The global giant Amazon was quick to launch its operations in the Alta Industrial Park in Coteau-du-Lac.
At the opening of the Amazon sorting complex in Coteau-du-Lac, Mayor Andrée Brosseau made the traditional ribbon cutting in the presence of the company’s representatives, Anamaria Zammit and Jason Brown, the executive director of DEV, Joanne Brunet, and the prefect of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges RCM, Patrick Bousez. (Photo Denis Bourbonnais)
Less than 9 months after announcing the establishment of a state-of-the-art sorting center, the American e-commerce company officially inaugurated the 720,000 square foot (660,000 m2) facility, equivalent to 7 football fields, Wednesday morning.
Some 90 employees are already at work at the sorting complex, which will be the first in Canada to integrate the most advanced mobile robotic order management systems from Amazon Robotics. When the YUL9 sorting center has reached its cruising speed, in about 6 months, 500 to 600 full-time jobs will have been created.
“The technology used at the company’s most sophisticated Canadian sorting center here in Coteau-du-Lac will allow Amazon to increase the speed and efficiency of its services to better serve its customers in Eastern Canada, in addition to making the work environment even safer”, says Anamaria Zammit, site manager.
The robots will be operational over the next year in the large warehouse which includes 126 loading docks. Orders will be hand-picked until the most advanced robotic infrastructure in Canada goes live at Amazon in 2022.
The products that will pass through the sorting center, in Coteau-du-Lac, will come from the Amazon distribution center in Lachine. The materials will then make a third stopover in the operating chain, at the delivery center in Laval and eventually in Lachine on Normand Street. This last link is responsible for transporting the package to the customer’s door.
Wages from $ 17.60 to $ 18.10 per hour
The management of Amazon Canada prefers to keep secret the amount of investment required for the establishment of the sorting complex in Coteau-du-Lac, merely indicating that a sum of $ 11 billion has been spent by the company in Canada since 2010.
Site manager Anamaria Zammit assures us that the 500 or so new jobs created at the facility on rue Léon-Malouin, near Chemin de la Rivière-Nord, come with a full range of benefits offered from day one. «The starting wages are $ 17.60 to $ 18.10 per hour», she had to specify, during the question period following the traditional ribbon cutting by the mayor of Coteau-du-Lac, Andrée Brosseau.
«The arrival of Amazon reveals that Coteau-du-Lac is a prime place to establish and grow business, even nationally and internationally», said Mrs. Brosseau. «The Alta Industrial Park is one of the few on the edge of Greater Montreal to offer large-scale land still available and ready to build. This large-scale establishment confirms our attraction and our positioning on the Quebec industrial scene», added the mayor.
Joanne Brunet, Executive Director of Développement Économique Vaudreuil-Soulanges, is delighted with the opening of the largest robotic sorting center on Canadian soil. “The arrival of Amazon in Vaudreuil-Soulanges confirms that the region has undeniable logistical advantages and that as a gateway to Quebec, it is strategically positioned to make the distribution of goods in the Greater Montreal region more efficient”, said Mrs. Brunet.
