Introduction

Company Background

Amazon.com, inc., was founded on July 5, 1994 by Jeff Bezos from his garage in Bellevue, Washington. It is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Seattle, Washington that started as an online booking-selling company, and then became the largest online retailer and marketplace around the world. Amazon.com, inc., doing business as Amazon, is a company that focuses more on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. The company has multiple subsidiaries, including Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud computing, Kuiper Systems, which is a satellite internet provider, Amazon Prime, Marketplace, and Whole Foods Market. Amazon provides different products such as apparel, beauty and health products, electronics, grocery, games, jewelry, kids and baby products, music, sports goods, toys, and tools. It also offers related support services including home delivery and shipping. Amazon has more than 100 active fulfillment centers in the U.S. 

CDW5

We will specifically be focusing on one of Amazon’s sortation centers, CDW5. Located at 380 Middlesex Ave, Carteret, NJ 07008, CDW5 functions as an Amazon sortation center, optimizing delivery efficiency by sorting and consolidating packages for prompt dispatch. Established in 2020, this facility serves customers in New York and New Jersey. Amazon sortation centers act as crucial intermediaries between fulfillment centers and delivery stations, facilitating the smooth transfer of packages. At CDW5, packages are grouped by destination for efficient routing to the appropriate delivery station, ensuring rapid delivery times.

Our group member, Nicolas Charles Pierre, has been employed at Amazon's CDW5 warehouse sortation facility since January 2021. Within his role as an Amazonian, he undertakes various tasks, including package scanning and problem-solving in the Problem Solve Department. Additionally, he has been trained and certified as a TDR Lead (Trailer Dock Release), responsible for ensuring the safe securing of trailers to dock doors, facilitating the loading and unloading process. His duties encompass opening and closing trailers, as well as communicating trailer identification numbers to the operations team for tracking purposes.

Manager Description

Nathan Coder is the operations manager that we will interview for our project. He has been working at Amazon since 2017. First, he was an area manager at another Amazon facility then he transferred to CDW5 Sortation Center in 2022 as an operations manager. As an operation manager, he is responsible for managing a team of area managers and their direct reports. He controls and coordinates operations, improves functionality and level of service that the Amazon sortation center provides to customers. He is also responsible to implement change or develop new processes as required to provide the ability to better direct ship multiple products to multiple locations and geographies.

Purpose

Our project aims to examine and analyze the strategic implementation of information systems within Amazon, focusing on two key business processes: order sortation as the structured process and marketing as the dynamic process. By analyzing the impact of Amazon’s information systems on its overall business strategy, we intend to provide insights and recommendations that enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness of their technological infrastructure.

Thesis

By effectively incorporating information systems into its business processes, Amazon can enhance its competitive advantage, financial performance, and overall business success thereby maintaining its leadership position as one the world's leading e-commerce giants.

Gantt Chart

The illustration below displays the group’s responsibilities including starting date and estimated completion time for each part of the project. The blog is to be updated after each assignment has been completed.