Every day, 24/7, robots in Amazon’s Stone Mountain fulfillment warehouse help sort thousands of items that churn across rumbling conveyor belts.
Now, those who are curious can see the machine that is the four-story, 640,000-square-foot Stone Mountain fulfillment center, too. The site, which is the size of 14 football fields, is the newest addition to Amazon’s list of warehouses open to the public for tours — and the only one in Georgia on the list.
While Amazon’s touring program is nothing novel — it began in 2014 — the pandemic slowed expansion to additional locations. The Stone Mountain facility touring program has been open for less than a month.
Jennie Buckley, 53, and her family were curious about how the process worked as “frequent Amazon shoppers.” The Buckleys have gone on multiple factory tours, excursions they enjoy thanks to their family’s background in engineering.
“It was so calm, despite the fact that all of these things were happening,” Buckley said.
The company tries to streamline operations at the facilities as much as possible, employing hundreds of robots, other technology and algorithms alongside human employees to optimize the sorting and packaging process.
Tour-goers can see those robots deliver items to human handlers, lift heavy boxes and blow order stickers onto packages. Nita Wheeler, a 58-year-old teacher from Loganville, said the “massiveness” of the building surprised her when she toured the facility with her husband.
“Just seeing the actual robotics and how everything runs, that was pretty interesting,” Wheeler said.
It’s loud — there are signs calling for “hearing protection” scattered around the building.
Amazon has in the past faced criticism for exposing warehouse workers to unsafe conditions. A tour guide at the Atlanta warehouse said technology helps improve safety by assisting with difficult tasks and accounting for human interactions. The guide also pointed out an on-site wellness center.
Tours at the Stone Mountain robotics fulfillment center are free and open to visitors ages 6 and up on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Cedric Ross, who heads partnerships and VIP tours in North America, said the tours can show what happens behind the scenes after a customer clicks “buy.”
“As a company, we decided to pull back the curtains a little bit and really show our customers,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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