Does it want it?
Walmart makes a deal to automate and own the last mile by George Anderson
Walmart’s strategy for owning the last mile has come into clearer focus with news that the retailer has acquired the robotics automation specialist Alert Innovation.
The two companies first began working together in 2016 on ways to customize robotic technology for deployment in Walmart’s market fulfillment centers (MFCs). Walmart began testing Alert Innovation’s Alphabot system in late 2019 at an MFC built into the back of a supercenter in Salem, NH.
The system uses autonomous carts to retrieve and assemble online orders of frozen, refrigerated and shelf-stable products for pickup and delivery. Associates check each order to assure accuracy and bag the products to go out to customers. Fresh foods continue to be picked by Walmart associates.
A distinguishing feature of the system, according to David Guggina, senior vice president of innovation and automation, Walmart U.S., is that the bots move “horizontally, laterally and vertically across three temperature zones without any lifts or conveyors. This provides fewer space constraints inside the MFC and eliminates the need to pause the entire system for bot maintenanc.”
Walmart has continued to put more emphasis on local fulfillment in an effort to deliver orders to customers more quickly and at a lower cost. This is particularly important for the chain that generates most of its revenues in margin-challenged grocery categories.
Scaling the technology, Mr. Guggina writes in a company blog, will help Walmart further build on the strength of its local operations. The chain has 4,700 stores within 10 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population.
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