The Whole Package

Amazon has been piloting automated packaging machines that may soon roll out at dozens of warehouses, per Reuters. The machines would remove at least 24 jobs from each location they’re installed—for 55 standard-sized warehouses, that’d be about 1,300 cuts.

The robots’ new job(s): The Italian-made CartonWrap machines scan items coming down a conveyor belt, box them up in custom-built packages, and seal/label them. CartonWrap cartonwraps 600-700 boxes/hour, which is 4-5x faster than a HumanWraps.

Amazon’s perspective

CartonWraps cut labor and operational costs for assembly line jobs with high turnover and grueling 10-hour shifts. The tech also reduces packaging waste, increases efficiency, and expedites delivery times, Amazon said. And savings will be reinvested in “new services for customers, where new jobs will continue to be created.” Maybe Prime one-day shipping?

Zoom out: On a recent press tour of a Baltimore fulfillment center, an Amazon robotics exec said fully automated warehouses were at least a decade away. But that doesn’t happen overnight—it takes a slow creep of subbing in robots to replace automatable human jobs.