Since its establishment in 1994, Amazon has regarded e-commerce as a marathon race, building a three pronged global presence amidst eight years of loss making operations. In addition to its renowned web services (AWS) and Kindle publishing business (KDP), another more secretive service is logistics (FBA).

When Chinese e-commerce companies firmly believed in the principle of "slowing down with speed" and used burning money for advertising to gain competitive advantage, Amazon had long recognized that the essence of e-commerce is retail enterprises, and refined operations are the core competitiveness.

In mid May, the reporter visited Amazon China's Tianjin operation center, which is the backend of Amazon China. For e-commerce, attracting users to shop with simple and fresh web pages is the first step, while warehousing and delivery are the most critical tests.

Dynamic balance of inbound and outbound inventory

Simply put, the daily work of the operations center includes two stages: inbound and outbound. Just like going through customs, each product needs to undergo a series of "physical examinations" when it arrives at the Tianjin operation center - measuring height, waist circumference, and weighing. As long as it is in the warehouse, these data will be accompanied until shipment.

Zhou Tao, Regional Director of Amazon's North and West China Warehouse, told reporters that in the warehouse, what the product is is not important, length, width, and height are the important factors for measuring the product. Based on length, width, and height, determine the placement of each item, the size of the packaging box, and the price of the package. After these data are scanned into the system, both the computer and handheld devices will automatically make relevant judgments.

From receiving to listing, it usually takes 1 to 6 hours for the goods, while small appliances require face-to-face inspection with suppliers, which can take up to 12 hours to complete the inventory.

In the warehousing process, Amazon's most commendable feature is the storage method of one item per location, one item per multiple locations, and multiple items per multiple locations. On the surface, the same type of goods may appear scattered in different places, but they are "scattered in form but not scattered in spirit". With its powerful IT system and standardized product management and processes, pickers never fail to find the goods.

This makes peers envious, as adopting this storage method can maximize storage space. Most comprehensive e-commerce platforms in China often divide storage areas based on the volume of goods, and the same type of goods are often stacked together. This often leads to a phenomenon where larger storage spaces cannot accommodate smaller goods. Moreover, best-selling categories cannot be conveniently stacked at the picking entrance and can only be placed in the originally designated areas.

After the goods are placed in the warehouse, only when the user places an order, does it have its best opportunity to be shipped out. If it unfortunately becomes a unsold product, it will also be "forced" to be shipped out and returned to the manufacturer.

The Amazon fulfillment center's outbound process is very detailed, consisting of 15 steps: printing orders, picking, merging baskets, matching, scanning inspection, scanning packages, sorting, moving packages, order shipping, as well as transfer sorting, transfer packages, moving transfer boxes, transfer shipping, return packaging, return shipping, and other processes.

When picking, the picker will directly tie the printed task list to the goods with rubber bands, and if the order requires several sub warehouses for picking, the picker will tie the assembly list to the goods. After picking up the goods, they enter the package processing stage, where each customer's goods are placed in a separate basket. The packaging personnel scan these goods and inspect them according to the task order. At this point, the IT system will automatically prompt what size of packaging box should be used, and the packaging personnel only need to follow this to package and attach the package label. Finally, these packages are placed on the conveyor belt and released one by one.

Now, there are nearly 6 million products in 28 categories on Amazon China's website. These products generate purchases every second, and the order volume of each operation center changes constantly. Zhou Tao told reporters that Amazon has its own set of methods for when pickers pick in bulk and when orders are shipped. Our principle is to achieve dynamic balance, and the operation center is like a water pool. We need to ensure that changes in order volume are coordinated with changes in outbound and shipping, so that the inflow and outflow of water are consistent. This is the most efficient way, "said Zhou Tao.

According to Li Xichang, General Manager of Amazon Tianjin Operations Center, pickers can pick goods for one hour at a time, and the average order volume completed ranges from tens to hundreds. The IT system will automatically generate the most time-saving and effective picking route map based on the orders of the current batch of users. The picker only needs to pick the goods according to the prompts on the mobile handheld device based on this route map.

Even when picking goods in the same sub warehouse, if there is no effective path, the pickers will run repeatedly, affecting efficiency, "Li Xichang told reporters. The warehouse in Amazon's Tianjin operation center is very large, with 45000 square meters currently in use. It takes nearly an hour to walk along the common road of each sub warehouse. If there is no IT system support, a lot of time will be wasted in the processes of warehousing, picking, and outbound due to walking.

4. Loading and fixing operations of tractors and other vehicle cargo

When a small tractor is loaded horizontally, its loading capacity can be increased, but attention should be paid to the problem of concentrated load during loading. Therefore, the bottom of the box should be padded to distribute its load, and fixed with square wooden strips, wooden wedges, and steel wire ropes.