Walmart expands its fulfillment center networks in Utah and Tennessee

Taking steps to continue to expand its ongoing e-commerce growth, global retail giant Walmart announced this month it has opened up new fulfillment centers in Salt Lake City, Utah and Lebanon, Tennessee.

Walmart officials explained that the company’s fulfillment centers are a key cog in the company's supply chain and logistics operations and are geared towards storing millions of items that are picked, packed, and shipped directly to customers as soon as the next day. What’s more, the company added that these facilities are part of an effort to increase capacity into Walmart’s supply chain, with a focus on future growth. And it noted that in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2022, Walmart’s e-commerce sales were up 8% and have seen an 87% increase over the last two years.

The Salt Lake City-based fulfillment center, which is set to open its doors next summer, is comprised of more than 1,000 square-feet and it is located at 990 N 6550 W. Walmart said that this facility will create roughly 450 full-time, permanent jobs, with the facility focused on fulfilling online orders placed through Walmart.com. In the state of Utah, Walmart operates three distribution centers, 59 retail stores, and more than 20,000 employees.

“Walmart is excited to welcome our first fulfillment center in Salt Lake City to support our growing ecommerce fulfillment network,” said Steve Miller, senior vice president of Supply Chain Operations at Walmart U.S., in a statement. “This new facility is the latest example of Walmart’s commitment to offering customers fast shipping on items they need every day, and we look forward to further delivering on that promise with the development of this new, state-of-the-art facility.”

On December 7, Walmart announced it plans to open up a 925,000 square-foot Lebanon, Tennessee-based automated fulfillment center, with a focus on supporting its growing supply chain network and e-commerce business.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing a new high-tech fulfillment center to the community of Lebanon,” said David Guggina, senior vice president, automation and innovation at Walmart U.S., in a statement. “This facility will include game changing automation technology that’s radically disrupting the supply chain, improving the customer experience and saving time for associates.”

Walmart said that this facility, which will be its first in the state of Tennessee, is expected to open up next fall and will create roughly 300 full-time jobs. And it explained that this facility will mesh associates, AI software, and automated robots collaborating to quickly ship orders to customers. Walmart has three distribution centers, 150 retail stores, and more than 42,500 associates in Tennessee. 

This facility serves as an example of how Walmart is building additional supply chain capacity through the use of automation to stay ahead of demand, as well as improve the customer experience, and also boost productivity

“It will store millions of items from Walmart’s everyday low-priced merchandise to be shipped directly to customers as soon as next-day,” it said. “Once an online order is placed, a fleet of automated robots navigate a compact storage system to retrieve products and bring them to associates for packing. The order is then shipped directly to the customer, with speed.”

A Walmart spokesperson told LM that the company is always looking for opportunities to better serve its customers, and that includes fast shipping.

“These new facilities are part of an initiative to add more capacity into our supply chain as we plan for growth,” the spokesperson said. Adding additional fulfillment centers to our already vast supply chain network helps us to continue our promise of fast, free next day and 2-day shipping.”

The spokesperson also observed that Walmart operates a vast supply chain network to serve its customers how, where and when they want to be served.

“We leveraged our existing supply chain network and are looking forward to adding more capacity into our supply chain as we plan for growth,” the spokesperson said. “ldquo;Adding additional fulfillment centers provides more opportunities for millions of products to be located near our customers, helping us to continue servicing these communities and surrounding regions with free next day and 2-day shipping.”