Jun. 23—Walmart's recommitment to the Cullman area as a vital link in its regional supply chain got a vote of confidence from local leaders this week, as the Cullman County Commission signed off on the necessary tax abatement to assure the company can carry out its upcoming distribution center overhaul.

At its regular meeting Thursday, the commission ratified the City of Cullman's $20,065,500 tax abatement for the retail giant's modern retrofitting project at its Distribution Center #6006, located on the south end of Cullman along Alabama Highway 69. The company revealed plans earlier this month to bring the aging facility up to date with its more recent, automation-dependent distribution processes, announcing on June 5 a mammoth $350 million investment in the center that assures it will remain in Cullman County.

Stanley Kennedy, project manager for the Cullman Economic Development Agency, told the commission that the company had faced a big decision over whether to reinvest in its decades-old center in Cullman, or simply to close the facility and move elsewhere. "We're glad they chose this direction," he said.

The $350 million update, which will overhaul the center's internal infrastructure to bring it in line with Walmart's current design paradigm for getting products out to customers, marks "the largest [investment] in Cullman's history, by a hundred million dollar margin," Kennedy added. "Our distribution center is the oldest distribution center in their network, and it needed either to be retrofitted or shut down."

In addition to helping retain jobs at one of the county's largest employers, the update will continue to collect education-related ad valorem taxes, which are never waived in municipal abatement agreements. Kennedy said the move will create "almost $20 million" in tax revenues for local schools during the 10-year abatement period.

Walmart built its Cullman distribution center in 1983, though technology has since brought new efficiency measures that far outpace the sorting, storage, and shipping processes that were current at the time. Staff at the center currently must manually sort and store merchandise at the center, as well as load and unload each semi-trailer by hand — with or without the assistance of a forklift, depending on the cargo.

Walmart's new system will instead deploy a combination of staff, robotics, and modern storage systems to increase the speed and accuracy of its operations, while freeing up the center's overall capacity. The company estimates the upgrade will afford the center the ability to process merchandise at a rate of roughly twice the volume of its older facilities.

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 234.