Walmart's Latest Automation Play Turns Warehouses Into Games of Tetris

Retail giant Walmart is extending a partnership with Symbotic, a tech company that builds robotics-based automation systems, to implement that technology in 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers. The goal is to "fundamentally alter how products get to stores." Top line According to a blog post, Symbotic’s algorithm helps sort, store, retrieve and pack freight onto pallets, which Walmart can use to “revolutionize intake, increase accuracy and change how freight is handled at our regional distribution centers,” wrote Joe Metzger, evp of supply chain operations at Walmart U.S., in a blog post. He described the way the system works as “like puzzle pieces using high-speed mobile bots,” which Walmart hopes will speed up the intake process and boost the accuracy of freight stored for future orders. “By using dense modular storage, it also expands building capacity,” Metzger added. “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.” Between the lines Until now, Walmart has moved and stored products in its distribution centers 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,” Metzger wrote. “When the truck arrives at a store, our associates unload it manually and get the items where they need to be.” The retailer first began testing Symbotic in 2017 at a Florida distribution center. Now, Metzger said the “store-friendly palletized trucks” will help get products to shelves faster, limit out-of-stocks and save employees time. Bottom line This isn’t Walmart’s first foray into warehouse automation. In January, Walmart announced its intent to update more stores to serve as automated fulfillment centers. It’s still unclear how many of the retailer’s 4,800 U.S. locations will undergo this transformation to help meet increased demand for curbside and delivery services, but Tom Ward, svp of last mile, in-home, autonomous vehicles and drones at Walmart U.S., said the retailer is “planning dozens of locations,” starting in Lewisville and Plano, Texas, as well as American Fork, Utah and Bentonville, Ark. The first store-turned-fulfillment center is a New Hampshire location that debuted a robotic order-picking system called Alphabot in 2019. In November 2020, Walmart ended a five-year relationship with Bossa Nova Robotics through which it tested shelf-scanning robots in about 10% of its U.S. stores. Walmart Teams up With Ibotta for Retailer-Specific Rebates