Amazon has opened the doors to its state-of-the-art Robotics Centre in Bolton for the very first time and our IT Director, Andy Evans, was among a select group of visitors shown the inner workings of the retail giant, which also shared insights into its culture and business philosophies.
The invite-only programme for North West business leaders was organised by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and was specifically designed to help businesses in the region to innovate and grow.
Andy was among representatives from 25 companies given exclusive access over two visits along with an online session with a member of Amazon UK's customer fulfilment leadership team.
"You could see the priorities - particularly safety and security - the minute you walked in the building," says Andy. "But it was a typical logistics operation, and they were clear and open about that, saying they weren't trying to reinvent the wheel.
"I was expecting lots of robot arms and things picking up parcels and very few people. But you don't really see that much, to be honest. The only kind of robot that you did see was something that stamps a label onto a box.
"Instead, it was a lot like our Kardex storage system, where the products are brought to the pickers that way before they go on to the packers. There are some small mobile robots that whizz around the floor transporting tote boxes where they need to be."
The 'empty chair' and obsessed with the customer
'Customer obsessed' is how Amazon describe themselves, says Andy.
"When there's a meeting they have 'the empty chair'. This is something (Amazon founder) Jeff Bezos started. Apparently, he used to bring in an empty chair and he'd say that's the customer in that chair. So, whatever you say here: know that the customer's listening.
"They talked a lot about one-way and two-way ideas and decisions too. So, a one-way decision is one you commit to and don't turn back on, say like buying 50 vans. But a two-way decision is one where they try a new idea and if it doesn't work, they can always go back to the old idea.
"They're really not afraid of trying new things, and we're not either. But we have constraints, we can't have a punt at a £50,000 machine just to see if it works or not."
Giving workers a voice and seeking unspoken leaders
Andy found the employment culture progressive although based on a zero-trust policy, whereby staff go through metal detectors to enter and leave the work stations, while some packages containing high value goods are X-rayed before they go for despatch to ensure it contains what it should.
He says: "Overall though, I found the culture very proper and respectful. They have a programme called My Voice, which is basically an open forum - a bit like an internal Twitter feed - where if you have any issues, a niggle, or if you have something you want discussing, or something positive, you put it on there and it comes up on screens in the canteen.
"You can post anonymously, where it gets filtered, or you can post it live if you're prepared to put your name to it. I asked what it was like with a lot of opinionated Mancunians, and they said everything was discussed openly and honestly because they do want the best for the staff.
"It was a great eye-opener on a big American company and how they do things."