Amazon Kicks Off! [PHOTOS]

"It is indeed a special day for Amazon" said Tim Collins, the Director of Operations responsible for Amazon's logistic centres in Europe. "Both of our centres are fully prepared to operate in just seven months from laying the foundation stone and commencing construction works.

"Finishing such a significant investment in such a short time is indeed impressive, both from the perspective of the country's economic growth, as well as the region's" expressed Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Economy. "What is also relishing is also the fact that the declarations made by the investor about providing an unprecedented number of new jobs were fulfilled.

Amazon's record investment

"The building cycle, in which both of Wrocław centres were erected is indeed admirable" commented Tomasz Smolarz, the Voivod of Lower Silesia. "Actually, many things are record, when it comes to this concern - the largest logistic centre, the largest factory floors, the greatest number of people employed in such a short time. This is something worth praising. Although comments arose regarding the compensation of employees, I believe that due to the saturation of the labour market this situation will be improving with every coming month. The number of people employed by Amazon is now visible in the unemployment rate in the area of Lower Silesia. It is ca. 0.2 percent. It is really a significant number of employees.

"Amazon's facility is the largest investment of this sort in Poland, and due to the giant scale of the enterprise, also an outstanding challenge for the developer - starting with proper location, through the very construction of logistic centres, to finally ensuring vast road infrastructure" said Robert Dobrzycki, the managing partner in Panattoni Europe.

Huge warehouses, large sales

Both facilities in Bielany Wroclawskie are ca. 95,000 sq m. of space each, which is the equivalent of 13 soccer pitches. They will be integrated with Amazon's European logistic network. The new centres will first provide services mainly for Amazon.de, and in time will service also the customers from other countries in the whole of Europe.

One centre will sell up to 500-600,000 various items a day from its assortment. Each centre can accommodate up to 8 million items at a time on its shelves. They will be delivered by ca. 100 TIR trucks a day.

Employees engaged in Amazon work mainly in four processes: unloading goods, placing them on shelves, searching for proper goods on shelves and packing the boxes, which are later shipped to clients in all of Europe.

Amazon - recruitment is still on

Sub-Wrocław logistic centres will provide a total of 6,500 jobs. The recruitment process is still ongoing. Applications for the position of warehouse employee can be submitted at: www.PracawFC.AmazonJobs.com.

Amazon offers its employees many extra benefits, such as company life insurance and medical insurance, warm meals in the canteen for just a złoty a day and free transport to and from work in the whole region.

Amazon staff receive also 26 days of paid vacation a year, regardless of their seniority. Amazon offers also its permanent employees some innovative programmes, such as Career Choice. As a part of it, the company commits to pay 95 percent of course fee in various areas, regardless if the newly acquired skills are crucial to working for the company, or not.

The third centre of Amazon will be opened tomorrow in Sady near Poznań. The company plans to create a total of 4,500 permanent jobs in its three logistic centres, and additionally 7,500 seasonal jobs before Christmas.

Photo: Przemysław Wronecki