment a coveted item appears on your front porch.
And there's a chance some of that magic happens right here in the Borderland.
ABC-7 and other local news agencies were invited to witness that process Tuesday during the first-ever tour of the new Amazon Fulfillment Center.
The 2.5 million sq. ft. facility began operations in Nov. 2021 and is one of 400 fulfillment centers globally.
The products that are available to be shipped to customers vary. No two yellow bins have the same item.
"There are 26 million different items here at the site, over five different floors," said Jon Kot, the center's general manager. "We can have DVDs to children's toys and books. It's pretty much everything we have on the website."
And there are various robots among the human employees: small robots that are wheeling stacks of bins to employees, robots that carry individual packages to various chutes where they will be carted off to another robot arm that scans items that will be loaded into the truck.
There was something about seeing the driverless robots zooming across the floor that resembled the old bumper car ride but without any bumping.
"You see those little stickers with QR codes on the floor?" said Kot, pointing to the squares on the floor. "It's like a map for the robotics to follow."
Kot - who is a native El Pasoan and a Franklin High School graduate - said he believes automation complements the human hand.
"They way we use it to make this environment as safe as possible for our employees. That's our biggest priority. And we're also trying to make the products reach our customers faster, to meet customer demand," Kot added.
Amazon Fulfillment Center employees start at $15 an hour and have an opportunity for pay increases after six months. They get full benefits, earn 20 days of paid family leave and are offered an opportunity for Amazon to pay for their college tuition.
