Walmart putting millions into automation at Wisconsin DC

Mar 26

Tucked behind a large plastic curtain at its Menomonie distribution center is new machinery Walmart will switch on later this year to bring a higher level of automation to how products go through the building and out to stores.

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On Friday the company invited a group of employees, guests and media outlets to hear about the multi-million-dollar investment Walmart is making into the 29-year-old regional distribution center on 3M Drive.

“It’s not mom and dad’s distribution center anymore, it’s evolving,” said Marcea Weiss, general manager of the center that employs about 1,000 people.

The new robotic machinery is beginning to go into a section of the building and is scheduled to be ready to be turned on in November, Weiss said. There will then be a testing period before the new automation section is expected to start shipping out its first pallets to stores in spring 2023.

Walmart has been testing out the automation technology from Symbiotic in one of its distribution centers in Brooksville, Fla., since 2017, according to a corporate news release. Last year the company announced plans to implement the technology in 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers.

Leaders at the local center were happy to hear their facility is among the first to get the upgrade.

“Menomonie is one of our first distribution centers to receive that,” Dale Deutsch, senior continuous improvement leader at Menomonie center, said Friday. “It’s pretty exciting.”

Friday’s presentation included a video showing how the state-of-the-art technology will improve efficiency at the distribution center.

Packages pass through a “super tunnel” — a sophisticated conveyor system that weighs, measures and scans barcodes on boxes. Data collected there helps the system decide where to route the package so it can get put on a pallet bound for a store.

When it comes to stacking boxes onto pallets, the automated system will use the data collected to precisely arrange them for stability and group them by department.

Instead of semitrailers arriving at stores, being unloaded and their contents then sorted out by department, the work organizing the merchandise has already been done. The result is “store-friendly” pallets that can be brought right out to the sales floor to stock shelves faster.

JP Doyle, manager of the Walmart store in Menomonie, is excited for what the new automation means for workers that unload trucks and stock shelves.

“The biggest part of this is what it’s going to do on the other end — at stores,” he said Friday.

Doyle said that will cut down on some of the monotonous tasks done at Walmart stores so their team members can spend more time helping customers.

Automation technology isn’t taking over the entire regional distribution center yet. What was announced Friday is phase one, just going into one part of the building. Weiss said Walmart is planning future phases, gradually spreading the high-tech way of running a distribution center through more of the building.

Deutsch said the new robotic machinery will take over repetitive work currently done by people, and create jobs that require more problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

“It’s evolving our jobs into more advanced, robotics-based roles,” Weiss said.

Operating the new high-tech machinery will take training, but Weiss said the company has that covered through in-house training programs available to employees.

“We’ll train you on it,” she said.

Walmart is also reaching out to local students as well to let them know about potential careers in the upgraded distribution center.

Among Friday’s announcements was a $2,000 check presentation the company made to Chippewa Valley Technical College. When the new robotic machinery at the distribution center is installed, students from CVTC will be invited to come see it, Weiss said.

Menomonie Mayor Randy Knaack attended Friday’s ceremony on behalf of the city. He said Menomonie is “fortunate, lucky, privileged and honored” to have Walmart as a major employer there.

“Not only does Menomonie offer a lot to Walmart, Walmart offers a lot to Menomonie,” he said.

When Walmart’s transportation operations next to the center and the retailer’s store in the city are accounted for, the number of people employed by the company in Menomonie totals over 1,800, Knaack estimated.

And with the large investment — neither Walmart or Weiss disclosed a specific dollar amount — is making in upgrading the center in Menomonie, it is a sign the company intends to remain part of the community.

“It means we’re going to be here for the long haul,” Weiss said.

Supply chain EVP Joe Metzger says Symbotic partnership will ‘fundamentally alter how products get to stores’

(Russell Redman 1 | Jul 14, 2021)

Following a multiyear pilot, Walmart plans to roll out warehouse automation from Symbotic to drive speed and efficiency at regional distribution centers (RDCs).

Plans call for Walmart to implement Symbotic’s robotics technology in 25 of its 42 RDCs, Joe Metzger, executive vice president of supply chain operations at Walmart U.S., said in a blog post on Wednesday. The scalable system encompasses a fleet of fully autonomous robots and proprietary software to improve throughput while boosting warehouse capacity, according to Wilmington, Mass.-based Symbotic, which said its solution will cut the time it takes to unload, sort and stock freight in Walmart stores.

Metzger described Symbotic’s system as “a game-changer” for Walmart. “This move will fundamentally alter how products get to stores,” he noted.

“Right now, product arrives at one of our regional distribution centers and is either cross-docked or warehoused until we need it. The products are moved or stored manually. When it’s time for the product to go to a store, someone is tasked with packing a 53-foot trailer in a human game of Tetris for transit. When the truck arrives at a store, our associates unload it manually and get the items where they need to be,” Metzger explained. “The technology from Symbotic does things differently. This system uses a complex algorithm to store cases like puzzle pieces using high-speed mobile bots, operating with a precision that speeds the intake process and increases the accuracy of freight being stored for future orders. By using dense modular storage, it also expands building capacity. And by using high-speed palletizing robotics to organize and optimize freight, it creates custom store- and aisle-ready pallets, which take the guesswork out of unloading trucks.”

Symbotic first implemented its system at Walmart’s RDC in Brooksville, Fla., in 2017. Since then, Walmart has worked closely with the robotics and automation specialist to test the technology and optimize its use at the facility and other locations.

Metzger noted that the pilot with Symbotic builds on supply chain advances achieved through automation deployments at Walmart’s high-tech consolidation center in Colton, Calif., and its high-tech DC for fresh and frozen groceries in Shafter, Calif.

“This first-of-its-kind tech [from Symbotic], when applied at our scale, is revolutionary because it gets products onto shelves for our customers even faster, while saving time for our associates. The new way of unloading store-friendly palletized trucks will make the process faster and simpler for our associates, allowing them to spend more time with our customers,” said Metzger. “Along with saving time, limiting out-of-stocks and increasing the speed of stocking and unloading, we’ll also have the chance to train associates on how to use the new equipment, creating new skills and preparing them for jobs in the future. And because the technology decreases the need for our associates to handle freight, it removes one of the toughest aspects of supply chain work in material handling.”

Symbotic said it will now begin outfitting the 25 additional Walmart RDCs with its solution. The technology provider noted that its system will digitize Walmart’s supply facilities and help the retailer meet changing customer demand, including the creation of a frictionless experience that lets people shop when, where and how they want.

“There is no greater validation of our efforts to use technology to reimagine the warehouse and supply chain than our work with Walmart,” Symbotic CEO Rick Cohen said in a statement. “We set out more than 15 years ago to dramatically improve America’s legacy warehouses and supply chain to provide better and faster service to American consumers with new career opportunities for workers. Working with customers like Walmart has enabled us to develop this total solution and, with this trust, we are now positioned to develop Symbotic-powered warehouses around the country for years to come.”