Walmart last week opened its fifth “next-generation fulfillment center,” a 900,000-square-foot facility in Stockton, California, that it said will expand the retailer’s ability to provide faster shipping and delivery to customers across California and the West Coast.
First announced by Walmart in 2023, the new facility now brings its employees together with advanced automation, technology, and machine learning to move products faster and more efficiently. That technology enables Walmart to materially improve storage capacity and increase the number of customer orders the facility can fulfill each day compared with a traditional fulfillment center.
More specifically, the facility features an automated, high-density storage and retrieval system that brings products directly to associates, reducing the traditional 12-step fulfillment process to just five steps. The technology reduces repetitive, manual tasks while allowing associates to focus on higher-value work and helping Walmart move orders through the building more efficiently.
Combined with the rest of Walmart’s fulfillment network, these next-generation fulfillment centers will enable the retailer to reach 95% of the U.S. population with next- or two-day shipping. Walmart Fulfillment Services, Walmart’s end-to-end third-party fulfillment service, will also leverage the space to fulfill third-party Marketplace items.
The opening of the California site follows earlier “next-generation fulfillment centers” such as a 1.5 million square-foot facility in Pennsylvania that opened in 2024 and a 2.2 million-square-foot facility in Indianapolis that opened in 2023. And more are on the way, such as a 1.5-million-square foot building planned for rural Georgia, according to plans unveiled earlier this year.
