Walmart announces the July opening of its 340,000-square-foot, high-tech consolidation center located at 1600 Aqua Mansa Road in Colton. According to the retail giant, the center will add efficiency to its supply chain. The consolidation center will be the first in Walmart’s supply chain to receive, sort and ship freight. Walmart claims the center’s automated technology will enable three times more volume to flow throughout the center and will also help Walmart deliver the right product to the right store, so customers can find the products they need. The consolidation center will also facilitate the chain’s ability to “deliver the right product to the right store, so customers can find the products they need,” Walmart promised. When the center opens in July, initially it will employ about 150 full-time associates with plans to expand to 600 associates by 2021. Explaining the specialized role consolidation centers like the one in Colton will have in moving products to customers, Walmart explained that when such centers receive less than a full truckload of general merchandise items like toys, kitchen appliances, etc. from suppliers, they will consolidate these quantities into full truckloads before shipping it to regional distribution centers. This will allow Walmart’s 42 regional centers to focus on the next step—distributing products to stores.” In other words, the consolidation center will take multiple orders and consolidate them to make the process more efficient for distribution centers across the country. “With this new technology, we can be surgical and responsive in getting merchandise into stores,” said Geno Bell, Senior Director of the chain’s Consolidation Center Network. According to Vice President Kimberly Ericksen Camilleri, “Walmart’s investment in the facility at Colton, California, represents the company’s commitment to using technology and innovation to provide great jobs, strengthen its supply chain, and better serve our customers.”
Walmart’s 340,000 sq ft, high-tech consolidation centre is set to open in Colton, California this July. It will initially be staffed by 150 full-time employees but aims to grow to 600 by 2021. The new Walmart store has been designed with the help of a team from Google and its design studio called OMA.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/@@ Walmart states it will improve efficiency by utilising automated technology to allow three times more volume to travel through, bringing multiple orders together and better ensuring products end up where they are needed. The company said the facility is part of its ongoing investment in technology.