Walmart (NYSE: WMT) terminated a five-year relationship with Bossa Nova Robotics late last year. Walmart stated human resources were just as capable and efficient as their robotic counterparts when it came to optimizing the stocking of shelves in its stores less than a year into the collaboration.
Walmart stated in that announcement that it would continue to experiment with robots in its stores in order to meet the e-commerce demand it had seen during the pandemic.
Walmart announced Tuesday that it aims to put robotic automation systems in 25 of its distribution centers, however it has not revealed whether it has found a robotics solution to make in-store stocking more efficient.
Walmart announced that it will digitize its warehouses with Symbotic, a new robotics and automation partner, in order to boost throughput and respond to customers’ on-demand requirements.
“Our collaboration with Walmart has provided no better confirmation of our efforts to leverage technology to rethink the warehouse and supply chain,” Symbotic CEO Rick Cohen said of the trials, which began in 2017.
“More than 15 years ago, we set out to radically enhance America’s legacy warehouses and supply chain in order to provide better and faster service to American consumers while also providing new job possibilities for workers. Working with customers like Walmart has allowed us to develop this comprehensive solution, and we are now in a position to build Symbotic-powered warehouses across the country for many years to come “Cohen said.
Pallets are dismantled into small groups of cases and distributed throughout the facility. Fully autonomous Symbots then pick up these cases and transport them to the appropriate storage structure based on size and density.
When the robotic company’s system receives notification of orders, it determines the optimum task and routing guidance for the Symbots to fetch those orders. They’re then moved to an outbound cell, where they’ll be stacked, wrapped, and labeled properly on a pallet before being sent to local Walmart stores.
According to reports, the robots process 1,700 inbound and 1,350 outbound cases per hour.
While the deployment of Symotic’s automation at the 25 distribution facilities will take many years, Joe Metzger, executive vice president of supply chain operations at Walmart U.S., underlined the significance of investing in this technology to remain competitive in the retail business.
“Today’s digital change, combined with changing customer behaviors, is transforming the retail industry,” he explained. “To serve customers now and in the future, our company must equip our employees with the necessary equipment and training so that they can deliver the things our customers want, when they want them, and with unparalleled convenience. We’re investing at an unprecedented scale in our supply chain in order to optimize the process from beginning to end.”
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It has not been modified and does not represent Benzinga’s perspective./n
