CORNWALL, Ontario – Walmart Canada has announced that as a part of a company wide $3.5 billion dollar investment in improving customer experiences, $1.1 billion will be going into supporting their distribution centres.
The announcement was made on Monday, July 20 and is a part of a five year development plan.
“The investment will impact every aspect of the business leading to a faster e-commerce experience, two new distribution centres to speed up the flow of products, re-invented and “smarter” stores, an enhanced omni experience and modern digital tools to ensure associates can best serve customers,” reads a statement from the company.
In addition to building two new distribution centres in Vaughn, ON, and Surrey, BC, Walmart Canada will also be upgrading their existing distribution centre in Cornwall.
Walmart Canada plans on introducing a new automation system to their Cornwall distribution Centre in 2021 which will handle apparel, health and beauty, and other small general merchandise items.
Overall, Walmart Canada states that it plans to introduce more technology into all of its distribution centres, including artificial intelligence to better predict volume and demand for products, sensors in delivery trucks to track product quality and freshness, and using machine learning to promote better safety training.
“The retail business is as dynamic as ever and this investment ensures we’re developing a supply chain that is the envy of the world. The better the supply chain, the quicker our customers can get the products they want. This investment will transform our supply chain and create hundreds of Canadian construction jobs along the way,” said John Bayliss, Senior Vice President, Logistics and Supply Chain, Walmart Canada.
There was no word from the company on how these changes would impact levels of staffing at the Cornwall distribution centre, but Walmart Canada did state that they expected this investment would create jobs in construction and other contract positions.
