As reported by Reuters, in a bold move, Walmart announced on Tuesday that it expects approximately 65% of its stores to be automated by 2026. This comes hot on the heels of another announcement that they also intend to lay off more than 2,000 workers at online order fulfillment facilities. The decision to automate could improve unit cost averages by 20%, a welcome sight for executives at the corporation as net sales are also forecasted to rise in the coming year. This article is one of many that has fueled the fear that automation is going to consume jobs originally occupied by humans.
While this fear is founded, the rise of automation doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Check out our blog post discussing the pros and cons of fully automating business processes versus augmenting your existing work force here.
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