On Friday, Walmart announced that it would be building four next generation fulfillment centers (FCs) across the nation. The first center in Joliet, Illinois will be opened this summer, while three more will be built over the next three years. Walmart has already tested a highly automated, custom designed concept at a fulfillment center in Pedricktown, NewJersey.
Walmart’s first next generation fulfillment center that will open in Joliet, Illinois, is located about 40 miles from Chicago and will fulfill shipment across the state as well as in neighboring states of Indiana and Wisconsin.
According to the big box retailer, the next three next generation fulfillment centers will be located in
McCordsville, Indiana, in Lancaster Texas and in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. These centers will also shop orders to neighboring states within a period of one to two days.
Michael Prince, Walmart’s vice president of supply chain innovation and automation told CNBC that Walmart stores will still be an important link in retailer’s supply chain. Online orders of items including chilled and frozen items will be handled by the stores. Prince added that fulfillment centers would handle a broader range of products including pantry staples as well as other dry groceries.
The new fulfillment centers will also bring an influx of staff and the nation’s largest employer said that it would add 4,000 workers at the new facilities. Walmart provides warehouse workers an hourly salary that ranges between $18 and $28. The company also said that these new workers would get wages that would be in the higher range.
In the Press Center of its website, Walmart said that the FCs would be “the first of their kind for Walmart.” It also noted that they would be set up using a “powerful combination” that included “people, robotics and machine learning.”
Walmart is also giving a makeover to dozens of stores and turning them into mini automated warehouses to handle online grocery orders. Last week, the company said that it planned to add robots in the next few years to 42 regional distribution centers across the nation. These robots will be used to replenish shelves in its stores.
