Macy’s – said to be the largest department store company by retail sales in the United States – has celebrated the opening of its new customer fulfillment and store replenishment center in China Grove, North Carolina.
Outfitted with the latest automation solutions, it is the company’s largest and most technologically advanced facility to date.
Macy’s says it is continuing to enhance its supply chain network, the new omnichannel facility represents a “meaningful milestone” in the third pillar of the company’s Bold New Chapter strategy to simplify and modernize end-to-end operations to benefit its customers.
Positioned in the Southeast, the facility expands Macy’s reach, enabling faster, more efficient service for millions of customers.
By supporting all product categories – from apparel and beauty to home and toys – more orders can be shipped from a single location, helping customers receive everything they need, faster and in fewer boxes.
The China Grove facility will initially support customer fulfillment and store replenishment for the Macy’s nameplate, with plans to expand to additional nameplates over the next two years.
Faster deliveries and fresh finds in-store
Equipped with state-of-the-art automation and an advanced warehouse management system, the 2.5 million square foot facility has the largest storage capacity and is designed to deliver the highest productivity and throughput potential in the company’s network.
The scale and technology of the new facility enables Macy’s to process more orders and replenish stores with greater speed and efficiency, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers.
Tom Edwards, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Macy’s, says: “The opening of our China Grove facility is a significant step in modernizing our supply chain and elevating the customer experience across every channel – with faster deliveries, well-stocked stores and seamless service.
“With this investment, we’re building a faster, more efficient and agile network designed to meet our customers’ needs today and in the future.”
Scalable operation enabling future growth
China Grove is the company’s third site to introduce high performance automation and the first to operate with an advanced warehouse management system.
At the first two sites, automation more than doubled productivity, underscoring the power of these solutions to transform operations.
With the addition of the new management system in China Grove, the company expects to achieve even greater gains in efficiency and accuracy of fulfillment and store replenishment, while establishing a model to scale this technology across the network in the years ahead.
Sean Barbour, senior vice president of supply chain operations, says: “Over the past two years, we’ve tested and learned from automation at other sites, refining how it can make our operations more efficient and our colleagues work safer and smarter.
“Now, we’re building on those lessons with our most advanced deployment yet including the debut of a new warehouse management system that will provide greater accuracy, flexibility, and speed.
“We’re proud to celebrate this milestone while continuing to modernize and strengthen our supply chain across the network.”
