A giant distribution centre under construction between Calgary and Airdrie is on schedule for a late fall opening.
Work on the customer fulfillment centre began in September of 2017 in the nose creek business park in Balzac.
The building contains 2400 tons of steel, enough concrete to build five Olympic swimming pools and the lighting is equivalent to what’s used to light 200 homes.
Inside is a maze of multilevel storage racks to hold products, with the same floor space as 10 football fields.
They will feed a network of conveyors over 5 kilometres long.
The centre’s General Manager Jas Khangura says parcels will be ordered, sorted, packed and shipped all over western Canada.
“In peak periods, in some of our fulfillment centres in Canada, we could be shipping say anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 items in a day.”
The high speed sorters can move packages at over 3 metres a second or 12 kilometers an hour.
The plant will employ up to 1,000 people, but is also expected to boost the regional economy and hopefully attract other companies to follow Amazon’s lead.
“There’s a lot of great spin off and the opportunities are grand for so many in the region,” said the Mayor of Airdrie, Peter Brown.
“I think this is a great opportunity as other multinationals see the benefit of being in our region,” said Councilor George Chahal with the City of Calgary.
Amazon is already hiring managers, HR and IT professionals the fulfillment centre.
Advertisements for jobs on the plant floor will be posted in late summer.
It’s expected the centre will open in the fall.