Alberta’s first Amazon robotics warehouse will be opening in the Edmonton area, creating more than a thousand full and part-time jobs.

The American tech giant announced on Monday that it would be constructing a massive 600,000 square-foot fulfillment centre in Parkland County. The automated warehouse, slated to open in 2022, will be used to pick, pack and ship small items to customers such as books, electronics and toys. This will be the second fulfillment centre in Alberta, with the first being in the Calgary area.

Vibhore Arora, the regional operations director for Amazon, said there will be a wide range of job opportunities at the centre including operators, technicians and safety leaders.

“Typically, the misnomer is if it is a robotics centre, you have to be a technical person with a technical background to be able to get a job there,” he said. “That is not the case. We focus heavily on training so anybody who is willing to get trained can actually get one of these operations jobs.”

Arora said the construction of the company’s warehouse in Leduc in 2020 created 700 construction jobs and anticipates the new Parkland facility will do the same.

Amazon started using robotics at its warehouses in 2012. The company employs more than 3,600 people in the Prairies and has invested more than $600 million in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

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