Amazon Opens West Japan’s Largest Logistics Center

E-commerce giant Amazon Japan (Tokyo) announced to the media for the first time on the 20th that it opened its largest logistics base in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture in Western Japan in March. Using the most advanced technology of about 1,800 autonomous walking robots to walk back and forth to sort commodities, the business efficiency has been improved. The base is in response to the increased demand for online shopping caused by the new crown epidemic.

The new logistics base “Amazon Amagasaki Distribution Center” is a 4-story building with a total area of more than 100,000 square meters. Over 10 million items of daily necessities and miscellaneous goods are kept in stock, and hundreds of thousands of items are shipped across the country every day.

Merchandise is managed on about 20,000 shelves called “Pods.” After receiving the order, the robot will pick up the Pod of the required product and automatically transport it to the area of  the packaging and distribution operation. It is reported that this process can shorten the time from placing an order to shipping, and the amount of stored inventory has increased by 40% compared to the past.

“In addition to the improvement in delivery speed, the safety of employees and the convenience of work are also taken into consideration,” said Watanabe Hirosato, the company’s operating technology general headquarters.

Companies have recently opened new logistics centers. Japan’s GLP (Tokyo) announced on the 15th that it will build a large-scale facility with a total area of about 370,000 square meters in Amagasaki City, with an investment of about 100 billion yen (about 5 billion yuan), and strive to be completed in 2026.