Question

What do you project happening with Amazon's fulfillment system in the next 5-10 years?

Answer 1

The future of Amazon’s logistics network will undoubtedly involve artificial intelligence and robotics, but it’s an open question at what point AI-powered machines will be doing a majority of the work. According to Scott Anderson, the company’s director of robotics fulfillment, the point at which an Amazon warehouse is fully, end-to-end automated is at least 10 years away.it stands today, robots in the workforce are proficient mostly at specific, repeatable tasks for which they are precisely programmed. To get the robot to do something else takes expensive, time-consuming reprogramming. And robots that can perform multiple different tasks and operate in dynamic environments that require the robot see and understand its surroundings are still firmly in the realm of research and experimental trials.

while a robot can help manufacture a microchip and the body of a Tesla motor vehicle, it’s not capable of doing human tasks that warehouse work requires. At Amazon facilities and other companies’ fulfillment centers, a bulk of the labor is still largely done by human hands, because it’s difficult to train robots to see the world and use robotic grippers with the dexterity of human workers.in just over a quarter of a century, Amazon has grown from an online bookstore launched in a garage into a global e-commerce colossus that became the second American company, after Apple, to be valued at $1 trillion (£800bn). And it isn't stopping there: the Seattle-based company has a whole bunch of projects in the pipeline that will make your jaw drop.Amazon launched a new biometric payment method to be implemented in its Amazon Go stores. A new form of contactless payment, the system will take a scan of each customer’s palm, which will then be linked to their credit or debit card. Because of the intricacy of the vein patterns that will be catalogued, biometric payment is highly resistant to forgery, in theory making it a much safer method than cards or cash.

Amazon seems to have a finger in every pie, and recent announcements show that the company is keen to target two new markets: fresh food and luxury goods. Amazon Fresh has provided grocery deliveries since 2007, but only in mid-September 2020 did its first bricks-and-mortar store open to the public. The supermarkets feature the smart shopping carts found in the Go stores, while promising consistently low-priced goods. At the other end of the spectrum is Luxury Stores, Amazon’s first foray into the world of designer products. High-end brands will be able to sell their wares through the Amazon website like other vendors but will be given more control over factors such as inventory and pricing.Amazon is a global company, and taking over India seems to be at the forefront of Jeff Bezos’ mind right now. The CEO and founder visited the country earlier this year (pictured) and, speaking at an Amazon event, he was quoted as saying the 21st century is “going to be the Indian century”.Bezos has certainly put his money where his mouth is, as Amazon went on to pledge a whopping $1 billion (£800m) investment towards digitising small- and medium-sized businesses across India, enabling them to trade online. Last year plans became more concrete as a lawsuit revealed Amazon’s intentions to sell drugs directly to employers and health plans. This would allow Amazon to become its own pharmacy benefit manager – an administrator of prescription drug programmes – which could really disrupt the $311 billion (£250bn) American pharmacy market. Amazon is also getting into America's $345.7 billion (£276.6bn) prescription drugs market, a move that should further lower healthcare costs across America.Centres create thousands of jobs for locals, and that’s set to be the case for some time as Amazon officials have recently dismissed the idea of fully-automated centres, saying that the company doesn't yet have the technology required for such a feat. But given the enormous progress Amazon has made in a little over 25 years, worker-less fulfilment centres in the future can’t be entirely ruled out.