Before Amazon launched its air cargo operation, they invested in detailed planning. Describe the steps planning process and provide examples relevant to Amazon's air cargo operation to support your discussion.

The rise of robots Amazon now has more than 200 000 delivery robots worldwide. Of course, automation brought its own headaches, exposing Amazon to charges that it was looking eventually to kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. Sometimes, the robots mess up. Last year, one punctured a can of bear repellent in a New Jersey warehouse, sending two dozen Amazon workers to the hospital. In truth, automation can't solve Amazon's insatiable appetite for more delivery capacity. Every holiday season, the company hires legions of temporary workers-this year, it's bringing on 200 000 of them, double the number in 2018. In 2016, Amazon launched an air cargo operation that helps shuffle inventory around the country to meet growing demand and enable quicker delivery. The move has become a symbol of Amazon's logistics ambitions with planes flying out of more than 20 airports around the country. Amazon keeps expanding the fleet and expects to have 70 planes by 2021. In addition to planes, Amazon spent the past few years experimenting with a new delivery network through regional couriers to reduce its reliance on big delivery partners. Adapted from: 5, Soper. 2019. Meet the man who built Amazon's delivery machine. Fin24, 21 December 2019. [Online] Available at: https://www.fin24.com/Entrepreneurs/meet-the-man-who-built-amazons- delivery-machine-20191217 [Accessed 9 March 2020]