Lessons in logistics

A key part of the ICT curriculum requires girls to consider the huge variety of possible uses of ICT. This includes reviewing how technology is used in the retail industry. So it was with great interest that a group of ICT students from Pipers Corner ventured to the Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Hemel Hempstead to find out about how Amazon’s use of ICT impacts on the logistics of the company’s operations.

The girls were able to witness a large number of systems in action as they discovered what happens after customers click “buy” on Amazon - from the items coming into the Fulfilment Centre, all the way through to packages being labelled for distribution. It was a clear demonstration of how ICT is central to the smooth and successful running of the Centre, enabling them to deliver the correct items to the right customers in a specified amount of time.

The girls were particularly impressed by the necessary random organisation of the goods on the shelves that enabled the computers to better devise optimum “pick paths” for each of the associates (staff members) to follow.

Even in the packing area the computers selected the boxes for the packers to use based on data held on the database about the products, with the sticky tape machine producing exactly the right amount of tape for each box. The girls saw just how reliant the operation is on ICT, so if the Amazon computer system went down it would be completely impossible for the online retailer to work.

Head of ICT, Miss Scott, said, “It was a fantastic enrichment opportunity for the girls to be able to witness the “behind the scenes” workings of a big online company like Amazon. Seeing the processes and technologies used to facilitate Amazon’s operations has really helped the girls to gain a greater understanding of how complex ICT systems can work together and solve tough logistical problems.”