Walmart planning new grocery DC with 'game-changing' robotic innovations

• Walmart has revealed plans to build a new high-tech distribution center for fresh and frozen groceries in Spartanburg County, S.C., which will open in 2024.

• Measuring more than 720,000 square feet, the facility will create more than 400 full-time regional jobs and employ Walmart associates, automation technology, robotics and machine learning to process grocery perishables, including produce, eggs, dairy, flowers and frozen foods, and deliver them to nearby stores.

• The grocery distribution center facility will be Walmart’s largest to date and will move twice the product of a traditional facility of this type, as well as bringing new technology-oriented job opportunities to the area

Walmart says it will create more than 400 new jobs in South Carolina as it builds a new high-tech grocery distribution center.

Plans call for the more-than-720,000 square-foot distribution center to be built in the Lyman area of in Spartanburg County, according to a release from the governor’s office.

“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,” Walmart U.S. Senior Vice President for Automation and Innovation David Guggina said. “We’re proud to be opening Walmart’s largest automated grocery distribution center in Spartanburg County and look forward to bringing new STEM job opportunities to the region.”

The facility will rely on the combination of Walmart associates, automation technology, robotics and machine learning to process grocery perishables including produce, eggs, dairy, flowers and frozen goods and then deliver them to nearby stores.

The facility marks Walmart’s largest grocery distribution center to date and will move two times more product than a traditional grocery distribution center in addition to presenting new technology-focused job opportunities in the region.

“Walmart has proven to be an exemplary partner, committed to the success of South Carolina, and today’s announcement further solidifies that fact,” Gov. Henry McMaster said. “This $450 million investment and the more than 400 jobs created will boost South Carolina’s already rapidly growing economy and create even more opportunity for our people.”

The high-tech distribution center is part of a larger investment the retailer announced earlier this year to double down on the use of automation technology in its supply chain.

The center is expected to open in 2024.