tour of warehouse

Speed Commerce

Warehouse Tour? A Must For Retailers Seeking Outsourced Fulfillment

With the rise of e-commerce and the resulting increase in demand for fast and efficient fulfillment, it’s more important than ever to understand the inner workings of the warehouse that will be managing your inventory. The truth is, taking a warehouse tour is a must for any retailer looking to outsource fulfillment in today’s market. 

While we know that you will likely have a list of your own questions for the fulfillment vendor you are evaluating, it’s essential to pay attention to the following key areas:

Organization: 

A well-organized warehouse is crucial for efficient and accurate inventory management. Look for a layout that makes sense for your products and ensure that clutter is kept to a minimum.

Technology : 

The use of technology is becoming increasingly important in warehouses, with many facilities utilizing inventory management systems and automation to increase efficiency. Look for a warehouse that utilizes the latest technology to stay ahead of the competition.

Picking Process: 

The picking process can vary widely between warehouses, but it’s important to understand how your products will be picked and packed. Look for a process that is efficient and accurate, and ensure that it aligns with your specific requirements.

Density : 

Warehouse space is expensive, so it’s crucial that your inventory is stored in a way that maximizes efficiency and minimizes your footprint. Look for a warehouse utilizing space effectively without sacrificing picking speed or accuracy.

People: 

The people who work in the warehouse are the backbone of the operation, so it’s vital to get a sense of their professionalism and competence during your tour. Look for a team that is knowledgeable, friendly, and committed to providing excellent service.

By paying attention to these key areas during your warehouse tour, you will be better equipped to make a much more informed decision when choosing a fulfillment provider for your business. Remember, the warehouse you choose will play a critical role in your ability to deliver an exceptional customer experience, so it’s worth taking the time to make the right choice.

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What a Tour of an Amazon Fulfillment Center Reveals

By Anna Wiener

SMF1, an Amazon fulfillment center on the edge of Sacramento, California, is a low, gray, utilitarian building. Amid the yellowing fields of the Central Valley, it resembles a cluster of Legos abandoned in an untended back yard. The facility is named for Sacramento’s SMF airport, which is just across the road; it employs around two thousand people, and its forbidding architecture inspires obedience. On a recent afternoon, seven women with tight faces and heavy eye makeup stood in its lobby, wearing the comfortable walking shoes that Amazon had requested. They tried to peer past six sets of full-height turnstiles, above which Amazon’s internal slogan—“Work hard. Have fun. Make history”—had been painted on the wall. Beyond the turnstiles were nine gray metal detectors, reserved for exiting employees, and a multicolored balloon arch. The climate was controlled. There was an oppressive mechanical hum. “This is already amazing,” a woman wearing pedal pushers said.

The ride-share driver who’d ferried me to SMF1 from the train station had been skeptical when I told him I was there to tour an Amazon fulfillment center. “What’s your objective?” he asked. “You looking for some twelve-year-old Asian kids who are sewing things with their teeth?” As we turned into the parking lot, past a sign that read “Hiring Event,” I saw myself through his eyes—a writer for an East Coast publication, wearing loafers and a weather-inappropriate cashmere sweater, on a field trip from San Francisco to observe the working class. I wasn’t delusional. I didn’t expect to witness labor abuses on a scheduled, public, corporate propaganda tour. (Amazon has been offering fulfillment-center tours since 2015, and the company has expanded them to twenty-two facilities across the country since January, as part of a larger public-relations response to criticism of its treatment of hourly workers.) But I did want a glimpse, however small, of an opaque, privately owned system that has become part of daily life for millions of people. I also wanted, despite the tour’s Potemkin-village potential, to see Amazon’s interpretation of its best self.

In the lobby, our guide, a young woman radiant with enthusiasm, distributed guest badges. (I took the regular tour available to the public and didn’t identify myself as a journalist.) Our group filed under the balloon arch. We passed a map of the world with a note beside it: “Where do you identify with? Place a star on the map to show us!” A sign declared the fulfillment center a “No Phone Zone.” A dry-erase board, labelled “Voice of the Company,” contained tidy corporate announcements and exhortations; on another, “Voice of the Associate,” someone had scrawled, “You guys are never open to negotiations.”

We entered a classroom, where headsets and receivers were distributed.

“Why do you do these tours?” one of the guests asked.

“To show what goes on behind closed doors,” our guide said. There wasn’t much to hide, she said, and flashed us a smile. “And to combat misinformation,” she added.

Our first stop was the robots. Single file, we marched up a stairwell, onto a vast and labyrinthine warehouse floor. (The fulfillment center has four levels; the top three overlook a shipping bay on the first.) Taped lines on the floor indicated where to walk, guiding us to the perimeter of a vast pen, within which the robots rolled like overfed Roombas. Our guide asked us not to touch the fence, and everyone gave it several feet of clearance. “Don’t worry,” she clarified. “It’s not electric or anything.” (An Amazon spokesperson later said that there would have been no reason to avoid the fence.) Meanwhile, in the pen, the robots changed direction with the sharp, angular precision of a Broadway ensemble. Each robot carried a tower of yellow, cubby-like bins, which Amazon calls “pods.” In the pods, I spotted a tub of Colonix powder, a large container of Ultimate Omega, a toner cartridge, Meow Mix, pineapple-print linens, a bag of plastic Easter eggs, Crest toothpaste, and several boxes stamped with the logo of InvoSpa, a maker of self-massage products. It was an Advent calendar of late-night, 1-Click decisions.

We watched as, prompted by listings on a screen, an order picker removed items from the pods, placing them into another set of bins, called totes. Every forty minutes, our guide explained, the screens prompted workers to take a “mind and body break”; the picker we were observing had selected a hamstring exercise.

We walked down to the packing area. It felt endless and oddly desolate, with many of its stations unmanned. A thin young man, dressed head to toe in black, lifted a single tub of Pure Protein 100% Whey Powder from a tote, put it into a box, taped it shut, and moved it to a conveyer belt. The tour clustered around him, as if at an aquarium, before moving to an elevated pathway above the shipping bay. One guest waved to a distant group of workers, like a boater signalling to strangers on shore, before we returned to our classroom. By way of concluding our tour, our guide said that if Amazon were exposing a secret it might be that the company is a little more efficient than it lets on.

Outside, the heat was thick and dense. A weather app confirmed animal intuition: it was ninety-six degrees. People stood around, looking a little dazed. “Every place, I was like, ‘Oh, I’d work here,’ ” one of the tight-faced women said. Her friend raised an eyebrow. People posed for photographs with SMF1 in the background and, in the unforgiving sun, trickled back to their cars.

There has never been a commercial experience quite like Amazon. The site, on which six-packs of bicycle shorts, pepper spray, Keurig pods, and prefab tiny homes coexist, doesn’t resemble a traditional marketplace so much as the Mall of America after a major earthquake. (As it happens, the Mall of America, in Minnesota, now houses a wall of Amazon Lockers—self-service pickup portals for items ordered on Amazon.) Amazon’s third-party seller program, which enables anyone to list, sell, and ship products using the company’s interface and infrastructure, further contributes to the sense that it is a lawless, consumerist Wild West. Knockoffs abound, as do deceptively or fraudulently labelled items: in his examination of Amazon for this magazine, published earlier this month, Charles Duhigg detailed the Sisyphean efforts undertaken by Birkenstock to remove its products from Amazon’s reseller platform for fear that its brand would be tainted by fakes. (Amazon frequently says that it prohibits counterfeits and invests “heavily” in detecting and removing them from its listings.) It appears that nonsensical, exorbitantly priced e-books in Amazon’s marketplace have been sold and purchased by money launderers (Amazon told the Guardian that it takes steps to stop fraud when the company discovers it); bot-generated listings tout shower curtains and phone cases that feature random stock photos . According to the firm TJI Research, Amazon itself offers at least seven hundred and eighty private-label or Amazon-exclusive brands, hawking everything from furniture to lingerie and baby wipes. Its fulfillment centers are nodes where unrelated objects, manufactured in places such as Dhaka, Sri City, and Shenzhen, come together—way stations, thoroughfares, culverts for a nebulous, undular mass of everything people could, and apparently do, want.

My own apartment has taken on qualities of a fulfillment center—it’s another node where objects of unknown provenance aggregate. In the mid-two-thousands, I worked at an independent bookstore, and for nearly a decade I boycotted Amazon. The site tells me that I caved on January 4, 2016, when I bought a Brother HL-L2380DW Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer. Since then, my boyfriend has used the phrase “Amazon culture” to refer to the various objects that I have summoned, often late at night, to our front door: a variety box of 1,120 self-adhesive googly eyes; an AmazonBasics paper shredder; an ESARORA Ice Roller for Face & Eye, Puffiness, Migraine, Pain Relief and Minor Injury, Skin Care Products (Blue); an Anwenk Electric Sweater Shaver Lint Shaver Lint Remover for Sweater Knitwear Carpet Blankets; a Topo Comfort Mat by Ergodriven Not-Flat Standing Desk Anti-Fatigue Mat with Calculated Terrain [Must-Have for Any Standing Desk] (Obsidian Black).

As a consumption diary, my order history is not flattering. Many of my purchases happened through curated, affiliate-linked roundups on recommendation sites, such as Wirecutter and the Strategist—“I’ll Talk to Anyone Who Will Listen About These Comfortable Boots”; “The 13 Products I Use for My Chronic Raccoon Eyes”; “The Best Emergency Preparedness Supplies”—which offered me solutions to problems I didn’t know I had. Earlier this year, in an essay called “ What Is Amazon? ,” the tech C.E.O. Zack Kanter highlighted the company’s clever habit of encouraging partners or customers to do work that Amazon itself would prefer not to do, because of its “bureaucratic complexity.” Sites like the Strategist curate Amazon’s selection better than the company itself ever could; such search-engine-optimized aggregations of search-engine-optimized products serve as both a revenue channel for affiliate partners (influencers, bloggers, legacy magazines) and a service to Amazon. ( The New Yorker derives some of its revenue from affiliate links to Amazon.) The arrangement makes for a fascinating business-school case study. My own narrative was simpler: I felt bad about myself, so I bought something.

I felt bad after visiting the fulfillment center, too. (“You sound like someone who has just seen an industrial chicken farm for the first time,” a friend said, when I recounted the trip.) I was mad about the perverse incentives of capitalism; disgusted by the extractive nature of the global supply chain; ashamed at myself for being so susceptible to marketing. I also felt awe at the scale and precision of Amazon’s logistics. From its strips of perfectly measured packing tape to the minute-long breaks it metes out to its workers, the company operates with unprecedented efficiency. It would be wonderful if Amazon didn’t fight worker efforts to unionize, or increased their hourly pay, or consumed less energy, or better moderated its marketplace. But that version of Amazon could only exist if the company revised its core values : speed, frugality, optimization, and an “obsession” with the customer. Reformers talk more and more about breaking up the big tech companies; some leftists muse about nationalization. Regulation may change Amazon. For now, it’s exactly what it wants to be.

In late September, a group emerged, Amazonians United, Sacramento, to protest the company’s internal policies. “We are an organization of Amazon workers in the Sacramento area that is working to protect our rights at work, improve our working conditions, and create a real voice for Amazon associates,” reads a post on the Amazonians United, Sacramento Facebook page. According to the Verge, the group coalesced after an employee at the DSM1 “delivery station” in West Sacramento took time off to mourn her mother-in-law and was promptly fired upon return, having overdrawn her leave balance by one hour, because her bereavement leave hadn’t started yet. (Amazon said it offers hourly workers three days of paid bereavement leave, but added that it does not comment on personnel matters.) Twenty-four hours after the group circulated and submitted a petition, the employee was rehired, with back pay. Recent reporting on Amazon’s fulfillment centers has yielded a spate of stories about overwork, physical exhaustion, subpar facilities, and “productivity” firings for employees unable to keep up with demanding quotas. In his article on Amazon, Duhigg quotes Safiyo Mohamed, who, while still in her twenties, tore an intervertebral disk in her back working as a sorter at a Minnesota fulfillment center. “Amazon doesn’t want humans, they want robots,” she told Duhigg.

The same critical pressures that led Amazon to offer its fulfillment-center tours have pushed the company into other public-relations efforts. In August, it received a wave of negative attention for the Twitter accounts it had created for its so-called “fulfillment center ambassadors”—accounts, with display names including the words “Amazon FC Ambassador” and the parcel emoji, which sometimes tweeted in response to criticism and against pro-union sentiment. (“Sweating while working is common at any job,” one ambassador tweeted. “So excited for Amazon family day at my site this weekend,” wrote another.) In response, a number of Twitter users—many of them journalists—jokingly changed their display names to include the words “FC Ambassador” and the parcel emoji, turning the corporate Twitter program into a meme. Their mockery spoke to the company’s reputation as a cold, functional, and impersonal juggernaut. Unlike many of the larger tech corporations, Amazon does not promote idealistic, utopian, or progressive narratives about community or connection; it strives, almost always, to present itself as a kind of infrastructure. Perhaps it was inevitable that its efforts to humanize itself would scan as stilted and generic—the AmazonBasics of public relations.

The unnerving truth is that facelessness and placelessness are part of the value Amazon offers. Amazon culture is anonymity culture: anonymous objects ordered through an anonymous interface from anonymous sellers, funnelled, sorted, shipped, and delivered by workers who are often unseen. Even the company’s brick-and-mortar Amazon Go markets, which sell prepared foods and snacks, are designed to minimize interpersonal interaction by eliminating things like visible food production and checkout registers. (In its advertising, Amazon describes these shops in terms of the software that runs them: “What if we could weave the most advanced machine learning, computer vision, and A.I. into the very fabric of a store?” a marketing video asks.) The Amazon shopping experience appeals, in part, because it strips away the emotional dimensions of consumerism, like shame, guilt, or impatience. And yet—while it can be a relief to use a digitally mediated portal to purchase items like Spanx, or postnatal perineal balm—this efficient blankness comes at some human cost. It’s in this sense that the fulfillment-center tours run counter to the company’s self-image. Amazon is actually a company full of people, with all their inefficiencies—their bodily needs, their grief, their camaraderie, boredom, humor, and despair. The anonymity to which Amazon shoppers are accustomed is palliative, illusory.

On a recent afternoon, working from home, I heard the doorbell ring. I raced down the stairs, opened the door, and peered outside. No one was there. A public bus exhaled at the end of the block; the street was quiet and still. I bent down and picked up the box. I had the distinct feeling that I could be anywhere.

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By Charles Duhigg

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What to Look For When You Tour a Warehouse Facility

• October 1, 2021
• || Warehousing

There are advantages to touring a new warehouse facility in person. Whether you’re just getting into the e-commerce business or you’re moving your U.S.-based distribution and fulfillment services to a new warehouse, it’s worth the time and effort to view the operations firsthand. While you may not be able to actually walk the floor, for safety reasons, a quality warehouse in the U.S. will be happy to host guests who want to view what goes on from a safe distance. If you do decide to tour a new warehouse facility, take advantage by keeping an eye on these specific things:

Orderly and Organized Setup

The warehouse should appear to be well-organized. An orderly setup will minimize confusion with products, as well as contribute to the efficiency of operation. Look for organized shelves that are not in disarray, shelf labels to help employees locate items, and efficiency with any conveyor systems that are present. Basically, everything should look like a smoothly-operating machine.

Cleanliness

Another sign of a quality warehouse is cleanliness. While it’s impossible to keep floors spotless in a warehouse environment, there shouldn’t be excess trash or spills on the floors. The entire working space should be relatively clear of trash, and things should be in their place or on their way to their designated place.

Safe Working Environment

Thanks to OSHA, there are certain safety standards that must be maintained in working environments. As a warehouse tourist, you should notice hazardous waste clean-up stations, water splash stations for accidents pertaining to the eyes or skin, and adequate signage to keep workers safe.

The work environment should be adequately lit so workers can perform their job without eye strain. Most warehouses are a little dim, kept that way to help keep the warehouse cool. But once your eyes adjust, you should feel that the warehouse is properly lit.

Happy Employees

Take note of the employees themselves. Do they seem content to go about their duties? They probably won’t be laughing and smiling (or maybe they will!), but they shouldn’t be obviously unhappy, either. Happy, content employees reflect good treatment by their employers and supervisors. In turn, they will do a better job.

Climate Control

If you happen to be thinking of using that warehouse for food products, consider the climate control inside the warehouse. Food products that need refrigeration would need special handling, too. Keep this in mind if your e-commerce business product is food that needs to be preserved within certain temperature ranges.

When comparing U.S.-based distribution and fulfillment services, it pays to keep all of these things in mind. Ideally, you want to work with a warehouse for years to come. When you take the time to carefully review their facilities, you’ll be more likely to choose the best distribution and fulfillment for your needs. Contact American Warehouse, Inc. to learn more.

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If you are in the United States or Canada , you can tour an Amazon fulfillment center at 23 locations across North America .

If you are in the UK , Germany , France , Italy , Spain , Poland , or the Czech Republic , you can find an Amazon FC tour location here .

But until you take your tour and see for yourself, see how our amazing people and amazing technology come together to fulfill your order once you click “Buy Now” on Amazon.com.

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Insightful Tour of Warehouse District and Hafen City Hamburg

• Professional guide
• Entry/Admission - Speicherstadt
• HafenCity, 20 Hamburg, Germany Meet the guide in the center of the square
• Speicherstadt, Brook, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
• Not wheelchair accessible
• Near public transportation
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking
• Most travelers can participate
• This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
• This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.
• Speicherstadt

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• You'll start at HafenCity HafenCity, 20 Hamburg, Germany Meet the guide in the center of the square See address & details
• 1 HafenCity Stop: 30 minutes See details
• 2 Baakenhöft Stop: 15 minutes See details
• 3 Magdeburg Bridge Stop: 15 minutes See details
• 4 Speicherstadt Stop: 60 minutes - Admission included See details
• You'll end at Speicherstadt Brook, 20457 Hamburg, Germany See address & details

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A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

Featured city guides.

17 Best Moscow Tours

Are you planning a visit to the capital of Russia and looking for the best Moscow tours? From Red Square to the Kremlin and from world-class art to fairytale buildings, Moscow is an enchanting city that offers plenty of excitement and elegance. Its history dates back more than 800 years, and there is culture in abundance for visitors to immerse themselves in.

Make the most of your visit with 17 of the best Moscow tours that let you see everything the city and its surroundings have to offer.

1 – Guided Tour of the Moscow Metro

Moscow’s metro is world-famous, thanks to the architectural delights on offer underground stations around the capital. This guided tour of the Moscow stations, otherwise known as “the palace of the people” lasts for 1.5 hours and includes an English-speaking guide who will tell you how the Russian metro became one of the most beautiful in the world. Highlights include Mayakovskaya station with its aviation-themed mosaics.

• Moscow metro tours

2 – Cosmonautics Museum Space Tour

Discover Cosmonautics Museum with this space tour. Dive into one of the greatest battles between the Soviet Union and the United States – the space race. Hear about the space programs of the USSR and learn about how the USSR shaped space travel and technology.

• Cosmonautics Museum tours

3 – Guided Tour of the Kremlin

A Kremlin is actually a citadel in Russian towns, and Moscow’s version is, without doubt, the most famous. The Kremlin is the heartbeat of the city, and this guided tour takes you to the most important points of interest. See Cathedral Square with its orthodox temples; Tzar Cannon with its 890mm calibre, which is the largest in the world; and the exterior of the all-important government buildings that are located within the Kremlin’s walls.

Click here to learn how to book Kremlin tickets .

• Kremlin tours

4 – Moscow City Walking Tour

One of the best Moscow tours for seeing everything the city has to offer, this small-group walking tour lasts for 2 hours and includes an expert guide. Make the most of the capital and see the cobbled spaces of Red Square, take pictures of St Basil’s Cathedral, visit the elegant Bolshoi Theatre, and enjoy the ornamental Alexandrovsky Garden.

• Moscow walking tours

5 – Night Tour of Moscow

When the sun sets, the fun begins – and it all starts with a night tour of Russia’s most famous city. The beauty of Moscow comes into full effect after hours, as iconic buildings like St Basil’s Cathedral illuminate against the night sky. Other locations on this tour include the Moscow River and the Ukraine Hotel, which is a landmark skyscraper that was constructed during the era of Stalin.

6 – Sergiev Posad Day Trip

One of the best Moscow tours that take you outside of the city, the Sergiev Posad day trip provides the opportunity to see The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. It’s made up of a number of different buildings that include the blue domes of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Church of St. Sergius and the Bell Tower.

• Sergiev Posad day trips from Moscow

7 – City Sightseeing Moscow Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour with Optional Cruise

If your time in Moscow is limited, this hop-on, hop-off bus tour is ideal – and it even features an optional cruise on the river. Choose between a 2 and 3-day ticket and see famous landmarks like Red Square, the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theatre from an open-top panoramic bus with informative audio commentary. Take your experience to the next level by upgrading to a boat tour.

• Moscow hop on hop off bus tours

8 – Guided Tour of the Tretyakov Gallery

As one of the world’s most important galleries, the Tretyakov Gallery is a must-see for any art lovers and is one of the best Moscow tours for culture vultures. Learn about the masterworks of Pablo Tretyakov with a guided tour and discover the secrets behind the paintings. Other noticeable artists on view include Fedotov, Vasnetsov, Rokotov and Kiprenski, who is the author of the famous “Portrait of Alexander Pushkin”.

• Tretyakov Gallery tours

9 – Alternative Moscow: 2-Hour Walking Tour

See a different side of Moscow with this 2-hour alternative tour. An expert guide will take you around quirky streets, suburbs and squares while as your veer away from the traditional tourist hotspots. Highlights include a ride on the famous “Annushka” tram and a visit to the neighbourhood of Khitrovka, which was once known as the criminal district of the city.

10 – St.Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square: Private Tour and Ticket

Combine two of Moscow’s biggest attractions with a visit to Red Square and St.Basil’s Cathedral. Admire the beautiful architecture of St.Basil’s Cathedral from inside and out, before wandering Red Square and learn about the soldiers, farmers and revolutionaries that all called this famous square their home. Round things off with the changing of the guard at Alexander Garden.

• Red Square tours

11 – Bunker-42 Cold War Museum Guided Tour

Moscow is notorious for the Cold War, which lasted for about 45 years between 1945 and 1990. Head to the world-famous Bunker-42, located 65 meters below ground level, and learn about the storied past. Visit rooms and passages that were set up to shelter 3,000 people in case of nuclear attack and discover other sections, such as the equipment room and the war-proof telecommunications system.

• Bunker-42 Cold War Museum tours

12 – Architecture Tour of Moscow’s Metro and Kolomenskoye Estate

Combine the beauty of the metro stations with the Kolomenskoye Estate and see some of Moscow’s grandest sights. After visiting the elegant metro stations, it’s time to go to the Kolomenskoye Estate, which is filled with UNESCO-listed sites that are dedicated to Tsar Peter the Great.

• Kolomenskoye tours

13 – Tour of Soviet Moscow

Unpick the history of the USSR with one of the best Moscow tours for discovering Soviet Moscow. Starting at Monument to the Conquerors of Space, a tribute to the success of the Soviet space programme, the tour includes historical landmarks and interesting tidbits about Soviet Russia. There is also a visit to the All-Russia Exhibition Centre (VDNKh), a site that was constructed under the aegis of the USSR in tribute to state achievements.

14 – Moscow: 2.5-Hour Luxury River Cruise with Dining Option

Sail down the Moscow River on this 2.5 hour tour that provides a different perspective of the city and includes landmark sights. The boat features two decks and has panoramic views as well as free Wi-Fi access. Attractions along the route include Ukraine hotel, Sparrow Hills, Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Crimean Bridge, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Zaryadye Park and more.

• Moscow boat tours

15 – Izmailovo Market and Vodka Museum Tour

Visit the museum of Vodka and gain insight into one of Russia’s most famous exports and head to the Izmailovo antique and handicraft market to find a gem or two. The tour starts with Izmailovo market, which features the iconic matryoshka dolls, fur hats and amber jewellery. Next up is a trip to the Museum of Vodka, where you will discover a distillery that dates back to the 15th century.

• Izmailovo market tours

16 – Súzdal and Vladímir Day Tour

Discover Russia’s famous “Golden Ring” on this tour of two medieval cities outside of Moscow. The historic city of Vladimir is first up with its Golden Gate, which is an ancient city-fortress that dates back to the 13th century. Next up is the neighbouring town of Suzdal, which features historic architecture and the Kremlin, where you can see its striking white walls topped with blue domes.

• Suzdal & Vladimir tours from Moscow

17- Moscow Food Tasting & Walking Tour

Sample the unique flavours of Moscow with this food tour that lasts for 3 hours and features more than 15 different food and drink tastings. Weave in and out of small alleys in the city centre while enjoying the best food spots in town. See Moscow like a local while trying classic dishes from local breakfast haunts, bustling markets, the oldest monastery in Moscow, and dumpling cafes where you can taste authentic dumplings and enjoy local coffee.

• Moscow food tours

The Warehouse of the Future

Executive Summary

The warehouse of the future represents a paradigm shift in warehouse design and operation. It is the industry’s response to the burgeoning growth of e-commerce, worldwide supply chain disruptions including warehouse labor shortages in developed markets, and increasing awareness of the significant volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions emitted by warehouses.

In this white paper, we detail the concept and fundamental characteristics of the warehouse of the future: a shift toward a highly automated, interconnected system that leverages automation and digitalization to enhance precision, flexibility, and efficiency to adapt to changing market and supply chain trends, while integrating environmental sustainability alongside technological innovation. This concept signifies a forward-thinking model that aligns operational efficiency with a sustainable approach to warehousing, that is pivotal to the evolution of contemporary supply chains.

Strategic innovations in three key areas define the warehouse of the future:

• Automation: With advancements in technology and the growing need for greater efficiency and productivity, warehouses are increasingly adopting automation solutions across all processes. Speed remains a paramount concern, especially in the context of e-commerce, while flexibility has emerged as another critical factor, differentiating modern automation solutions from their predecessors. In addition, the challenge of integrating multiple automation technologies forces companies to ensure interoperability, to manage complexity, and to make better decisions about capital expenditure and long-term benefits.
• Digitalization: While automation brings efficiency and precision to warehouse operations, it is the integration of digital technologies that can unlock the true potential of highly automated warehouses. Key elements include high-speed connectivity for real-time adjustments and AI systems for enhancing the precision of robotic operations. However, the transformation journey faces two key challenges: the need for data accuracy and the acquisition of the right talent.
• Sustainability: The implementation of automation technologies in warehouses forces companies to reassess their sustainability strategies. This reassessment encompasses both the embodied carbon emissions from the materials used in warehouse automation and the energy consumption of new automation systems, like electric forklifts and automated storage systems (AS/RS). Sustainable practices, including the integration of renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power, and employing more energy-efficient technologies, are pivotal in reducing the environmental impact of warehousing activities.

About the Report

Many of the insights detailed in this report originated from an MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics roundtable hosted by Maersk in February 2023 at the latter’s warehousing facility in California, attended by more than 30 supply chain experts from 20 different companies. The insights in this report are based on the roundtable discussions and extensive research conducted by the authors at their respective organizations. MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics roundtables are open to member companies of the Center’s Supply Chain Exchange, an industry partnership program that offers companies a variety of exclusive opportunities to engage with Center research, insights, and guidance. For more information on how to join the Supply Chain Exchange, please contact us .