Underwater Storage Facilities Are the Latest Advancement in Logistics
Plans for a new breed of Amazon fulfillment centers just took a huge leap forward with the recent patent the company was granted for aquatic storage facilities.
As bizarre as it sounds, there are now two proposed types of Amazon fulfillment centers to get a patent—the first being a flying storage facility.
A Solution to Every Problem
The company has grown along with their need for warehousing. Amazon often uses facilities over one million square feet in size.
The massive facilities lead to increased use of time and resources when getting an order ready for shipment. Workers and robots have to dedicate thousands of feet—or even miles—per item collected.
If the order consists of multiple packages, the amount of time and mileage spent on that particular order increases.
Jeremiah Brazeau of Amazon Robotics—also credited as the patent’s inventor—explains that today’s Amazon fulfillment centers are becoming, “increasingly large and complex facilities having expansive capabilities and high-technology accommodations for items.”
A Solution to Every Problem
The company has grown along with their need for warehousing. Amazon often uses facilities over one million square feet in size.
The massive facilities lead to increased use of time and resources when getting an order ready for shipment. Workers and robots have to dedicate thousands of feet—or even miles—per item collected.
If the order consists of multiple packages, the amount of time and mileage spent on that particular order increases.
Jeremiah Brazeau of Amazon Robotics—also credited as the patent’s inventor—explains that today’s Amazon fulfillment centers are becoming, “increasingly large and complex facilities having expansive capabilities and high-technology accommodations for items.”
Why Underwater?
The concept of underwater Amazon fulfillment centers sounds crazy, but it could be just what the company logistically needs to eliminate the inefficiencies of land- based storage facilities.
According to the patent application, underwater Amazon fulfillment centers would serve as a wise use of space:
“The storage of items at various depths or heights within an aquatic storage facility may be particularly advantageous where the items are of different sizes or shapes, or where demand for such items may vary.”
How Would This Work?
To start off, packages would need to be stored in a specialized tank or designated area—in Seattle’s Lake Union, for example.
Getting packages to storage could be done through automated air drops that would parachute products and sink them to specified depths.
Through the use of sonar, Amazon fulfillment centers would efficiently store and fetch packages. By using calibrated buoyancy, rows are created for use as underwater shelves.
Once the package is to be delivered, sonar waves would trigger a parachute kept in a cartridge attached to the package. The parachute would then pull the package afloat, for a drone, aircraft, or employee to fetch and deliver.
Thinking Outside the Box
While the idea of aquatic Amazon fulfillment centers sounds futuristic, the concept is similar to aerial fulfillment centers. Both employ the use of cartridges attached to packages to ensure safe delivery.
Clearly, Amazon has made aggressively creative steps in its plans to optimize delivery times and efficiency at its warehouses.
Productivity has always been a priority for Amazon. The retail giant is not opposed to challenging the norm to find optimal solutions, even if their ideas seem far-fetched.
It wasn’t that long ago that drone delivery was seen as an insane concept as well, and Amazon recently did their first demonstration during the 2017 MARS conference.
With this innovative step in fulfillment centers development, there is no boundary that Amazon is afraid to break through when it comes to meeting their company’s ever-changing needs.
