Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) said Monday it will open five facilities in metro Detroit during 2021, including an 820,000-square-foot fulfillment center using robotics equipment to help workers pick, pack and ship out smaller items.
The fulfillment center is Amazon’s fourth Michigan facility that will use its robotics technology.
The other sites announced Monday include a fulfillment center supporting same-day deliveries, a site to handle big and bulky items and two more to manage sortation and distribution in Amazon’s “middle mile,” where goods move from Amazon Air hubs, gateways and fulfillment centers to be sorted by ZIP code before being transported to delivery stations or last-mile delivery partners for the final move to customer destinations. The five centers are expected to create about 2,000 jobs, Amazon said.
The Seattle-based e-tailer currently operates 10 sites in Detroit to support customer fulfillment and delivery operations. That includes four facilities that it opened during 2020.
Last August, Amazon said it would build a 3.8 million-square-foot distribution center on 70 acres of Detroit’s long-abandoned Michigan State Fairgrounds. The facility, set to open in mid-2022, is expected to bring at least 1,200 jobs to Detroit.
