Rome, October 5, 2020 – As of today, the latest Amazon fulfillment center to open – in Rome’s greater metropolitan area at Colleferro, is officially up and running. The site, named FCO2, is the sixth fulfillment center to be opened by Amazon in Italy, with Colleferro joining Castel San Giovanni (Piacenza), Passo Corese (Rieti), Vercelli, Torrazza Piemonte (Turin) and Castelguglielmo-San Bellino (Rovigo) - inaugurated in September. This new fulfillment center, together with the Rovigo site, are the results of a further 140-million-euro investment made by Amazon in Italy. This adds to the already 5,8 billion euro invested in the country since 2010. The Company expects to create 500 full-time jobs within three years from the opening. The new distribution center has today stocked its first product: a pack of coffee capsules.
This latest addition to the Amazon logistics network helps to handle the ever-increasing customer demand and expand its product offering, along with providing the necessary support for small and medium-sized businesses looking to sell over Amazon.it using “Fulfilled by Amazon”, a program that provides sales and shipping services to third parties’ sellers.
“Ten years after Amazon first came to Italy, we remain enthusiastic over each and every endeavor, including this new facility in Colleferro which is a new jewel in the crown of our wide logistics network across the Country. Starting today, our state-of-the-art warehouse will be busy helping us to provide the best possible service to our customers”, stated Stefano Perego, VP Europe Customer Fulfillment. “Since the early days of the sanitary emergency, we have worked closely with health authorities to respond proactively, ensuring we can continue to serve communities while taking care of our associates and teams. We have also implemented proactive measures at our facilities to protect employees including increased cleaning at all facilities and maintaining social distance in our sites. We have revised over 150 processes in order to bring the minimum interpersonal distance to two meters and required couriers to remain at a distance when making deliveries. In Italy alone, we have ordered 131 million units of hand disinfectant, 14.8 million pairs of gloves, 5 million units of facemasks, face shields and other mouth-nose-covers, and 12.7 million units of disinfectant wipes. For more details on all the measures implemented, you can consult this page”.
The fulfillment center boasts a highly sustainable structure that integrates energy conservation while reducing the environmental footprint thanks to a reduction in emissions levels. Throughout all phases of construction, sustainable practices were the order of the day – with avant-garde solutions installed, such as: solar panels (offering a total power output of 2MW), systems to reduce energy consumption, LED lights throughout for illumination, a heating and cooling system allowing to recoup energy, hot water without using methanol gas, fittings and materials for paneling that favor thermal isolation.
The entire building runs on BMS, a system that offers an intelligent management for use and maintenance of the building. The site has also been constructed with attaining BREEAM Certification in mind, and has received a “Very Good” rating by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method board. To preserve the balance between biodiversity and the surrounding territory, green spaces and groves have been planned to add a note of harmony to the area. Additional plans are under way to enhance the green areas with the presence of a dozen donkeys, along with bringing pet therapy activities open to employees, visitors or the community at large, along with the planting of a fruit tree grove featuring a number of local species.
“We welcome wholeheartedly Amazon’s ongoing practice of investing in Italy. This latest opening confirms the capacity of our country - and in particular, the Latium region, to attract significant investment which in turn leads lays the proper foundation for growth and development across the region,” declared Francesca Puglisi, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. “Besides the positive economic impact,” the Undersecretary emphasized, “we know that Amazon is a strategic partner – not only for their important occupational impact where they operate and its consequential domino effect in terms of local SMEs (Small-Medium-sized Enterprises) but also in terms of allowing us to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that today’s important e-commerce sector has to offer.”
“The opening of the newest Amazon logistics center reaffirms the Latium region as a competitive hub for companies and for economic development. The Region is committed to specific programs serving to restart the engines of our economic system. And part of that is geared toward attracting new enterprises who bring jobs and new growth opportunities to the area,” stated Daniele Leodori, Vice President of the Latium Region. “The main scope behind billion-euro investments like these, is that they carry improvements in both digital networks and tangential ones, along with being a counterforce against the traditional bureaucracy business owners regularly face. So, we extend our warmest welcome to Amazon, and we trust that the Colleferro facility will act as a hub for new jobs and serve as a catalyst for growth, not only for our Capital but across the entire Latium region.”
“I am proud to officially welcome Amazon here to Colleferro, and am pleased that a company of this calibre has selected our area for their newest facility, and an important and innovative logistics hub. It’s an investment by Amazon that quickly followed on the heels of our decision to close the landfill. I’m quite certain that going forward, this signifies gaining momentum in terms of new jobs, while driving our community and those surrounding which have been severely affected by economic, environmental and social crises over the years,” remarked Pierluigi Sanna, Mayor of Colleferro. “I would like to reiterate that this project falls directly into our commitment to encourage the establishment of productive facilities – that besides bringing economic and social wellbeing, also respect our environment, are compatible with the territory at large, and allow us to maintain our identity as a hardworking, working class community.”
“Regional authorities, various administrations, investors and professionals worked in tandem seamlessly. Thanks to the mutual trust of each stakeholder and respect shown for following healthcare regulations, along with the collective determination by all, we were able to usher in one of the most ambitious industrial operations that Italy has seen in a number of years,” asserted Eric Veron, General Manager of Vailog.
Amazon remains constantly attuned to the communities in which it operates. Through a number of solidarity programs it gets behind in communities worldwide, the Company actively supports schools, hospitals and non-profit associations. These are programs brought to their attention by members of the community at large, and through employee activists. In honor of this newest site opening, the Company has already launched a new program for Colleferro middle schools, L. Da Vinci and G. Mazzini. The program aims to provide support in developing both students’ and instructors’ digital skills; something of primary importance in today’s working world. Teachers will be able to participate in a 4 hr online training course on Amazon’s Creative Coding Toolkit. It’s a platform for teaching youth easily and intuitively, all of the fundamental elements of computer programming languages. Students and teachers can then work in tandem - either in class or remotely - to create ad hoc programs or develop digital projects across a number of disciplines, from mathematics to art or from science to history.
Colleferro fulfillment center joins the Latium family of Amazon facilities already in place which employ about 1400 full- time employees: Passo Corese (Rieti) fulfillment center, three delivery stations in Roma Magliana, Roma Settecamini and Pomezia, and an urban FC for Prime Now customers in downtown Rome. Furthermore, Amazon employees’ salary is in the high range of the logistic sector, also providing benefits such as employees discount on Amazon.it and private health insurance. Amazon also offers innovative benefits such as Career Choice which pay up to 95% of tuition and books for education courses for four years.
Amazon Investments in Italy
Amazon has invested over 5.8 billion euro in Italy, generating over 6900 full-time jobs since its arrival in 2010. 1,600 new permanent jobs will be created by the end of 2020, reaching +8.500 employees, in more than 25 locations across Italy.
This year alone, the Company announced openings for two new top-of-the-line fulfillment centers: in Castelguglielmo/San Bellino (Rovigo) and in Colleferro (Rome), while over the last two years, Amazon has opened various centers and warehouses for sorting packages throughout the Peninsula. This, along with two additional urban fulfillment centers to serve Amazon Prime Now customers in Milano and Rome.
On top of these investments in its Italian logistics network, in 2013, Amazon opened its Customer Service center in Cagliari, alongside its Milanese corporate headquarters as well. In 2017, Amazon moved to its new corporate in the emerging business district of Porta Nuova. The Company also opened a Development Center for research on speech recognition and natural language understanding to support the Alexa voice recognition technology.
Above and beyond full-time employment opportunities that Amazon continues to bring with it, the Company also provides support to entrepreneurs and business people looking to open an online store, either by taking an existing business online, or those desiring to expand their business. The Company offers various options available on its platform: from Marketplace for direct sales to customers, to utilizing the Amazon Logistics network for stocking and delivery of items through its FBA program (Fulfillment by Amazon). There are 14,000 Italian companies selling merchandise through the Amazon.it portal that have generated over 25,000 jobs, surpassing already in 2019, €500 million in exports.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four main principles: Obsession with customer satisfaction over the competition, Passion for innovation, Dedication to operational excellence, and Long Term Vision. Customer reviews, 1-Click Shopping, Personal recommendations, Prime, Amazon Logistics, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo and Alexa are just some of the innovative products and services introduced to the world by Amazon.
For more information, visit: www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNewsItaly
