Divina Mims, the Regional Public Relations Manager for Amazon, and Josh Ward from the Clarksville Montgomery County Industrial Development Board, stop by to talk about the new Amazon Distribution center in Clarksville and their big plans for the future.
Clarksville Conversations with Charlie Koon
Divina Mims and Josh Ward: Amazon's Big Plans for Clarksville
I've lived in Clarksville, Montgomery County, nearly my entire life, and I've seen a lot of growth and met some amazing people along the way. There's a lot going on in our community, and on this podcast, I hope shed some light on what's going on in Clarksville. I'm Charlie Kuhn, and this is Clarksville Conversation. Davina and Josh, welcome to Clarksville Conversation. How y'all doing? Great, thanks. Thanks for having us, Charlie. Of course. Josh, my buddy. I've missed that mustache. I know you should miss it. It's iconic in Clarksville. It's iconic. So Davina, with Amazon, Josh, with the Clarksville Montgomery County Industrial Development Board. Or IDB. Or IDB. Yes, sir. What in the world is going on in Clarksville and why is Amazon here? Well, as you know, Clarksville, Montgomery County was the fastest growing community in the state. We grew by 6,000 last year, and the industrial park has been no stranger to growth. Yep. Between now and 2030, we've added about 5,000 new jobs to the industrial park. And Amazon, a couple years ago, went through their site selection process, and they have committed about 1,500 jobs to the industrial park. So next to Train and Honk Hook Tire, Amazon is going to become our third largest employer in Clarksville Montgomery County. So we are super excited to welcome them. Everybody knows Amazon. Everybody uses Amazon. As I mentioned earlier, my wife could not be more excited about this announcement. She thinks she's going to get her packages a day sooner. That could happen. I don't know if that's true. Depending on the product. Well, you know what, us becoming a new part of the community, first of all, very excited about that, right? This has been, as you know, a long time coming, and this new initiative is just so special. We know how much the community has been in anticipation for Amazon, coming and joining and bringing jobs, but also bringing just some new flavor to the community with some of the programs that we have and the groups that we have, because one of our leadership principles is to be leaders in the communities where we live and work. So we're really excited to partner with all sorts of businesses and companies and really be a part of the community, not just another employer, but you're absolutely right. I think, you know, with BNA6 coming to town, it serves a larger responsibility as part of our logistics network, if you will. So in some ways, it will help folks in this community get their packages just a little bit faster. So when Amazon looks at a place like Middle Tennessee and you're doing Nashville things and all around the area, but then you spot Clarksville, Tennessee, and we're thinking, wow, you know, we're 500 jobs, 500 jobs. And all of a sudden we get this news release that goes from 500 to 1500. How does something like that happen? I'll give you some background. So when a company is looking for a site in a community, they commit to a certain amount of jobs through the state and through local programs. So 500 was the minimum because that's what they knew they could hit. And then maybe Davina can give us some insight into why 1500. But yeah, I'm curious too as to your site search and why you chose Clarksville, Montgomery County. Yeah. Well, originally the site was planned for, you know, a traditional, you know, sort operation and then we saw the capability and ability to turn it into something what we call IXD, which is an inbound cross-doc. And so what that means is inventory or sellers will send their inventory to Amazon and it will come into BNA6 and employees there will unpackage things and repackage them and group items together. And then from there, they are then sent back out, you know, to where they need to go depending on who pressed by now on Amazon. Right. So with that, it just gives us an opportunity to offer more jobs for the community. Yeah. And you'll be hiring people from Clarksville, Montgomery County, from our region. Some of your employees may transfer here, right? So one of the big questions we hear in the community is how many Clarksvians are going to be hired and that you can only hire people who apply, right? That's absolutely correct. We've been doing that hiring for a few weeks now and you know, we started out, like you said, at 500, 500 jobs and it'll continue on a rolling basis with a room to continue to grow. And as an avid reader of Clarksville now, I often go to the comments to see what people are saying. And a lot of folks are like, I got on the website and I clicked 37040 or Clarksville, Tennessee. I didn't see any yet. So talk about the way those jobs are released. Once they're filled, they're no longer available, but when they come back out, in case people want to apply. Yes. So as we know, they are in high demand, right? So the way our hiring is a little bit different, instead of doing just one large bulk hiring day, we do our positions on a rolling basis and we post them every week. So every Friday, we post a group of positions somewhere to like maybe a hundred, 150 jobs every Friday, and we do have a waiting list, obviously, for people who weren't able to get in the week before. So they are filled pretty quickly, but we do have some different ways that folks can sign up on the website to get job alerts often. And I also have a text code that I'll leave you guys to that we can place on the website or on the article too. Sure. Folks can sign up for those job alerts with a simple text code. What kind of jobs are going to be available? So we have all sorts of positions, right? And it depends on your experience and really what you want to do. And I think the really cool thing about Amazon and the way we do our hiring is that once you are at the point to select your job, you can pick your shift, you can pick how much you want to work, you can pick what days, it's really up to you. You really customize it. And it's really a kind of a self-guided process to employment where you just have to check a few small boxes and then as long as you're eligible to work, you come in, you will talk to our teams who are there now, they're over at BNA6, so you actually can walk straight up now at this point to our office there and our recruiting center and talk to the folks there. And yeah, from there, it's literally from about applying to first day on the job within about 10 days. Wow. I was today years old, Charlie, I want to realize that the Clarksville location is codamed BNA6. Yeah. Yeah. So we can use that and sound like we're Amazon officials. No, that's awesome. I do want, I would love Davina to talk about their desire to hire military. Yeah. As you know, four cables, a huge asset and clarks from Montgomery County. And I know for sure that Amazon has been on post talking about hiring and I think that flexibility that you offer employees where they can pick their shift and schedule will not only enable you to hire transitioning military members, but also military spouses. So I believe that Fort Campbell was a big piece in your site search. Talk about the military a little bit. Yes, among a lot of different wonderful things that Clarksville offers us, you know, just the regional location, proximity to the highway, the infrastructure that is already here. Being close access to servicemen and men and women and former military is so huge because just like the military, our leadership principles align very well with the same types of training that our servicemen have had over the past couple of years. And so we offer apprenticeship programs where our servicemen, you know, can come in and be paired with someone who is former military who understands what they're going through, understands the challenges they may face and the needs that they may have to help them become successful. They come in, again, already equipped with so many skills that allows them to excel quickly and be area managers or leaders or operations leaders from day one. And then of course, we know that the sacrifices that they make are huge. And so we look at it from a holistic approach and also consider families too. And so offering those same sorts of upskilling opportunities and apprenticeship programs and to the military spouses is also a key in making sure that we are wrapping our arms around our military service people and making sure that they have all of the tools that they need to be successful. Yeah. And that's huge because, you know, in the military, you have a clear path to promotion, you know, to go from a E6 to an E7, you know what you have to do. You have to get the certification or the credentials. And I think Amazon offers a very clear path to promotion, which is going to enable them to recruit a lot of military personnel, very easy transition from service to the private sector. Well, Josh, you said, you said the word flexibility earlier. And a few years ago, I was working with the state with some big projects. And one word we came up with was flex expectations, right? Flex expectations. Yeah. Flex expectations. So it sounds weird. I'm going to Google that, see if it's a word? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if it's on there. But the point is Amazon seems to be doing that. And what the compliment is the company knows what they want to accomplish. And they have a plan to get there. Then they have all these folks that want to work for them and have these flexible schedules and have ways to work around to get the same, to get the goal completed. That's right. So that's something some companies struggle with. It's got to be this way. You've got to clock in today. You've got to clock out it for everything in the middle. We own you. But you guys have managed to be flexible to get that job done and have people wanting to come work for you. Yeah. Well, we realize that families are very modern now. And what we traditionally think of, like you said, those standard hours and things like that sometimes just don't apply. And so the more that we can meet people where they are, we realize the more successful we will be. One thing that I also have to talk about, especially for any person who's interested in working at Amazon is the great benefits that we offer. So we have medical vision and dental benefits starting on day one. You don't have to work for weeks just to be covered. You can start and on your first day of employment, have access to the medical care that you need. We also offer really great pay. At BNA6, we're starting at 1775, which is just really amazing, amazing pay. And then we also have up to 20 weeks paid parental assistance for folks who are starting new families, which is really good. So they want to make sure that parents are able to give the love that they need to their children for a great early start. And we also offer something called career choice, which is probably one of my favorite programs to talk about. Career choice is a program that is fully paid tuition for any sort of education that you want to go into. You don't have to do logistics and warehousing and warehouse maintenance. You can go for criminal justice or some sort of medical field. You can be a dental assistant. You can whatever career that you want to go into with after 90 days of employment, Amazon will pay for that college tuition. So it's huge because we realize that we're doing our part to help make sure that we're upskilling that next wave of leaders in our community. So whether you stay with us or not, you're leaving better. And I think that's just so important. And so fully paid tuition is something that really releases a burden for a lot of people who want to continue to elevate themselves and create a stronger foundation for their family. Do you partner with local universities and community colleges or is it just they can pick or is it a mixture? So we have a couple of national colleges that you can go to that offer online. But then regionally we partner with Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Volunteer State Community College, Motlow State Community College, and National State Community College. And then we have other colleges across the state as well. And we're adding new schools all the time. We've got an idea for one new school, Office of Peace State University. You can add them to your list. We love our local colleges. We can look into that. They're free to listen. They're free to reach out to us too. It's fairly simple for a school to get signed up and like I said, we will pay for it. Shout out Dr. Lacari. You can get on that. That's right. We'll tag him. Make sure he knows what's going on. I do want to talk about the community benefit to having Amazon. I know there's all the great benefits to the employer and the jobs and the capital investment that we get, but I do want to brag on you for just a moment. I remember a couple months ago when the tornado came through North Clarksville, we had a lot of nonprofits. Yapaks is one of them who were overwhelmed out of space. They were trying to store goods and help people. And I reached out to your colleague, Jessica, and I said, we have a big need. And I know that Amazon is not open yet while we're going through this recovery process. Can we use your facility? With Amazon, let a few nonprofits to include the school system use their facility for storage needs and whatnot for a couple months so that we could get through that. That's right. Just want to say thanks for that. That was a huge help to the folks who live here. And I know y'all do a lot of stuff like that for me. I do remember that. I do remember that actually. And it was really cool for me actually, you know, just being a fairly new resident to the state to watch how people come together and how resources are pulled. And, you know, we were just very happy to be unfortunate to be able to don't have that space. And, you know, for us being volunteers and figuring out how we can get to yes and understanding the needs and providing resources is what it's all about. And so I know our leadership team is very excited to be opening up BNA6. And, you know, we were talking about our service people before and military servicemen and military spouses that we also have a ton of affinity groups at Amazon. And affinity groups is something that, you know, everyone is a part of. We have one called warriors at Amazon. We also have women at Amazon and tech professionals at Amazon and black employees at Amazon, Asians at Amazon and Latinos at Amazon. So we have an affinity group that, again, helps people feel connected and included. And so our warriors at Amazon is a great network for former military and you don't have to be in the military. You can just really align yourself with those issues. And they go out to do all sorts of cool things in the community to give back. And so that's another way for us to make sure that we're creating that full circle and giving people a place where they feel valued and, you know, they have a trusted way to make sure that they're fulfilling all their needs. You'll find that the more you give back to Clarksville, the more Clarksville will give back to you. We've got, we've got some great industrial partners throughout our community and just small business partners and nonprofits that just work hand in hand. So I think you're coming in at the right time with the right attitude for sure. Yeah. Yeah. We know there's a lot of great folks here who have that kind of spirit and that energy. And so it's just another wonderful reason why Clarksville is a great choice for us to be. Yeah. And as a cross-doc facility, I've heard the majority of the items include big box like grills, patio furniture, those larger items. Is that is that a myth or is that true? You know what? It just all depends on what gets sent to us. Okay. And the way we do things is very peculiar, like we like to say, our storing system and the way that we design where items are shipped is very random. It might be the most sophisticated logistics plan in the history of the earth. Yeah. I mean, think about all the different stuff you can buy on Amazon and where does that go and how does it get to people in two days? Right. It's fascinating. So there's a lot of algorithms, a lot of people working on the tech side who figure all that out. They look at the patterns of people who are buying, they understand the community and what the needs are. They're predicting what items you may want six months from now and they're making sure that they are logistically in a place to get them to you when you want them. And so BNA6 is going to add to that logistics miracle to help again get folks stuff when they want it. BNA6, as you say, BNA6, AKA, Clarksville, Amazon. That's right. You got to ask her about what the next 10 or 15 years looks like for Amazon. Well, yeah, that's why I was going to ask her, what's your timeline for this facility and then what does the future hold for us? Well, I would say right now, our main initiatives are to, you know, really get operations underway at BNA6, get that working like a well oil machine, have us, you know, upskill our staff and really create the atmosphere and the environment that we want the Amazon culture and really get that going really well. And then, you know, from there, we'll continue to look at our options and figure out what expansion could look like. But that's probably a better question for our economic development team. Yeah. No doubt. Wait, we'll catch them on that one, man. And you see, you know, Amazon as a whole, not just BNA6, the future looks like, you know, online deliveries, mobile orders, you know, this is going to continue to be integrated into our lifestyle, the way we shop and engage with online purchases. Yeah, we have a huge event called delivering the future. And we do it every year at the operations level. You think of some big conferences and things like that, that happen. We'd love to have you out, Charlie, to come check that out. Ooh. Where is it? It depends on where... If it's in Vegas, he'll go. I don't know if it's just about anywhere. So, more to come on the location, but I will say that that is going to be your first look at what we look like delivering the future for Amazon. Is there some drone technology? So, yes, we have talked about drones in the past, and there will be updates on all of our programs that you can come and, you know, discover all of the new ways that we haven't even... People haven't even conceived yet that our teams have been working on for a long time, you know, new robotics and things like that. It's a huge spectacle. Again, all the things that are happening behind the scenes that you don't think about when you're shopping for more toilet paper. That's right. PR people are great at giving you an answer, but not the exact answer. And no, Josh, flex expectations does not include your little drone that you have. Oh, dang. You can have to go out and get a big one. Dang. That's all right. I'll order a new one on Amazon. How's that? Yeah, we sell everything. The craziest thing, one of the largest things I think we sell is like a house. Yeah, a tiny house. Yeah. I have a YouTube video. And one of the craziest things I've ever purchased, I think, was live roaches. Yeah. In my former career, I was a PR manager for Theme Park and for Halloween, we had people eat roaches. Oh, yeah. You can buy live roaches on Amazon. That's correct. Why? Why would you... Your competition... I try to squish the roaches. Yeah. Yeah, me too. I don't try to get more. That's interesting. Yeah, Madagascar. Well, Davina and Josh, thank y'all so much. I mean, this is a lot of great information. I know our community is totally excited. Thanks for the work you do, Josh and your team, Davina, you know, Amazon. We've got some friends over there I've known for a few years and everybody's got the great attitude of growing together and we can't thank you enough for being here. Is there anything else that we didn't get to talk about that you'd like to leave our listeners with or Charlie's listeners with? Well, again, we're just really, really thrilled to be a part of the community and continue to grow with you, as you mentioned, being one of the fastest growing cities in the state and this is a phenomenal time to be paired with a company like Amazon and I'm excited for the future as well. We are too. Thanks for being here, you guys. Thank you.