The new Acheson Amazon procurement centre is most technologically advanced in Canada: company

With more than 5,000 robots at work, the recently opened Amazon warehouse in Acheson is the most technologically advanced in Canada, the company says.

The YEG2 Amazon fulfillment centre, which opened in February, is the second fulfillment facility in the Edmonton region and largest in western Canada, at 635,000 square feet.

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Around 20 kilometres of conveyor belts move orders around the 635,000 square foot YEG2 Amazon procurement centre. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News)"In comparison, Rogers Place, home of the Edmonton Oilers, is 475,000 square feet," said Suresh Kumar, YEG2 general manager.

Kumar said, from top to bottom, the warehouse is large enough to house 40 full-sized soccer fields and houses more than 20 kilometres of conveyor belts.

Top to bottom, the recently opened YEG2 Amazon procurement centre is 2.9 million cubic feet. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton) Working alongside the approximately 1,000 human employees, 25 robotic arms and around 5,000 robotic bins and pallets help fill more than four million items per week.

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Kumar said the new location's robotics are state-of-the-art. Acheson and Ottawa have the only two centres with Robin robotic arms, which Amazon said is the most advanced piece of technology the company has. 

The arms use AI to perform multiple functions to sort various items that are passed on to other robots that move the bins and pallets around the warehouse. 

The Robin robotic arms scan and sort packages at the YEG2 Amazon fulfillment centre. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)Kumar said automating some of the repetitive processes makes the work safer for associates and makes the warehouse more efficient.

"We are able to fill customer demands faster and in a more accurate way," he said. "The delivery speeds are faster, the packages don't get damaged in the process."

One associate in training, Richa, said she likes working with the robots and together they're able to pack around 1,000 orders a day.

Richa has been training at the YEG2 Amazon fulfillment centre for two weeks. She said she can package around 1,000 items a day at the centre. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton) The centre has been operating for two months, and when finished Kumar said a total of around 2,500 people will work there.

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With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson