Correction: This article has been updated with corrected information. The fire at the Plainfield center was in March of 2022, not September as originally reported.
Walmart celebrated the opening of its largest fulfillment center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony June 15 at the new facility in McCordsville.
The fulfillment center — a warehouse where goods are packed and dispatched to fulfill online orders — is a 2.2 million square foot warehouse at 5259 W. 500 N. It is the size of 40 football fields.
The center is filled with the latest technology to get customers’ orders delivered to them within two days, according to the fulfillment center’s general manager, Geoffrey Appleby.
“With this building, in combination with our traditional fulfillment centers, we’ll be able to reach 95 percent of the U.S. population within the next day or two-day shipping move,” Appleby said. “So (we are) really excited, not only for the associates and their experience in here, making it better for them, but also from a customer experience that wants their deliveries in a next day or a two-day time period.”
The building is stacked with technology, with more than two miles of conveyor belts inside the facility to make order processing more efficient.
“Using technology, automation and robotics, we’ve taken this manual 12-step process for associates and really transformed it into a five-step process,” Appleby said. “That breeds a more positive, more comfortable environment for our associates. And that’s really what’s got me most excited about these folks that you’re seeing behind you — their experience each and every day and providing for our customers.”
Van Thawnz, a newly promoted lead at the fulfillment center, has worked at the center for the past two months, but has been working for Walmart for six years.
He said prior to working at the McCordsville center, he was working at the former Walmart Distribution Center at 9590 Allpoints Parkway in Plainfield. The center burned down in March of 2022.
After the fire, associates were placed at a different location and over time have been pulled to work in the McCordsville fulfillment center.
Thawnz said he loves working at the new facility. He said the technology in the center has lessened the amount of physical labor he needs to put in, and the facility installed new floormats to make work comfortable for the associates.
“It’s amazing,” Thawnz said. “So I think whoever works here, they will love it.”
During the event, Riley Children’s Hospital and the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation were granted $5,000 each. Appleby said Walmart gave the grants so it could give back to the community that helped them thrive.
“We want to make sure that everybody knows that we at Walmart, Sam’s Club and (other) distribution centers (are) here to make sure that people can save money and live better,” Appleby said.
Walmart plans to open two more next-generation fulfillment centers in Indiana over the next three years.
