Madrid, April 23, 2020 – Amazon moves forward with its investment in the province of Toledo by announcing a future fulfillment center in the area. The company today confirmed its commitment to the region of Castilla-La Mancha with the arrival of what will become Amazon’s second facility in the region, joining a fulfillment center for Big & Bulky customer items launched in 2019 in the same logistics area.

With over 180,000 sqm, the future site will be located in the municipality of Illescas, serving the wider Spanish and European Amazon Operations network and supporting small independent sellers. The company has confirmed that this fulfillment center, which will be used by Amazon to stock and manage sortable products, will create new 1,200 permanent jobs in a three years term.

Amazon – which has been recognized with the Top Employer 2021 certification - is creating new career opportunities that support communities all across Spain. Just last week, the company announced the creation of another 1,200 permanent jobs in three years in Corvera, Murcia. These figures will add to the 12,000 permanent jobs currently existing in Spain. In fact, only in 2020, Amazon created more than 5,000 jobs in the country. These jobs support communities of all sizes, from large cities like Toledo to small towns like Illescas.

“Since the arrival of our first fulfillment center in Castilla-La Mancha, the town of Illescas has become a referent in Logistics, showing the Amazon driver effect on local economy and job creation. This second facility is another proof of our firm commitment towards the province of Toledo and the region of Castilla-La Mancha”, said Fred Pattje, Director of Amazon Customer Fulfillment in France, Italy and Spain.

The mayor of Illescas, José Manuel Tofiño, expressed his satisfaction with the implementation of this new Amazon infrastructure as an example of the good collaboration that exists between the City Council and the multinational. "It is always good news that Amazon chooses Illescas to launch another project that will mean the creation of wealth and employment for the local community," he said.

Candidates can already apply for Amazon’s new open positions
Amazon has already started the recruiting process for a wide range of positions for this fulfillment center, focusing on roles such as Engineering & Maintenance Technicians, Logistics Operators, Operations Leads, Occupational Nurses, IT Support Engineers, Automation Engineers, and many others. Candidates may apply for any of the aforementioned jobs, at the following link: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/locations/illescas-spain?cmpid=PRAAOP9627B

Alejandro Sánchez, associate at Amazon fulfillment center in Illescas, highlighted that: “Amazon is a place where you are treated with respect and integrity no matter who you are or where you come from. It´s a company that goes far and beyond for the safety and well-being of its employees, flowing in continuous improvements, ideas, and activities. You can tell employees are proud to work here and be part of the company. In less than 2 years, I have learned many different processes that made me grow professionally while I enjoyed each one of them, always working daily with a wonderful team. Compared to other work experiences I had in the past, the work environment, the opportunities to grow inside and the treatment received are definitely some things I would highlight. From my point of view, Amazon believes in its employees as they are part of the company”.

Working at Amazon
Amazon is a great place to work with highly competitive pay, training programs and industry-leading benefits from day one for its workers. Among some of these benefits is the Career Choice program, through which the company supports employees in accessing adult training in their field of choice, financing 95% of tuition and associated fees up to an amount of €8,000 over four years.

The Top Employer 2021 certification validates the quality of the work environment and human resources programs offered to Amazon employees in Spain. The Top Employer certification highlights Amazon’s initiatives to enable employees to start and develop their careers in a fulfilling work environment. More info here.

The company prioritizes the health and safety of all its employees and is constantly looking for ways to further improve safety measures in its buildings. Amazon committed $11.5 billion in 2020 on COVID-related initiatives to help keep its employees globally safe and to get items to customers. This includes an investment of over $1.2 billion on measures like temperature checks, masks, gloves, enhanced cleaning and sanitation, testing in some countries and more.

Only in Spain, since the beginning of the pandemic Amazon has purchased more than 39 million pairs of gloves, over 17,9 million of facemasks, over 74 million units of disinfectant wipes and 12,7 a million liters of hands’ disinfectant bottles.

Amazon’s support to local SMEs
Amazon is further expanding the size of its Spanish fulfillment center network to increase capacity and better support small independent small businesses (SMEs) using Fulfillment by Amazon warehousing and delivery.

There are more than 9,000 SMEs based in Spain that sell on Amazon. In 2019, these SMEs exceeded 450 million euros in exports, which is an increase compared to 400 million euros the previous year. Only in the Community of Castilla-La Mancha, there are more than 400 SMEs selling on Amazon that exported more than 10 million euros in 2019.

Investing in Spain
Amazon’s Operations network in Spain started with the San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) Fulfilment Center, which started operations in 2012 – a year after the launch of Amazon.es. Over the last eight years, the company has opened Fulfillment Centers in El Prat (Barcelona), Martorelles (Barcelona), Castellbisbal (Barcelona), Illescas (Toledo), Dos Hermanas (Seville), Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), and the recently announced Robotics FC in Corvera (Murcia). In addition, Amazon also has three urban fulfillment centers in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​which provide fast deliveries to its customers in these cities through the Amazon Fresh service. In addition, the company has two Sortation Centers, located in Getafe (Madrid) and Barberá del Vallés (Barcelona), and sixteen Delivery Stations located throughout the country to strengthen their delivery services for the benefit of customers and sellers.

Amazon has invested 6.8 billion euros between 2011 and 2021 in its Spanish infrastructure, shipments, salaries and benefits for employees, among others. In 2020 alone, Amazon invested 2.5 billion euros and created more than 5,000 jobs, increasing its workforce to 12,000 permanent employees in Spain. In addition to these permanent jobs, Amazon onboarded 7,000 people to support its Operations across the country during the last Christmas season.

To learn more about Amazon’s economic impact and logistics network in Spain, click here.