Topic: An analysis of Amazon’s fulfillment center operations General Instructions: Amazon Tours provides a very informative tour of their fulfillment centers in a variety of formats. The formats provided are an in-person tour, a live virtual tour, or a pre-recorded video tour. For this project, a live virtual tour is required. The tour experience provides a look into a key segment of Amazon’s supply chain process. The tour runs for about 30 minutes and highlights the flow of products as they traverse the fulfillment centers. Amazon’s fulfillment strategy centers on a number of key processes that govern how employees carry out their assigned tasks in conjunction with robots and other technologies. There is also a focus on safety and sustainability. Your assignment is to study this process and provide an analysis of the effectiveness of Amazon’s distribution strategy. In addition to the tour experience, you will also need to include additional outside research to complete your project. I have formulated some questions that should act as a guide. Answer as many as you can, however, you should expand your analysis beyond just answering the questions. You can register for a live virtual tour at this website: https://amazontours.com/ You can view several brief video tours at this website: https://amazontours.com/na/video You can access additional fulfillment center videos at Amazon’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@amazon_tours Also, under the Syllabus/Course Info menu item, the Course Videos folder contains additional Youtube videos highlighting Amazon’s operations: https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContentEditable.jsp?content_id=_ 82052009_1&course_id=_2364426_1 Your analysis should be concise and submitted in the form of a report consisting of at least 1,400 words of content. The analysis should include the main points of your observations, assessments, recommendations, and conclusions. Format your report using double spaced pages, Times New Roman 12 point font, 1 inch margins, and APA style for sources. Include a comprehensive list of at least 5 references at the end of the report on a separate page. Make sure that you also include in-text citations in your report. The due date is May 22, 2024. The grading criteria for the project can be found under the Syllabus/Course Info/Course Rubrics section of the course website. Take note that your project submission will be processed by Safe Assign which is a plagiarism checker software that is now required by CUNY SPS. Also, remember to include your name on the assignment before you upload your project to Blackboard. Your tour observations Ponder these questions 1. Provide an overview of Amazon’s fulfillment process. 2. What processes are highly automated? 3. What processes are still manual? 4. How does Amazon ensure fulfillment center safety? Your assessment of Amazon’s fulfillment center logistics Ponder these questions 1. What processes are highly effective? 2. What processes can be improved? 3. What processes can benefit from additional automation? 4. How effective are the robots? 5. Where are robots limited? 6. Where else would you deploy robotics? 7. Are there any additional improvements to safety that you would recommend? Your conclusion Provide a summary statement and ponder these questions 1. Does Amazon have an overall effective distribution strategy? 2. How can Amazon’s overall distribution strategy be improved? 3. Are there any other advanced technologies that you recommend should be deployed in Amazon’s fulfillment centers or supply chain in general? 4. From a marketing perspective, do you think it would it be a prudent strategy to offer the speed of Prime Delivery to all customers and not just Prime subscribers? 5. How does Amazon’s distribution strategy stack up to Walmart’s? 6. Should Amazon launch a logistics business that can compete with UPS or Fedex given their extensive supply chain infrastructure that includes a vast fleet of planes and trucks? How would you approach this if you were in charge of strategy?
