Walmart Readies Four New Fulfillment Centers

Walmart is expanding its supply chain capabilities with four new next-gen fulfillment centers planned in the next three years.

First covered by Store Brands’ sister publication Progressive Grocer, the first facility will open this summer in Joliet, Ill. The others will be in Greencastle, Pa.; Lancaster, Texas; and McCordsville, Ind. The facilities will allow for expanded access to private brands at Walmart locations across the country.

“These fulfillment centers will be the first of their kind for Walmart, using the powerful combination of people, robotics and machine learning to set an entirely new precedent for us on the speed of fulfillment while continuing to create a positive work environment for our associates,” noted David Guggina, SVP of innovation and automation, Walmart U.S.

According to Guggina, Walmart has partnered with Austria-based Knapp, a provider of intelligent fulfillment solutions, on an automated high-density storage system that consolidates a manual 12-step process into just five steps.

“We’ve been perfecting this system in our fulfillment center in Pedricktown, N.J., and have seen how the benefits of this technology are wide-ranging and include more comfort for associates, double the storage capacity and double the number of customer orders we’re able to fulfill in a day,” he said.

The new high-tech facilities will unload, receive, pick, pack and ship orders. Walmart currently has 31 dedicated e-commerce fulfillment centers. Its stores are located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population.