Amazon Ramps Up Fulfillment to Secure 'Committed Capacity,' Says SVP

Amazon teams have been “hard at work for months, focusing on capacity and demand planning to balance our customers’ needs against any supply chain or transportation challenges that may occur,” blogged John Felton, senior vice president-global delivery services, Monday. Among its efforts for the holiday season, Amazon invested in forecasting technology and worked closely with vendors to get products in fulfillment locations “close to customers” along with “people, aircraft, ships and buildings” to get product from point to point, Felton said. Amazon organized its global logistics network to better manage inventory flow and increased the ports of entry across its network by 50%, doubled container processing capacity, "and expanded our ocean freight carrier network partnerships to secure committed capacity into critical ports within our network,” he said. Later this season, Amazon will have more than 85 aircraft in its fleet “ensuring ample capacity” to transport customers' packages, said the executive. The Amazon Freight network operates more than 50,000 trailers that haul freight worldwide, with tens of thousands of drivers employed by small businesses to make shipments possible, Felton said. Last-minute shoppers will have access to “millions” of items with same-day delivery, with orders arriving in as little as five hours “from click to doorstep” in 15 metro areas, he said.