October 23, 2026 Weekly Retail Supply Chain News

Fast-fashion retail giant Primark has partnered with supply chain technology platform Kallikor to introduce a simulation-led AI system across its operations, announced October 22. The digital-twin technology lets Primark’s logistics planners build detailed models of distribution center operations—pick paths, labor constraints, throughput variability—and run side-by-side scenario comparisons of cost, service, and capacity trade-offs before committing capital or changing how a site runs. Primark’s supply chain director described the goal as testing major operational changes virtually “before we commit capital spend,” giving the retailer a reusable model it can keep stress-testing as new strategic questions come up ahead of peak retail demand.

Apparel brand Cutter & Buck has opened its second automated distribution center, in Grand Prairie, Texas, built around an AutoStore cube-storage system with 32 robots and 13 ports, integrated by Kardex. The facility holds more than 50,000 storage bins and is designed for a throughput of roughly 1,250 bins per hour—simulation testing in Kardex’s Innovation Lab actually topped that target before go-live. By pairing AutoStore’s dense, goods-to-person storage with conveyor workflows connecting to embroidery, routing, and shipping, the apparel maker aims to handle diverse SKU mixes with higher picking accuracy, lower per-unit fulfillment costs, and faster turnaround for regional retail partners across the Sunbelt. It’s Cutter & Buck’s second AutoStore site, following an original installation in Renton, Washington.

Walmart has opened its fifth next-generation fulfillment center, a 900,000-square-foot facility in Stockton, California, built to add order capacity and speed shipping for West Coast customers. The site uses a high-density automated storage and retrieval system that brings products directly to associates rather than having them walk the floor, cutting Walmart’s traditional 12-step fulfillment process down to five steps. Walmart says the facility can process more daily orders than a traditional fulfillment warehouse, using automation, robotics, and machine learning to move products faster through the building. It joins Walmart’s four earlier next-gen centers—announced in 2022 in Joliet, Illinois; near Indianapolis; Lancaster, Texas; and Greencastle, Pennsylvania—which the company said together could reach 75% of the U.S. population with next- or two-day shipping; Stockton extends that reach further along the West Coast ahead of peak season.