Since its establishment in 1994, Amazon has treated e-commerce as a marathon. In the eight years of loss-making operation, it has created three unique global troikas. In addition to the famous network services (AWS) and Kindle publishing business (KDP), another more secretive one is logistics (FBA).

When Chinese e-commerce companies believed in the rule of "fast against slow" and spent money on advertising in exchange for competitive advantages, Amazon had long seen that the essence of e-commerce is a retail enterprise, and refined operations are the core competitiveness.

In mid-May, the reporter visited Amazon China's Tianjin Operation Center, which is the backstage of Amazon China. For e-commerce, using simple and fresh web pages to attract users to shop is the first step, and warehousing and distribution are the most critical tests.

Dynamic balance of inbound and outbound storage

Simply put, the daily work of the operation center includes two links: inbound and outbound storage. Just like passing a customs check, every item needs to undergo a series of "physical examinations" when it arrives at the Tianjin Operation Center - measuring height, waist circumference, and weight. As long as it is in the warehouse, these data will always accompany it until it is shipped.

Zhou Tao, regional director of Amazon's warehouse in northern and western China, told reporters that in the warehouse, it doesn't matter what the goods are, but the length, width and height are the important factors to measure the goods. According to the length, width and height, the placement of each product, the size of the packaging box, the price of the package, etc. are determined. When these data are scanned into the system, the computer and handheld device will automatically make relevant judgments.

From receiving the goods to putting them on the shelves, the goods generally take 1 to 6 hours, and small household appliances need to be inspected face-to-face with the supplier, which takes up to 12 hours to complete the warehousing.

In the warehousing link, Amazon's most commendable storage method is one item per location, one item per multiple locations, and multiple items per multiple locations. On the surface, the same kind of goods will be scattered in different places, but "the form is scattered but the spirit is not scattered". With its powerful IT system and standardized product management and processes, the pickers will never lose sight of the goods.

This is envied by peers because such a storage method can maximize storage space. Most domestic comprehensive e-commerce companies often divide storage areas according to the volume of goods, and the same kind of goods are often stacked together. This often leads to a phenomenon that places with larger storage space cannot store smaller goods. In addition, popular categories cannot be conveniently stacked at the picking entrance, but can only be placed in the originally divided areas.

After the goods are placed in the warehouse, they will have their best chance to be shipped out only when the user places an order. If they unfortunately become unsalable products, they will also be "forced" to ship out and return to the manufacturer.

The outbound process of Amazon's operation center is very detailed, including a total of 15 steps: printing orders, picking, merging baskets, allocating goods, scanning and inspecting, scanning packages, sorting, moving packages, order delivery, and transfer sorting, transfer packages, moving transfer boxes, transfer delivery, return packaging, return delivery and other processes.

When picking goods, the picker will directly tie the printed task list to the goods with a rubber band. If the order requires several sub-warehouses to pick goods, the picker will tie the collection list to the goods. After picking the goods, the goods come to the package processing link. Each customer's goods are in a basket. The packing staff scans these goods and inspects the goods according to the task list. At this time, the IT system will automatically prompt how big the packaging box should be used. The packing staff only needs to package and paste the package list according to this. Finally, these packages are placed on the conveyor belt and shipped out in turn.

Now, there are nearly 6 million products in 28 categories on Amazon China's website. These products are purchased every second, and the order volume of each operation center changes from time to time. Zhou Tao told reporters that Amazon has its own set of methods for when pickers pick in batches and when orders are shipped. "Our principle is to achieve dynamic balance. The operation center is a pool. We must ensure that the changes in order volume are coordinated with the changes in outbound and outbound shipments, so that the water flowing in is consistent with the water flowing out. This is the most efficient way." Zhou Tao said.

According to Li Xichang, general manager of Amazon Tianjin Operation Center, pickers pick for one hour at a time, and the average number of orders completed ranges from dozens 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. Pickers only need to pick according to this route map and the prompt information on the mobile handheld device.

"Even if picking in the same sub-warehouse, if there is no effective path, pickers will run repeatedly, affecting efficiency." Li Xichang told reporters that the warehouse of Amazon Tianjin Operation Center is very large, and now it is 45,000 square meters in use. It takes nearly one hour to walk along the common avenue of each sub-warehouse. Without the support of the IT system, a lot of time will be wasted because of walking in the links of warehousing, picking, and outbound.

4. Loading and securing operations of cargo on tractors and other vehicles

When loading a small tractor 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 disperse the load, and fixed with square wooden strips, wooden wedges and steel wire ropes.