Walmart Invests $1.3B in First ‘Next-Gen’ Fulfillment Center in Southeastern US
Tue, September 1, 2026 at 8:56 PM GMT+3 4 min read
Walmart is planning on building its first "next-generation" fulfillment center in the southeastern United States, with the retail giant investing $1.3 billion to set up shop in Carnesville, Ga.
The new 1.5 million-square-foot automated facility is the sixth such site planned by Walmart as the company expands its same-day and next-day shipping capabilities across the U.S.
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Four of the high-tech warehouses are open in Joliet, Ill.; McCordsville, Ind.; Lancaster, Texas; and Greencastle, Pa. A fifth location in Stockton, Calif. is set to open later this year and be fully operational by early 2027.
These facilities feature high-density storage and automated order flow systems that are designed to double both storage capacity and daily order throughput compared to traditional fulfillment centers.
Construction on the Georgia site is expected to begin in late 2026. The location is expected to employ 1,000 workers.
"As customer expectations continue to evolve, investments like our new fulfillment center in Carnesville help us deliver the speed, convenience, and reliability customers count on," said Karisa Sprague, senior vice president, supply chain, Walmart U.S., in a statement. "We're excited to join the Carnesville community and create meaningful career opportunities where associates can grow and build their future with Walmart."
Walmart's delivery services have been a major growth and profitability driver for the company's online operation in recent years. The firm doubled the number of units delivered within 30 minutes in its most recent quarter and has since expanded sub-30-minute delivery to 38 U.S. markets.
While the ultra-fast delivery option is powered by the retailer's stores, the wider fulfillment network's reliance on automation has been a primary contributor to the faster delivery times overall.
More than 50 percent of Walmart's e-commerce fulfillment volume is now processed through an automated facility, with 23 of Walmart's 42 regional distribution centers currently in various stages of being retrofitted with automation projects. Every regional distribution center is expected to be upgraded by 2030.
According to Walmart CEO John Furner, the Bentonville behemoth's supply chain investments are expected to peak in 2026 and 2027.
Walmart has not revealed specifics about the Carnesville facility, which was announced jointly with the retailer's partners on the state project, including the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Franklin County Industrial Building Authority, Georgia EMC and Georgia Quick Start.
Typical next-generation facilities use robotics solutions and storage and retrieval systems from Knapp to streamline a manual, twelve-step fulfillment process into just five automated steps: unloading, receiving, picking, packing and shipping. The Knapp Evo Shuttle system can store nearly 2 million containers in a single facility, resulting in space for 10 times as many SKUs as in a traditional fulfillment center.
According to Knapp, the lead time for an order is now about 30 minutes from order receipt to e-commerce shipping.
At the center of each fulfillment center is the Walmart Control Services platform, which integrates solutions from companies like Knapp, Symbotic, Packsize and Ranpak under a unified control framework.
The platform essentially acts as the orchestration layer for the automated facilities, allowing Walmart to connect different vendors' systems without having to build separate integrations for each one. That vendor-agnostic approach is designed to give Walmart greater flexibility to test, deploy and scale new automation across its fulfillment network.
The announcement followed the company's recent proposal to build another 1.5 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Wallkill, N.Y.
The proposed facility will operate as a regional fulfillment center primarily supporting e-commerce sales and order distribution, according to a filing with the Town of Wallkill in July. The facility is designed to receive, process and distribute goods efficiently throughout the northeast region.
Approximately 1,500 associates are expected to be employed at the fulfillment center.
The site will also include 41,000-square-foot truck maintenance garage, the filing said. Additionally, it will include truck courts and loading areas to accommodate freight movement, designated truck parking areas and a fueling facility.
Most goods will arrive to the N.Y. location via tractor-trailer trucks, where they will be unloaded, sorted and processed within the building. Outbound shipments will similarly be transported primarily by tractor-trailer trucks for regional and long-distance distribution.
In addition to long-haul freight operations, a smaller volume of goods will be distributed locally using smaller box trucks serving a delivery area generally within an approximate 120-mile radius of the site.
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