Walmart Inc. opened the first of four fulfillment centers Wednesday that it says will use a patent-pending process to speed packing and shipping times for online orders.
Besides the new 1 million-square-foot facility in Joliet, Ill., the company said in June that it will build three more of these "next-generation" facilities over the next three years. When they're all completed, they could provide next-day or two-day shipping to 75% of the U.S. population, the company said.
Working with tech firm Knapp, Walmart developed an automated, high-density storage system that streamlines what was a 12-step process into five.
Walmart tested the system at a fulfillment center in Pennsylvania and found the benefits included doubling both the center's storage capacity and the number of orders it can fulfill in a day.
The fulfillment centers will move not only the millions of items on Walmart.com but also the Marketplace items shipped through Walmart Fulfillment Services.