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Walmart to open automated fulfillment center in Tennessee

High-tech facility will mark retail giant’s first in the state

Russell Redman

December 8, 2021

3 Min Read
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The 925,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Lebanon, Tenn., is expected to open in the fall of 2022.Walmart

Pushing forward with the buildout of its distribution network, Walmart next year plans to open a new high-tech fulfillment center in Lebanon, Tenn.

The 925,000-square-foot automated facility will represent Walmart’s first fulfillment center in Tennessee, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant said yesterday. Located at 1015 Hixson Blvd. in Lebanon, the center is slated to open in the fall of 2022 and will support the company’s expanding supply chain network and e-commerce business.

Walmart noted that the high-tech fulfillment center will create up to 300 full-time jobs and include a combination of associates, artificial intelligence software and robots that work together to speed up shipping of orders to customers. The facility will store millions of items from Walmart’s everyday-low-price merchandise to be delivered directly to customers as soon as the next day, according to the company. Once an online order is placed, a fleet of robots navigates a compact storage system to retrieve products and ferry them to associates for packing. The order then is shipped directly to the customer.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing a new high-tech fulfillment center to the community of Lebanon,” David Guggina, senior vice president of automation and innovation at Walmart U.S., said 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.”

Related:Walmart targets Dallas-Fort Worth for new high-tech supply facilities

In Tennessee, Walmart operates three distribution centers and 150 retail stores and employs more than 42,500 associates.

“Walmart’s fulfillment center in Wilson County will play an important role in our broader supply-chain network, focused on fulfilling Walmart.com orders and supporting our promise of free next-day and two-day shipping,” commented Steve Miller, senior vice president of supply chain operations for Walmart U.S. “We’re thrilled to be opening our newest fulfillment center in the great state of Tennessee and look forward to a long relationship with the community of Lebanon.”

The Lebanon high-tech fulfillment center reflects Walmart’s efforts to boost supply chain capacity by using automation to stay ahead of demand, improve the customer experience and raise productivity. In July, the company unveiled plans to automate 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers (RDCs) with robotics and other automation technology.

More recently, Walmart in October said it aims to build a high-tech distribution center for fresh and frozen food in Lyman, S.C., which will be the retailer’s biggest grocery DC to date. Due to open in 2024, the more than 720,000-square-foot facility will move twice as much grocery product — including perishables such as produce, eggs, dairy, flowers and frozen goods — in supplying area stores via a combination of manual labor and automation, robotics and machine learning technology, the retailer noted.

Related:Walmart plans new high-tech perishables distribution center in South Carolina

And about two weeks later, in November, Walmart announced plans to build two high-tech DCs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The project in Lancaster, Texas, includes a 1.5 million-square-foot automated fulfillment center expected to open in 2023 and a 730,000-square-foot automated grocery DC slated to open in 2024. Walmart said the facilities will be among the largest automated fulfillment and distribution centers in its network.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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