Walmart Canada readies new fulfillment center in Alberta
Walmart Canada is building a new fulfillment center to provide better delivery access to Canadian customers in the country’s western region.
The $118 million high-tech sortable fulfillment center will be built in Rocky View County, Alberta, just outside of Calgary. The hub is slated to be open in September of 2022. The announcement furthers the company’s investments in Canada, following the plans to build a new tech hub in Toronto.
"We are tremendously proud to be investing in a new fulfillment center in the Calgary area that will create jobs, boost the economy and deliver quicker service for our customers," said Horacio Barbeito, president and CEO of Walmart Canada. "This modern facility will provide our associates with the latest logistics technology to improve our supply chain. That means more products available, more orders fulfilled and more Canadians offered two-day shipping. This is how we're transforming our operations to meet the needs of Albertans and all Canadians."
The sortable fulfillment center, to be located at 10 Lowes Rd., will be approximately 430,000 square feet in size, serving as a delivery hub for millions of customer orders in Western Canada. For the first time at Walmart Canada, robotic technology from GreyOrange will be used at the fulfillment center. The technology will speed up order fulfillment by using an advanced operating system that will help associates store, pick and sort items by using smart and flexible storage abilities to manage a large and wide variety of inventory.
The new hub is capable of shipping 20 million items annually from the facility to Walmart customers, as well as storing 500,000 items to fulfill direct to home and in-store pickup orders. Set to open later this year, the new fulfillment center will create more than 325 new jobs at Walmart, plus construction and engineering jobs.
"We are excited to be bringing a new high-tech fulfillment center to the Calgary area," said Patricio Dallan, SVP of omni supply chain at Walmart Canada. "Our customers deserve the best experience when they shop with us and this investment will help us deliver more items to more households quicker than ever before. We are proud to be investing for growth in Western Canada while improving our supply chain to deliver for Canadians."