Walmart Says New ‘High-Tech’ Centers Will Ship Perishables Faster With Less Work

A woman wheels a cart with her purchases out of a Walmart store in Derry, N.H., on Nov. 18, 2020. (Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

Retail giant Walmart plans to open five “high-tech” automated distribution centers across the United States to get perishable products such as eggs and fruit out of storage and onto store shelves faster with less physical labor, the company announced on July 10.

The new centers, powered by intelligent software and automation, are part of the retailer’s push to “transform our business and create a more connected supply chain,” said Dave Guggina, executive vice president of Walmart’s supply chain.

Walmart’s first high-tech perishable distribution center in Shafter, California, has been operating since 2021, and the retail giant recently opened a second one in Lancaster, Texas, which will soon begin operations, Mr. Guggina said. The retailer also plans to open such distribution centers, in Wellford, South Carolina; Belvidere, Illinois; and Pilesgrove, New Jersey.

Collectively, these facilities will create around 2,000 new jobs, according to Walmart.

Inside, the distribution centers house automated storage systems that reach heights of nearly 80 feet and operate in a temperature-controlled environment, Mr. Guggina said.

“When it’s time to build a store order, the system retrieves the cases from storage to begin building store-ready pallets, which are built by department, making them easier to unload at the store,” he said.

The pallets are automatically layered to keep more fragile items, such as eggs or fruit, at the top—meaning workers do not have to manually stack them—and are then wrapped and loaded onto a truck to be shipped to stores.

According to Walmart, the technology at its facilities allows the retailer to process twice as many cases every hour as its traditional perishable distribution centers.

Along with building the five high-tech distribution centers, Walmart is also expanding four traditional distribution centers for fresh food to include automation.

Walmart Embracing Automation

That expansion aims to add roughly half a million square feet to its facilities in Mankato, Minnesota; Mebane, North Carolina; Garrett, Indiana; and Shelbyville, Tennessee.

Additionally, Walmart is upgrading a legacy facility in Winter Haven, Florida, including integrating it with new technology.

“Our goal is to learn more about the feasibility and requirements of retrofitting an existing grocery building with automation technology – similar to how we have approached our ambient distribution center in Brooksville, Florida,” Mr. Guggina said.

Walmart is the largest grocer and biggest private employer in the United States—it had roughly 1.6 million workers at the end of fiscal 2024.

Mr. Guggina said the retail giant is eager to see what ever-evolving artificial intelligence (AI) technology can do for the company, but acknowledged automation could change job roles at its facilities.

He did not talk of job cuts due to automation, and said he believes technology will create new employment opportunities.

“Technology is evolving physically demanding jobs into roles where associates are operating and maintaining high-tech systems, leading to an improved quality of life,” he stated.

Walmart added that associates who transition from manual roles at the company to those involving AI often see an increase in pay.

Walmart said earlier this year that it wants 65 percent of its stores served by automation by 2026 while roughly 55 percent of fulfillment center volume will move through automated facilities.

The retail giant also said that unit cost averages could improve by about 20 percent by that time.