Walmart, the world's biggest retail store, announced on Friday that they plan to improve the speed of their shipping and delivery by building four new "next generation" fulfillment centers over the next three years.
David Guggina, Walmart's Senior Vice President of Innovation and Automation, said in a news release that they will hire more than 4,000 new employees at the "next generation" fulfillment centers, which by themselves could provide 75% of the United States with next-day and two-day shipping on a majority of their products.
The first "next generation" fulfillment center will open up this summer in Joliet, Illinois.
"We know we must constantly exceed our customers’ expectations, which is why I’m thrilled to announce we’re building four next generation fulfillment centers (FCs) over the next three years, with the first opening this summer in Joliet, Illinois," Guggina said.
"These FCs 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."
The other new fulfillment centers will be located in McCordsville, Indiana, Lancaster, Texas, and Greencastle, Pennsylvania, according to Reuters.
Walmart partnered with the tech company Knapp "to develop an automated, high-density storage system that streamlines a manual, twelve-step process into just five steps." The company has been testing the new system at a fulfillment center in Pedricktown, New Jersey, and has already seen improvements in the amount of orders that can now be fulfilled in a day.
"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," Guggina said.
Walmart added that they will be able to reach 95% of the U.S. with next-day or two-day shipping between the new fulfillment centers and the traditional ones combined.
Some of the 4,000 jobs that Walmart plans to add will include new positions, such as control technicians, quality audit analysts and flow managers.
Guggina went on to explain why Walmart is only adding four of these "next generation" fulfillment centers, saying that the company is aiming to "strategically locate" them throughout the country.
"Our priority is to strategically locate our FCs to pair most effectively with our 4,700 stores and 210 distribution centers," Guggina said. "Together, this system of fulfillment assets is optimized to get orders to customers fast and efficiently. In this way we show our customers they need to look no further than Walmart to get what they need, when they need it."
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