Walgreens Ups Use of Robotics With New Micro-Fulfillment Center

Walgreens says it is boosting its investment in robotics with its new Minnesota-based micro-fulfillment center.

The center, announced Tuesday (May 20), is based in the town of Brooklyn Park and will support nearly 200 Walgreens locations throughout the Midwest, including 145 in Minnesota alone, processing a projected 13 million prescriptions each year.

“Our pharmacists working in locations supported by our micro-fulfillment sites are spending less time filling prescriptions and more time on patient care, like providing medication adherence support or administering vaccines — all of which help strengthen the health of our communities and provide a better overall patient experience,” Kayla Heffington, vice president, pharmacy operating model, Walgreens said in a news release.

As the release noted, micro-fulfillment centers are a network of facilities using robotic technology in a central pharmacy environment to more efficiently dispense and ship prescriptions to Walgreens’ locations nationwide around the country.

The company has a network of 12 such centers, supporting more than 5,000 stores nationwide and fulfilling more than 3.5 million prescriptions per week.

Walgreens said the centers have yielded a 24% year-over-year increase in shipped volumes, with approximately 16 million prescriptions filled each month, “enhancing the in-store experience for both team members and customers.”

The company had outlined its micro-fulfillment center plans in a recent interview with CNBC, noting that the centers had been supporting 4,300 locations in October 2023 and 4,800 in February of this year.

During that month, the centers handled 40% of the prescription volume on average at supported pharmacies, which translates to around 16 million prescriptions filled each month at the different sites, the company said.

“Right now, they’re the backbone to really help us offset some of the workload in our stores, to obviously allow more time for our pharmacists and technicians to spend time with patients,” Rick Gates, Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer, told CNBC.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote recently about the robotics efforts happening with Walmart and rival Amazon, in the wake of the latter company’s debut of Vulcan, a fulfillment center robot and Amazon’s first robot equipped with a sense of touch.

“And while Amazon is launching robots that can feel, Walmart is turning to machines that can build,” that report said, as the retail giant joined forces with Alquist 3D to construct a 5,000-square-foot warehouse extension in Alabama, with robotic 3D printing technology.

“Completed in just seven days with a five-person crew, the project underscores the commitment of large retailers to leveraging automation to address labor shortages and accelerate construction timelines,” PYMNTS wrote.