Walmart's strategy of building technologies capable of growing and adapting across the company is evidenced by its use of automation and AI.
"Today, produce is sorted by predictive AI in Costa Rica before sunrise. Inventory is rerouted in Mexico before stores open. Orders are pre-assembled in Canada. From Chile to South Africa, India to Illinois, Walmart’s supply chain is increasingly unified — not just by mission, but by AI and machine learning (ML)," the company said in a recent release.
The company notes that processes that used to take three months to complete can now be accomplished in weeks. The technological advancements include using agentic AI for dynamic decision-making, as well as optimization and proactive issue resolution.
“At this scale, the only way to move faster is to move smarter,” says Vinod Bidarkoppa, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Walmart International, said in a statement. “From self-healing inventory to agentic AI, we’re creating systems that turn real-time signals into real-time action, freeing up associates and delivering for customers.”
Tools driving the change
- Trend-to-Product: Watches what’s trending — from social buzz to search data — to spot what customers might want next. Then, generative AI helps teams quickly design and develop those products, so popular ideas make it to shelves in as little as six weeks.
- Proactive and Predictive Warehouse and Transportation Management Systems: Act as the air traffic control of our supply chain, coordinating fulfillment and optimizing fresh delivery routes to reduce waste and keep food at peak quality.
- Intelligent Orchestration Layer for Warehouse Control Systems: Monitor and maintain warehouse automation systems with smart cameras and real-time performance tracking to keep everything running smoothly.
- Self-Healing Inventory: Detects imbalances in stock levels, then automatically redirects product to where it’s needed most — before issues show up in stores.
- Enterprise Inventory: Offers a single, unified view of what’s in stock across stores, fulfillment centers, and online — ensuring accuracy from aisle to app.
- Agentic AI Tools: Let associates ask questions like “What items were shorted in these stores?” in the event a store receives less of a product than originally expected and instantly receive insights and recommended next steps, turning hours of analysis into seconds of action.
