Entering Amazon’s 140,000-square-foot fulfillment center north of Versailles on Thursday was a “full circle” moment for Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.
“When I was a kid, we had Eastland Mall here, which was a leader in its day,” said Davis, a neighbor of nearby McKeesport. “It declined, but now we’ve noticed Amazon rebuilding that site. “
From the ashes of the old brick-and-mortar mall off Route 30, Amazon’s eighth operational location in the Pittsburgh domain and one of 18 delivery centers in the state was born.
The e-commerce giant, notoriously secretive about its operations, has revealed the behind-the-scenes of the Versailles Nord site, which quietly opened its doors in August. If you live in West Westmoreland County, a good chance is that your Amazon packages are in transit. through this facility, officials said.
Around 250,000 packages circulate through the site each week.
Amazon orders in western Pennsylvania begin at one of the company’s facilities west of Pittsburgh in Imperial, where a fulfillment center and robotic sorting facility are located.
Nevertheless, the packages arrive in Versailles Nord, where two hundred workers sort them before loading them into vans for delivery by about three hundred drivers.
“This is the last step in the process,” Amazon spokesman Sam Fisher said of the fulfillment centers. “Nothing is stored here. “
Large-scale deliveries arrive in the middle of the night and are brought to the warehouse using a large conveyor-like system. Then, Fisher said, first thing in the morning is a qualifying series.
On Thursday morning, warehouse workers piled up small-package equipment into containers, which were then loaded, along with larger boxes, onto wheeled carts and placed in a garage near the building’s truck docks. From there, vans are loaded for delivery.
The formula consists of a series of scannable QR codes placed on the floor, allowing workers to know exactly what they want to be where.
As Thursday’s tour organization walked through the warehouse, a line of workers carried carts full of bags to a line of pickup trucks waiting outside. The facility, which Amazon calls DAE7, is less than five minutes from Highway 30, allowing drivers easy access to Pennsylvania. Turnpike and I-376.
Drivers are largely hired through outdoor delivery service companies, according to Dave Vitali, Amazon’s manager of state and local public policy.
“These corporations pop up every time we build a new facility,” Vitali said. “Some of them are small and they work right next to here. Others have a few hundred drivers and operate from facilities. “
Amazon supplies back-end logistics and rents vans to delivery service providers.
The company also built a million-square-foot warehouse in New Stanton. Although Fisher said Amazon was not yet in a position to reveal the main details of the facility, site developer Matt Virgin of SunCap Property Group in Charlotte, North Carolina, had said in the past that it could create as many as six hundred jobs.
This warehouse is south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and borders Westinghouse Drive and Glenn Fox Road. Other Amazon services have opened in Findlay, Ohio Township, and Pittsburgh’s West End.
Chas Duboy, from Monroeville, is the director of the Versailles Nord headquarters. He started at the company as a seasonal part-time employee. He has worked full-time at Amazon for eight years.
“I don’t have a four-year school degree and that hasn’t stopped me from progressing in my career here,” Duboy said.
Almost some of the other people who work in the company’s operational network didn’t before joining Amazon, Vitali said.
“Many were not in the job market at all,” he said. “But they had to go through an interview, get an education, and get started right away. “
Amazon also offers a Career Choice program, which provides more than $5,000 to workers who need to continue their education while working.
The company’s regionalization goal has only reduced lead times, but it has also given more strength to local small businesses, Vitali said.
“Pennsylvania has 13,000 small businesses selling in Amazon. com,” he said. “Their neighbors have sporting goods stores, art supply companies, businesses of all kinds, and the products are delivered from this building. “
North Versailles delivers to a domain of about 35 square miles in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh.
“We need to try to reflect that kind of good luck in the Commonwealth,” Davis said.
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