April 19, 2021 - Amazon today announced plans to expand its investment in Indiana by opening a new fulfillment center in Fort Wayne. The site, anticipated to open in 2022, will create nearly 1,000 new, full-time jobs that pay at least $15 per hour and provide comprehensive benefits to Amazon employees from their first day on the job. Amazon currently has fulfillment and sortation centers in Greenfield, Greenwood, Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, Plainfield, and Whitestown.
"Amazon choosing Fort Wayne for the location of their new fulfillment center is a sign of continued progress and momentum in our City. We wouldn't be where we are today with this significant investment without a strong partnership with Amazon and leadership from the City of Fort Wayne's Community Development Division and the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission. I also appreciate and value the approvals the project received from the Fort Wayne Plan Commission and Fort Wayne City Council," said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry. "Offering livable wages through employment opportunities such as this one will position individuals and families in Fort Wayne to be successful."
“We are proud to be bringing our newest Amazon Robotics facility to the city of Fort Wayne along with over 1,000 new, full-time jobs that provide great pay, benefits, and a safe work environment for our employees,” said Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment. “Since 2010, Amazon has invested over $11.9 billion in the state through its local fulfillment center and cloud infrastructure, research facilities, and compensation to thousands of employees in the state. Indiana has been a source of exceptional talent for Amazon and we’re excited to continue our growth by adding additional job opportunities on top of the 20,000 current Amazon employees working across the Hoosier state.”
"Amazon is employing thousands of Hoosiers and expanding growth opportunities for the city of Fort Wayne,” said Interim Indiana Secretary of Commerce Jim Staton. “This is great news from a global company that continues to recognize Indiana as a top destination for job creation and investment. This facility will serve countless customers across the country, further cementing Indiana's position as one of top states for doing business.”
The Fort Wayne facility will be Amazon’s first fulfillment center in Indiana to use innovative and advanced robotics technology and the company’s 10th fulfillment center in the Hoosier State. Amazon employees at the new fulfillment center—which will span more than 630,000 square feet—will pick, pack, and ship smaller customer items, such as books, electronics, and consumer goods.
On top of the company’s industry-leading $15 starting wage—whether full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal—the company offers Amazon employees comprehensive benefits including full health insurance, such as prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage. The company also offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave and innovative benefits such as Leave Share and Ramp Back, which give new parents flexibility to support their growing families. In addition, Amazon has pledged to invest over $700 million to provide upskilling training for 100,000 U.S. employees for in-demand jobs. The programs will help Amazon employees from all backgrounds access training to move into highly skilled roles across the company’s corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retails stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths outside of Amazon.
All associates will go through hours of safety training and have access to continuing education opportunities through Amazon’s upskilling programs such as Career Choice. In this program, the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch, more than 40,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.
Amazon in Indiana:
- Since 2010, Amazon has created more than 20,000 jobs in Indiana and invested more than $11.9 billion across the state, including infrastructure and compensation to its employees.
- Amazon’s investments have contributed more than $10.6 billion in GDP to the Indiana economy and have helped create over 16,000 indirect jobs on top of Amazon’s direct hires–from jobs in construction and logistics to professional services.
- Amazon’s fulfillment network supports millions of businesses of all sizes worldwide through its Fulfillment by Amazon offering, and many of those local organizations are based in Indiana. There are more than 25,000 authors, small and medium-sized businesses, and developers in Indiana growing their companies and reaching new customers on Amazon products and services.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- See an Amazon Fulfillment Center In Action
- Amazon Job Creation and Investment U.S.
- U.S. Investment Map
- This press release features multimedia of the new Fort Wayne robotics fulfillment center: [dropbox link]
About Amazon: Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/ and follow @AmazonNews.
