Business

Walmart opens high-tech fulfillment centers to deliver online orders faster

Walmart is building four high-tech fulfillment centers that will simplify and speed the picking and packaging of online orders. The first facility will open this summer in Joliet, Illinois.

Walmart

Walmart is building a warehouse with high technology in the hope of faster delivery to customers and grow its online business.

The retailer said Friday it plans to build four new fulfillment centers that use automation to Pack and ship online orders more efficiently, with the first location opening this summer in Illinois. For customers, the new warehouses will mean that next-day or two-day deliveries may be more common for items including cereal and t-shirts.

Plans come as Walmart competes with online retail giant Amazon, which has made it easier for customers with Prime membership to order a wide range of items and have them delivered within a day or so. With many Walmart sales coming from its website in recent years, it already has 31 facilities that prepare online orders. Its more than 3,500 stores, or about 75% of its locations, also fulfill online orders.

But at Walmart’s existing fulfillment centers, employees can walk 9 miles or more a day to get items off the shelves and bring them back to the area for packing, said Michael Prince, vice president of operations. innovation and automation of Walmart’s supply chain said.

That won’t be necessary in the new warehouses, where an automated system will pick up items from the extended storage space and deliver it to the area where employees pack in boxes, which will be customized to in accordance with the measurements of the order. Walmart tested the concept at a fulfillment center in Pedricktown, New Jersey.

Amazon, Kroger and others have also exploited automation to expand capacity and speed. A decade ago, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, which created wheeled robots for its warehouses. It tested the robot to reduce hard work for workerss and in April released 1 billion dollar fund invest in companies that develop supply chain technology.

Last year, Kroger began opening giant robot-powered product fulfillment centers in the US through a partnership with UK online grocer Ocado.

Walmart’s first new fulfillment center will open in Joliet, Illinois, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, and deliver to customers across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Three more will follow in McCordsville, Indiana; Lancaster, Texas; and Greencastle, Pennsylvania over the next three years, the company said.

Walmart said it will hire 4,000 people to work at the new facilities. Current starting wages at existing warehouses are $16 to $28 per hour, and wages at new warehouses will be higher in that range, the company said. The retailer declined to share construction costs.

Walmart stores will still play a role in the company’s supply chain and handle online orders for popular items along with chilled and frozen groceries, Prince said. Fulfillment centers will process orders with a wider range of products, including staples and other dry groceries.

Other areas of Walmart’s supply chain are also being transformed. Dozens of stores is becoming a small automated warehouse for online grocery orders. And last week, Walmart said it would add robots over the coming years to its 42 regional distribution centers, aiming to replenish store shelves.

Source link

news7h

News7h: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button