My Experience as an Amazon Area Manager Intern & How it Relates to the Broader Supply Chain Management Field

Prior to becoming a supply chain management major at the University of Arkansas, I have always been intrigued by the intricate processes that allow a product to end up on a store shelf or at a consumer's doorstep. Over the past eight weeks of my internship at Amazon, I have gained practical knowledge about the massive scale of operations within a fulfillment center and have been tasked with a project to streamline a certain aspect of the pack process.

My Role as an Area Manager Intern

For my internship, I am located at Amazon Fulfillment Center DFW7 in Haslet, Texas. DFW7 is an impressive 1.1 million square-foot building that employs over 1,300 associates per week. Furthermore, our location was the first Amazon Robotics Sortable (ARS) fulfillment center ever built and we pride ourselves on being the benchmark operation in safety, quality, cost, and people development.

Within the fulfillment center, I am positioned in the pack singles department within outbound. Pack singles is exactly what the words entail: we pack out single-item shipments. As an operations manager, every day looks entirely different. We balance headcount with workflow, safety policies with AA's (Amazon Associates) rates, and manage the many other moving parts (in 1.1 million square-feet of operations, there are a lot of moving parts). My specific role involves a great extent of employee engagement. I speak to associates about their rates, fill out coaching audits concerning their packing ergonomics and efficiencies, enforce site-wide policies, and deliver write-ups. Because I am not always delivering good news, my communication skills have improved immensely over the past eight weeks, and I have found myself adapting quickly to meet operational goals and site expectations.

Moreover, my favorite aspect of this internship has been learning how to read and use the many data analytic engines and software programs that managers work with daily. In the middle of the building is the flow desk. Made up of 10 televisions and 4 computers, the managers at the flow desk calculate and interpret complex data and then send messages to various departments via the radio system. I enjoy interpreting data and find solving complex problems to be extremely rewarding.

My Intern Project

Throughout the course of my internship, I have been tasked with implementing a mechanism that will make sliding boxes onto the conveyor belt more efficient. With this in mind, I decided to implement box sleds at pack stations within the pack singles department. I partnered with the Reliability Maintenance Engineering (RME) team at our site to source, manufacture, and install one metal box sled. I also partnered with our safety team to track the ergonomics of the sled and then with our learning team to properly train associates on how to use it.

While I am not entirely done with my project, the box sled has proven to:

• improve rates
• increase safety
• advance ergonomics
• boost AA (Amazon Associate) morale
• minimize missed CPT (Critical Pull Time) orders
• increase customer satisfaction.

So far, associates' pack rates have increased by an average of 6% through using the box sled. In a couple of weeks, I will present my data and findings to senior leadership to ultimately make the case that metal box sleds should be implemented at the remaining pack stations within singles.

The Final Two Weeks

As a supply chain management major, I couldn't be luckier to gain my first operations experience at Amazon. The scale and magnitude of the operations that take place within this building have truly altered my perspective and widened my knowledge of logistics as a whole.

Next week will be my final week in my department, running the floor alongside my area manager, Ricardo, and process assistant, Anna. Coincidentally, next week is also Prime Day. I am beyond thrilled to experience Prime Day firsthand within outbound and specifically the pack singles department. I truly can't imagine a better last week on the floor.