Food manufacturers, grocery retailers, and distributors are accelerating investments in automation to make their distribution centers (DCs) smarter, faster, and more efficient. From AI-powered robotics and automated storage and retrieval systems to intelligent inventory management and order fulfillment technologies, these innovations are transforming how food products are received, stored, picked, and shipped.
Faced with rising operating costs, workforce challenges, and growing customer expectations, food shippers are turning to automation to increase throughput, optimize warehouse space, improve inventory visibility, and strengthen supply chain resilience.
Labor efficiency has become a major driver of technology investment. In fact, 28% of respondents in the 2025 Foodservice Distribution Industry Technology Report identified labor savings as a leading consideration in technology decisions, more than double the 12% reported in 2023. Published by the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA), the research is based on surveys of 32 large foodservice distributors.
The research also found increased automation in warehouse receiving and put-away operations, while approximately one-third of distributors reported adopting artificial intelligence. These findings demonstrate how distributors are increasingly leveraging technology to streamline warehouse workflows, improve productivity, and address persistent workforce challenges.
The movement toward automation is expected to accelerate. According to PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, labor shortages, growing e-commerce demand and more complex fulfillment requirements are encouraging CPG companies to invest in robotic palletizing, autonomous mobile robots, and other warehouse automation technologies.
According to PMMI's Packaging and Automation in the Warehouses of the Future Report, more than 25% of warehouses were projected to have some form of automation installed by 2027, compared with 14% in 2017. As these technologies are more widely adopted, food shippers have opportunities to improve order accuracy, optimize warehouse capacity, and create more efficient connections between DCs and transportation networks.
Walmart, a tech-powered omnichannel retailer with nearly 11,000 stores in 19 countries, recently announced an expanded commercial agreement to bring further automation capabilities. These expanded capabilities will impact 25 of its U.S. regional DCs, while supporting additional opportunities across its global supply chain network. The expansion will be accomplished through a commercial agreement with Symbotic Inc., a leader in AI-enabled robotics technology for the supply chain. View details on the agreement.
Through its expanded work with Symbotic, Walmart plans to bring additional automation capabilities to its regional DC network, supporting e-commerce upstream inventory management, increasing storage capacity and improving how products move through the supply chain. These capabilities will help Walmart offer customers a broader assortment, improve speed and provide more reliable replenishment across its network.
Walmart's expanded investment in automation reflects a fundamental shift in how food companies are designing and operating their distribution networks. Increasingly, automation is moving beyond individual warehouse tasks to become an integrated strategy for improving efficiency across the entire supply chain.
By combining intelligent inventory management and advanced fulfillment technologies, food companies can move products faster, reduce handling costs, and respond more effectively to changing customer demands. For food shippers, the benefits extend well beyond the DC—creating opportunities for more predictable freight flows, faster truck turnaround times, and improved coordination between warehousing and transportation.
As these technologies continue to evolve, the competitive advantage will increasingly belong to companies that successfully connect warehouse automation with end-to-end supply chain performance.