Amazon’s Chaotic Storage Warehouses
What do you think the inside of an Amazon warehouse looks like?
If you imagined something that looks somewhat like a retail store with TVs next to TVs and baby toys next to baby toys, you would be sadly mistaken.
An Amazon warehouse is what has lately been referred to as a “chaotic storage system”. This basically means a warehouse that is organized by barcode and space efficiency rather than the particular product.
The way it works is that Amazon has over 60 warehouses across the country that are strategically placed next to main shipping hubs. These warehouses hold all of the products that they ship from Amazon. The warehouses receive and ship product on a daily basis. To be as efficient as possible, in the eyes of Amazon, what they do is organize that space on shelves and/or pallets based on barcodes and size. Then, when an order comes in an employee goes and finds the space based on the barcodes unique identifier which tells them exactly where the product is. If there is more than 1 product, they will even get an “optimal route” that will allow them to most efficiently pick the entire order.
They then pack the box and put the products in it and get it out for shipment. This is how Amazon handles its fulfillment side of the business and apparently (at over 1 million shipped products daily) they are doing something right!