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The Amazon warehouse with thousands of robots next door to Manchester Airport

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Just how do they deliver all kinds of products so fast? They can’t have absolutely everything in one warehouse ready to deliver at a moments notice? These were just a few of the questions we had when we were invited for a tour of Amazon’s fulfilment centre next to Manchester Airport this week.

Many of us will have been logging onto Amazon’s website the last few weeks for Black Friday bargains or early Christmas presents, or will have at least seen the iconic cardboard boxes at front doors or on postage boxes. But just how do they do it? At the MAN1 fulfilment centre there are four floors packed with hundreds of workers each stocking ‘shelves’ and packing boxes and a mind-blowing amount of robots making it all tick.

There are more than three miles of conveyor belts carrying a multitude of different products around the vast warehouse on the journey before you even click buy to the trucks to your door. READ MORE: Get 50% off M.E.N. Premium membership this Black Friday for no ads, puzzles and daily digest of the latest big stories

The name itself, MAN1, refers to the closest international airport being Manchester Airport and there is a MAN2 and MAN3, in Warrington and Bolton. To give a sense of scale, the Altrincham warehouse next to Wilmslow Road is the size of three-and-a-half football pitches with our tour of just one floor taking well over an hour.

Around 2,000 robots are constantly carrying around 20,000 shelving pods packed with random items so that they can be picked as soon as possible when ordered onlineAround 2,000 robots are constantly carrying around 20,000 shelving pods packed with random items so that they can be picked as soon as possible when ordered online

There are more than 1,000 permanent staff on various jobs with 2,000 robots constantly moving around, picking up some 20,000 shelving unit ‘pods’ filled with a random array of products, ready to be ‘picked’ for packing and delivery out of the site. There are millions of products in the warehouse at any one time – from nappies, toys, coffee beans, books, and more – with hundreds of thousands of packages delivered daily.

Peter Morgan packing items onto the shelving pods to be picked as soon as orderedPeter Morgan packing items onto the shelving pods to be picked as soon as ordered

It’s all about speed, with randomly shelved products constantly moving around so as soon as someone clicks ‘buy’ it can be taken out and shipped within hours.

The technology behind it all is impossible to comprehend in person, but it all works to offer the rapid delivery we’ve all become used to.

There are more than three miles of conveyor belts carrying products around the siteThere are more than three miles of conveyor belts carrying products around the site

The journey of a package begins before you’ve even come close to clicking buy. New products are coming into the centre all of the time, waiting to be ordered. Millions are held at the centre at any one time, with up to half from independent small and medium businesses.

Muhammed Zahoor picking ordered items into boxes to be put into boxes for deliveryMuhammed Zahoor picking ordered items into boxes to be put into boxes for delivery

And if they don’t happen to have the product you want at your closest centre, it will be delivered from one somewhere else in the country where they do have it within hours so it can be at your door as soon as possible.

Items are placed back onto the conveyor to be stamped with a delivery sticker and before one final check that everything is in order.Items are placed back onto the conveyor to be stamped with a delivery sticker and before one final check that everything is in order.

The layers and layers of technology and AI on site constantly know where each product is.

Once you click buy one of the robots roaming around the warehouse floor picks up a shelving unit with the product on, taking it to one of the pickers as quick as it can.

Cristian Gribincea packing items into boxes. The computer AI tells him which box will be best for each item and even cuts the right measure of tape for him.Cristian Gribincea packing items into boxes. The computer AI tells him which box will be best for each item and even cuts the right measure of tape for him.

It is picked and then placed into the right box, before being put onto a conveyor belt around to one of the packers who’s told what size box to put it in – and even has the right amount of tape cut by a robot to seal the box.

It is then placed back on the conveyor where the box is scanned before immediately the right label is printed onto the box.

Packages are constantly coming in and out of the sitePackages are constantly coming in and out of the site

So, within seconds, this box is weighed and the correct label is printed and placed on the package. If something doesn’t match up, the box is pushed off the belt and doubled checked to make sure everything is as it should be.

After they have been stamped they are conveyed downstairs and put into crates that are heading in the right direction around the countryAfter they have been stamped they are conveyed downstairs and put into crates that are heading in the right direction around the country

The package is then taken downstairs, put into a crate for the right location, and leaves the building. From here the parcels will go to an Amazon sort centre or carrier facility such as DPD or Royal Mail and then out for delivery to customers, all within a matter of hours.

It all has to be seen to quite be believed. It’s the second time I’ve been around one of these warehouses but I still couldn’t comprehend just how much technology and AI must go into all this. It’s quite hypnotic watching the robots carrying the shelves with random products around, but it all serves a purpose.

It gets whatever you want to you at famous speed.

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