Amazon has kicked off operations at its behemoth, a $400 million robotics-powered warehouse in North Andover, Massachusetts, which is set to bring 1,500 jobs to the area. The site, sprawling at nearly 4 million square feet, hosted state dignitaries including Governor Maura Healey at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this past Monday
According to The Boston Globe, North Andover gave a nod to the project back in 2019, sweetening the deal with $27 million worth of property tax breaks over a ten-year span. The automated warehouse, standing twice as large as Amazon's facility in Fall River, is harnessing the power of thousands of robots designed and manufactured within Massachusetts, representative of the state's own engineering prowess.
These aren't your average showy robots, according to Tye Brady, chief technologist for Amazon Robotics, who told The Boston Globe that the aim is functionality over flash. "It's applied robotics," Brady explained, "They're not doing back flips or dances out there on the floor — I love those, I get it — but they're doing the job of moving goods on time and very reliably."
While this technological advancement is posed to streamline Amazon's logistics with an array of robots like Hercules moving shelving pods, Robin using an automated arm to sort out packages, and Pegasus robots delivering packages to their final destinations, some concerns linger. Boston University professor Gordon Burtch noted a flip-side to the tech integration, pointing out in his research that “They are making the work safer for warehouse associates,” but the workers, he said, “are not only required to work more quickly, they also end up standing in one spot, performing the same monotonous task over and over. This combination of speed and repetition leads to more stress-based injuries among workers.”
History has flipped a new page at the North Andover site, which was once an AT&T telephone factory buzzing with activity in the 80s, as reported by Boston.com. Decades have passed, industries have shifted, and now Amazon intends to usher in a new era of economic growth and technological prowess with its latest, and largest, facility in Massachusetts.
