Watch: Behind the scenes look around Amazon's new huge fulfilment centre - as it gears up for Christmas

Given I was only visiting for two hours maximum, it was an impressive statistic.

And I'll admit, it was music to my ears because my Christmas shopping – or lack of it – has not gone well this year.

I am a big fan and champion of high street shopping, heading out purchase things physically when I can and that will never change.

But sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day and the festive period is on you in a flash.

And with Christmas now just over a week away, speed and efficiency are needed.

Enter the hard-working employees of the new Amazon fulfilment centre in Sutton Coldfield and, of course, those at the firm's base in Rugeley, working diligently in the run up to the big day.

After all, Father Christmas can't do it on his own, right? For Santa's Elves, see Amazon's army of wheeled robots, busy moving about the floor, collecting orders ready to deliver at the click of a button.

I had been to Amazon's new £500m fulfilment centre in the West Midlands before, a couple of months ago, just after launch.

The 547,000 sq ft fulfilment centre is the size of more than seven football pitches, with 11 miles of conveyancing, and an assembled team had already been playing a key role in the company’s day-to-day functions, handling customer orders and helping in the delivery of thousands of items to expectant customers each day.

On this visit, a Christmas tree, with festive gifts underneath, was quickly visible in reception alongside a large inflatable gingerbread man.

Yes, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I was interested in finding out what the progress had been like at the new fulfilment centre and how Christmas is shaping up.

Neil explained: "We are really pleased with how the launch has gone. It has been well received and it has absolutely exceeded our expectations.

"It has already allowed us to hire more people here than we anticipated – it has gone that well!

"We originally thought we would have employed around 1,400-1,600 people within the building at this stage.

"But we are at just over 2,000 now and will be employing more next year, including apprentices. It has been a great opportunity to bring in and hire more people locally."

There has been a noticeable step up in activity since my previous visit.

From the ‘in-bound’ area, products are moved upstairs on a conveyor – helter skelter like in appearance.

Items head up to three floors featuring Amazon Robotics where products are then stowed and customer orders can be picked.

The robots which carry tall yellow shelves around the floors, use QR codes on the floor to navigate their way around with cameras stopping them colliding.

This technology brings goods to employees to be either stowed or picked for delivery.

From stowing and picking, there is packing where there are single and multi-pack stations, depending on the customer order.

Reliability Maintenance Engineers manage the miles of conveyance and other vital moving parts in the centre, while alongside them at the flow desk, operations colleagues oversee the volume in orders to make sure the business has the right people in the right places.

Once an order is picked and packaged, it is put through the SLAM – Scan-Label-Apply-Manifest – machine, another incredible piece of technology.

It does a weight check – to identify issues – and if all is well, in a split-secondm sends a signal to printer.

It prints the label and this is the first time in the process where a name and address is available. SLAM blows the label onto the package with compressed air rather than sticking it on in case something is fragile inside.

Any issues see it sent to the kick-out section, otherwise, the final package is then distributed via chutes to the correct sortation centre, based on areas, before going to a delivery station and then the final leg of its journey to the customer.

Millions of items are now leaving the Sutton Coldfield fulfilment centre each week – with other customer orders also arriving in the region from other Amazon centres across the UK.

An Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, LEGO Icons Wildflower Bouquet and Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer are among popular items being purchased in the run-up to Christmas, I am told.

Currently, among the 'most popular' items on the Amazon website are books including the Guinness Book of World Records for 2024 and Richard Osman's The Last Devil to Die and toys and games include 'Herd Mentality Board Game', Nerf Gunds, Dobble and Pop-Up Pirate.

"People want things the same day or next day," Neil adds. "Every order that gets dropped into these buildings has got a maximum of two hours before it is dispatched. "They will all go out in that window because the technology allows it. We can only to that with the level of technology and sophistication we have invested in this building here.

"We have thousands of robots but it is important to say they have actually created highly-skilled roles. You need people to look after the technology and equipment."

Despite its vastness, the centre, which has power-generating solar panels on its roof and is logistically well placed near the M42 and M6, is half the size of the traditional Amazon warehouse but stores 50 per cent more products.

"That allows us to offer a lot more selection," adds Neil. "So there's a much greater probability of us having something in this building, if you order it locally.

This is an example of building a smaller, more efficient building which allow us to have more products in it that we can serve locally to our customers.

"And this is a prime location, in the West Midlands. It means that, with this region, we have the benefit of the speed, convenience but it's also more environmentally friendly as, often, there are less miles. We are constructing a network strategically, where our customers are based and where they are ordering from, so we can reduce the time and distance the products have to travel."

Neil explains that staff are now fully focused on the run up to Christmas, preparing for a last-gasp rush. Across the UK, Amazon has advertised 15,000 seasonal roles.

Black Friday saw a lot of orders and people buying presents in a multiple order but he says: "You tend to see the mix switch slightly to more impulsive, last-minute purchases. If you are like me, you think 'oh my gosh' I've forgotten all of that!

"It's a busy time. Here, with the new launch, we had a natural buzz any way because everyone was excited with the new building and the latest technology."

"But across the country, we allocate a 'peak fun' budget for the festive period, so we have staff prizes, giveaways and we put Christmas lunches on.

"Every day there's a different activity to capture the buzz and spirit of Christmas and the run up to the festive period. It's also an opportunity to thank everyone for the great work they have done."

I'll owe the staff and robots a debt of gratitude too, if they can help me make inroads into my present list!