The online retailer Amazon wants to invest a three-digit million amount in its logistics center in Bad Hersfeld in eastern Hesse. This is intended to make the location future-proof, the company said.
According to the information, transport robots should be integrated into the company and make the work of the workforce easier. Since walking distances are eliminated, the processes become more efficient. Such transport robots are already being used at other locations and the experiences are positive.
Eight Amazon logistics locations in Hesse
“We want to be ready for the renovation by late summer 2025,” said a spokesman. “Our experience at existing locations with transport robots is that more highly qualified technicians are needed.” At many of these locations, Amazon itself provides training in technical professional fields.
In Bad Hersfeld, Amazon operates the two logistics centers FRA1 and FRA3. In Hesse there are also two sorting centers in Gernsheim and Wolfhagen/Breuna as well as four distribution centers in Raunheim, Knüllwald, Friedrichsdorf and Weiterstadt as well as an Amazon Web Services location in Frankfurt. According to the information, more than 3,700 employees work at the eight Hessian logistics locations.
Prime Minister: High investment is an important sign
“With its high investments, the company offers its employees location security,” said Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) during a visit to the logistics center in East Hesse. “This is an important sign in the current difficult economic situation.” It is also a strong signal that Amazon is so clearly committed to Hesse.
According to Amazon, it is already in the middle of the Christmas business and has around eleven million items stored in FRA3. At peak times, a mid-five-digit number of packages leave the site every day.
Protest action by Amazon employees
Last week, several hundred Amazon employees from all over Germany protested against what the union said were unfair working conditions and the lack of collective bargaining at the company. They had chosen Black Friday, the US company’s highest sales day worldwide, as the date for the campaign.
For more than ten years, Verdi has been unsuccessfully demanding that the company recognize the applicable collective agreements for retail and mail order and that a collective agreement be concluded. The company has always rejected the claim and said it pays its employees fair wages and offers numerous additional benefits. (dpa)