New England has officially opened its first Amazon fulfillment center is it’s in Windsor, five miles south of Bradley International Airport.
The facility is a testament to its time: half manual labor, half mechanics.
Robots do most of the heavy lifting by locating items ordered online in the 1 million square-foot facility and an employee will then make sure each order matches up before shipping it off.
“Each new fulfillment center has its improvements for efficiency as we go,” Amazon spokesperson Aaron Toso said. “From the things we’ve learned, we have made our robots help us use this facility more efficiently.”
Toso said just about every package assembled here will go to customers in New England.
“We want to get as close to our customers to reduce those shipping times because we don’t want you to have to wait for your package,” Toso said.
From an economic development perspective, Gov. Dannel Malloy sees this as a big win for Connecticut.
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Amazon received a $3.9 million tax abatement from the town of Windsor over five years, plus tax breaks to build the facility. In exchange, Amazon brought in 800 full-time jobs and started collecting sales tax late last year.
“We’re happy that we were actually the first location chosen in New England for a facility such as this one,” Malloy said. “We must be doing something right and I appreciate the relationship we have of Amazon in all regards.”
When asked whether the use of drones have been discussed, Toso said Amazon does not have any such plans for Connecticut.
