Associated Wholesale Grocers’ Announces Major Automation Investment at Gulf Coast Division Support Center

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — AWG, the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, announced that its Board of Directors has approved a significant investment in advanced warehouse automation at the company’s Gulf Coast Division Support Center in Pearl River, Louisiana, as part of the company’s North Star Strategic Plan.

This project is a major step in strengthening operational efficiency, improving service reliability, and enhancing long-term supply chain resilience across AWG’s distribution network. Crucially, this investment will substantially increase capacity to support our members’ current and future growth and geographic reach from this high-volume distribution center, all without requiring a major capital building expansion. The new capacity also provides immediate supply chain flexibility and contingency options for AWG’s entire cooperative supply chain network.

The Gulf Coast Division Support Center currently handles over 22 million cases of dry grocery annually using fully manual processes. Increasing operational demands, coupled with challenges like labor retention in manual roles, rising equipment repair and distribution costs, weather-related disruptions, and capacity limitations, all require ongoing future investments. These factors prompted AWG to pursue a more scalable and resilient solution to support continued growth and improve service to the communities our member retailers serve.

To address these challenges, AWG will implement Symbotic’s high-density automation technology across approximately 114,000 square feet of the existing building. Once fully operational, the automated system is expected to handle nearly 19 million cases annually, significantly improving accuracy, reducing product damage, increasing operational consistency, and enabling more efficient inventory management. Furthermore, the cooperative structure ensures the profitability benefits of the automation are delivered directly back to our membership, strengthening both members’ retail results and the cooperative’s overall financial health for the future.

AWG completed its first ground-up automated warehouse in Hernando, Mississippi, which opened in 2022. The Gulf Coast Division automation project represents the company’s first retrofit of an existing facility. AWG continually evaluates its operations to ensure it leverages technology that enhances distribution efficiency and member value.

“The Symbotic automation solution directly addresses supply chain risks by consolidating the majority of our Gulf Coast Division Support Center grocery volume into a highly automated environment. This will reduce labor dependency, damage and repair costs, and create a safer, more resilient operation. Most importantly, it allows us to grow without the expense of building additional space, driving long-term capital savings while protecting service to our members,” said Richard Kearns, AWG’s Executive Vice President, Distribution & Logistics.

“This is an exciting investment that is part of our North Star Strategic Plan. By increasing automation at the Gulf Coast Division Support Center, we add immediate benefits to our members’ retail results through a strengthened supply chain while also enhancing our division support center financial results benefiting all cooperative member owners. This investment expands our capacity to grow, lowers our cost structure for the future, and delivers stable financial returns that go back to our member owners as a result of this investment,” said Dan Funk, AWG’s President and CEO.

Construction and facility preparation are scheduled to begin in early 2027, followed by installation, testing, and system integration. AWG anticipates the automation platform will go live in the fourth quarter of 2027, subject to final engineering and commissioning timelines.

ABOUT ASSOCIATED WHOLESALE GROCERS, INC.
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving 1,100 member companies and 3,500 locations throughout 33 states from 9 wholesale division support centers. Consolidated sales for AWG in 2025 were $12.2 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, and pharmaceutical products.