Wednesday we headed to sunny Phoenix to visit one of their fulfillment centers... aka huge warehouse. This is the place that houses products, receives your order, and ships the items that you buy.
They have some serious data optimization systems that send your order to the warehouse that currently stocks your items and is physically located closest to your house. This optimization gets your order processed faster and reducing the cost of shipping thus maximizing consumer happiness and profits.
Once the order is received at the warehouse/fulfillment center, there is a computer systems that optimizes the path that the employees travel to fill the order. Some employees walk 12-15 miles per day. They call it the Amazon weight loss program.
Overall, the operation was fascinating to see. Amazon then treated us to a wonderful dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. It was a great opportunity to meet the employees and get there perspective of Amazon. From what I learned, I would highly advise anyone to work for Amazon AND if you have never purchased anything from them I would also advising checking them out. They offer a suite of services and products from books and electronics to fresh fruit and grand pianos... truly everything from A t0 Z.
Our accommodations is Phoenix were great! We stayed in a Holiday Inn with all suites so the rooms were big. We had some much needed downtime to spend at the pool and at a local watering hole. With a somewhat early start the next morning to head to LA, many of us did not get much sleep.
As usual, here are some pictures.
As MIT students, it is our obligation to make "MIT" wherever we go. We decided to kick it up a notch by making it at the bottom of the pool.
A little downtime in the hot tub!
The girls playing Jiant Jenga at the bar that night. I can't wait to build one of these myself.
The girls playing Jiant Jenga at the bar that night. I can't wait to build one of these myself.
