Walmart plans to build a high-tech distribution center for fresh and frozen groceries in Spartanburg County, S.C., set to open in 2024.
The 720,000-plus-square-foot facility will rely on Walmart associates, automation technology, robotics and machine learning to process grocery perishables – such as produce – and deliver them to nearby stores, according to a news release.
The facility marks Walmart’s largest automated grocery distribution center to date and will move two times more product than a traditional grocery distribution center, as well as provide new tech-focused jobs in the region.
“Walmart’s high-tech grocery distribution center will include game-changing innovations that are radically disrupting the supply chain, getting products onto shelves for our customers even faster, while saving time for our associates,” senior vice president of automation and innovation David Guggina said in the release.
This distribution center is part of a larger investment the retailer announced earlier in 2021 to double down on the use of automation technology in its supply chain. The retailer announced its first automated grocery distribution center in 2018 and has since added new solutions that reduce handling cost and improve service to stores and customers.
The announcement of this latest new center comes months after Walmart released the news of its plans to add automation in more than half of its regional distribution centers and market fulfillment centers in select stores. The retailer has also made investments in drones and autonomous vehicles to support last mile deliveries.
“The new distribution center will be critical to ensuring our stores are stocked with the freshest grocery items … to customers and communities in the state of South Carolina,” Walmart U.S. senior vice president of supply chain operations Tim Cooper said in the release.
Walmart operates four distribution centers, 122 retail stores and employs 34,136 associates in South Carolina. In the fiscal year of 2021, the stores, clubs and the Walmart Foundation gave $15.3 million in cash and in-kind donations to local South Carolina organizations.
