AN exclusive look behind-the-scenes of Amazon in Darlington has revealed just how thousands of parcels are shipped across the UK every single day from the site.

The Northern Echo has obtained exclusive access to see what exactly goes on inside Amazon’s huge 465,000 sq ft warehouse in Symmetry Park, near the town centre.

The site, which employs around 1,000 permanent and around 1,000 temporary staff from across the region, became operational earlier this year with a hot tub cleaner being its first item to ship on April 27.

Since then the 'Fulfilment Centre', officially called MME1 which is based on the airport code of Teesside Airport, has been shipping products across the UK and Europe.

Take a look below

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Explaining how the enormous operation worked, Prashant Pandey, general manager of Amazon Darlington, described how state-of-the-art robotics and workers worked hand-in-hand.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The site, which is the equivalent size of six football pitches, sees three sets of shift patterns every day as operations continue round-the-clock.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Currently, a raft of measures including face masks provided for workers, hand sanitisation stations and temperature checks are in place to prevent Covid-19.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The canteen area sees the number of workers allowed to enter the space at any one time limited with screens put up to further prevent any transmission.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

But explaining how the huge operation worked, Mr Pandey told us that there are around eight main steps from start to finish.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

He said around 50 per cent of the items arriving into stock coming from small and medium-sized businesses.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Items are stored “randomly”, but computer systems track every single item so that they can be later ‘picked’ by Amazon’s robotics system.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The system, which Amazon say uses AI technology and markings on the floor, sees mobile shelves delivered to various parts of the warehouse before workers pick items for despatch.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

After the product has been ‘picked’, workers scan the item where computers tell the worker which box size is appropriate based on the item size and weight.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Making boxes requires the use of the tape machine which has a keyboard that corresponds to the correct size box - meaning nothing is wasted.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Conveyor belts reduce the need for workers to lift 'tote' boxes - all items within Darlington must fit in a regular size tote in order to be shipped.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The items then go to SLAM, which stands for Scan, Label, Apply and Manifest, where the technology here scans the box and immediately prints the correct shipping label on the box.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

If the wrong item was accidentally packed, the order would be routed off from the conveyor because the weight doesn’t match what the computer expects.

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

If an item does not match, a worker then sorts through and manually ensures the item still arrives at the correct place within the site.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Items are shipped via all forms of routes, including by train, road, air and sea.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Mr Pandey, who joined Amazon around five years ago, said that he had been proud to help launch the site in Darlington.

The Northern Echo:

Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

He said: “We’re very happy and proud to be here in the North-East, the region is full of talent – we have so many talented people here and we are really grateful to the community for the support they have provided so far.”

As a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Pandey said that Amazon had introduced a number of safety measures at its sites including in Darlington.

He said: “We realise how much responsibility we have to keep our people safe.

“We have areas for dispensing sanitisers and masks, there is an area for temperature check – we have introduced continuous cleaning, with fumigation taking place every night for almost two hours.

“We are also ramping up employee testing with Covid-19 test kits on site. “The most important thing for us is safety, we have around 150 different initiatives to keep people safe during these times.”

Amazon Darlington is no longer the only such site in the North-East with Amazon Durham opening earlier this year.

The site, which is based at the Integra 61 Industrial Estate near Bowburn, is slightly larger at 550,000 sq ft.

It is understood that Amazon has further plans to open another site in the region, although the details of that are yet to be confirmed.