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Walmart in $6B Symbiotic deal to automate warehouses

Technology intended to speed up e-commerce fulfillment

Eric Kulisch
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Walmart will automate more than two dozen distribution centers with Symbiotic systems. (Photo: Symbiotic)

Walmart has agreed to expand its commercial agreement with Symbiotic Inc. to automate an additional 25 U.S. regional distribution centers.

Symbiotic (NASDAQ: SYM) is an AI-powered warehouse automation and robotics company headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts. 

Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT) will initially invest about $6 billion over several years to install high-tech equipment for moving cases at multiple locations, the companies said in a news release last week. Walmart has used Symbiotic products for a decade.

Why It Matters: Through the expansion, Walmart plans to bring additional automation capabilities to its regional distribution center network, supporting e-commerce upstream inventory management, increasing storage capacity and improving how products move through the supply chain. The capabilities will help Walmart offer customers a broader assortment, improve speed and provide more reliable replenishment across its network. 

“At Walmart, we’re focused on bringing more items to more customers and members, faster than ever. Our investments in the physical and digital supply chain help us serve them however they choose to shop, whether in stores, at the curbside or at home,” said Rob Montgomery, executive vice president for Walmart U.S. Supply Chain Operations. “Our work with Symbotic over the years, including this expanded agreement, helps us improve service, grow capacity, simplify work for our associates and lower costs.”

Symbiotic produces several technologies, including high-density automated storage and retrieval systems, smart pallet-building systems and partial case fulfillment picking.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Parcel and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was runner up for News Journalist and Supply Chain Journalist of the Year in the Seahorse Freight Association's 2024 journalism award competition. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist. He won the group's Environmental Journalist of the Year award in 2014 and was the 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at ekulisch@freightwaves.com