Photo: Emma Friedman/WBZ NewsRadio
WESTBOROUGH, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Amazon workers in Westborough were busy sorting through packages on Monday as online shoppers filled up their virtual shopping carts for Cyber Monday.
The Amazon Same-Day Delivery Distribution Center in Westborough had extra staff on hand to compensate for the influx of orders.
With the help of robots that resemble oversized Rumbas, Amazon employees at the facility sort though up to 950,000 units of products a day, from beauty and health products to some less obvious items like power tools.
“I think it's 46% off on select DeWalt power tools today,” said operations manager Klete Squires. “We have a lot of those in stock and they are flying out the door.”
Squires also said that their location tends to ship out 50,000 packages a day, but with Cyber Monday and the holiday season upon us, that number has gone up to 71,000 packages, which is around a 20% increase.
Klete was not concerned about this, however, as he felt the location was up for the task.
“Because the building does operate and process units and orders 23 hours out of the day, we're able to keep up with that volume,” added Squires.
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Outside of the distribution center, Amazon had its new Rivian electric van on display. The van looks similar to the classic navy-blue Amazon delivery vans on the roads, but the inside has upgraded AI technology to help delivery drivers sort through packages.
Gaurav Kumar, a senior software development engineer at Amazon, said the new technology helps increase productivity and prevent mistakes.
Once the driver arrives at the delivery address, the software is able to detect which package should be dropped off and projects a green circle onto it. All of the other packages will have a red X projected onto them.
The new tech was developed in partnership with the Amazon robotics team in Boston.
The trucks are set to hit the road at the beginning of 2025.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman (@EmmaFriedmanWBZ) reports.
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