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Dive Brief:
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Staples rolled out a new warehouse management system at nine of its 36 fulfillment centers over the last 18 months, according to a May 7 press release.
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The office supplies retailer aims to streamline warehouse processes, reduce errors, and improve order and inventory management using Manhattan Active Warehouse Management, per the release.
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By the end of 2026, Staples will implement the cloud-native platform from Manhattan Associates at the rest of its distribution centers.
Dive Insight:
Staples is leaning on the new WMS to upgrade its ability to deliver products to consumers and businesses more efficiently while optimizing the operator experience, per Chief Supply Chain Officer Ryan Hanson.
In addition to its 36 fulfillment centers, the company operates 220 delivery locations and 12 million square feet of warehouse space, per the release. Through this network, Staples provides next-day delivery to nearly 98% of the U.S. while shipping 2.5 million units per day.
“As we are currently shipping a significant portion of our network volume on Manhattan Active WM and have customers in mission-critical medical, government and private industry verticals, we place a high premium on system performance and uptime reliability to exceed customer expectations,” Hanson said.
Staples also expects the system to adapt to its changing business needs, he added.
“The biggest advantage of using Manhattan Active is that it is a cloud-based system, and it will continue to receive automatic updates quarterly, for years to come, like a smartphone,” Hanson told Supply Chain Dive. “That makes it more scalable vs. a non-cloud based WM.”
Staples joins several other retailers who have recently introduced new WMS technology to improve supply chain performance.
Grocery retailer Giant Eagle plans to complete the transition to Manhattan Active Warehouse Management across its distribution center fleet by August. Meanwhile, Advance Auto Parts installed a new WMS last year at a Georgia facility as part of a larger supply chain overhaul.
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