In its effort to avoid what happened to Sears, (its former competitor), Walmart is in the process of developing and rolling out a number of innovations, including what experts are calling the most advanced robotic system in use to fill shopping orders.
Walmart’s game plan is to use its grocery-shopping robots to help win the battle against Amazon and Kroger.
At its store in Salem, New Hampshire, about 40 minutes northwest of Boston the company has been testing the machines, which are part of a system called Alphabot, that can fill grocery orders up to 10 times faster than a human.
The Alphabot system operates in a Walmart 20,000-square-foot warehouse that is adjacent to a regular retail store, as compared to large fulfillment centers, which can range between 400,000 to one million square feet.
The Alphabot system comprised of a grid of shelving that contain up to about 20,000 grocery items.
The actual Alphabot’s are small wheeled robots that are about 2 feet wide and 2.5 feet long. They look like small military tanks (but without the guns), which quietly move vertically and horizontally along the shelving system. To fill the order, they retrieve the ordered items from the shelves and deposit them in bins that the Alphabots carry.
Along with the Alphabot system, Walmart has invested in different robots that can stock shelves, sort deliveries, and scrub floors.
Not Only Robots…
In its pursuit of innovation, Walmart is also rolling out its “FAST Unloader” automated conveyor system that takes a fraction of the time it used to require to unload delivery trucks at its stores.
This embracing of innovation is also demonstrated in the improved Walmart App that includes time-saving features. It allows customers to build shopping lists, access store layouts, and return items.
In its effort to speed innovation, Walmart has also partnered with Microsoft on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) projects.
In the area of deliveries, it has teamed up with Uber and Lyft and is developing the use of drones.
Also, to attract shoppers to its stores, Walmart has installed over 1,000 Electric Vehicle fast chargers at locations in 36 states that provide 20 miles of driving per minute of charging. It plans to greatly expand this innovative effort.
Where Do Innovations Like These Come From?
Where do innovations like these come from? From the people at Walmart.
While it has made a very good start on being innovative, any business, including Walmart, needs to be producing an ongoing stream of innovations.
Therein lies the challenge.
Because innovation is a very fragile thing, developing and maintaining a culture and sprit of innovation within your personnel means that guidance and encouragement needs to be regularly provided to them.
Like a roaring fire that is blazing at one time, then a short while later is a mere shadow of what it was, so innovation within an enterprise can peter out quite quickly. A company must regularly add fuel to their innovation “fire” and restoke it. Innovation is certainly not a one-and-done process.
Unless an organization continually encourages, guides, and provides coaching to its personnel, its innovation efforts will certainly atrophy. Both resources and focus must be consistently applied to maintain a robust innovation initiative.
Provide Guidance and Encouragement to Maximize Innovation
We see how quickly innovation can wane within an organization by looking at companies like RIM, the creator of the BlackBerry device, which previously ruled the roost in smart phones. Epson is another example with its dot-matrix printers that were at one time on the cutting edge, but now show up at garage sales.
Conversely, companies like 3-M, IBM, and Apple regularly reinvent themselves through innovation. The encouraging truth is that a company can re-energize its innovation efforts from the embers of creativity that are still warm.
To keep an organization’s innovation program blazing hot, the areas that have been discussed in my prior Newsletters must be regularly addressed. This means a company needs to continually 
encourage and guide its innovation efforts through proper leadership, creating a culture that supports innovation, and developing the appropriate strategy for it.
Encouragement can take the form of meetings where innovations are unveiled, bestowing honors for innovations, and award ceremonies. Support for innovation can be done in a group setting or one-on-one. It can also include the use of newsletters, videos, and announcements.
Guidance, direction, and feedback is best provided by the innovator’s direct supervisor or the person in charge of innovation within the organization. This guidance should direct the innovator’s focus into certain areas or provide insights they may be in need of.
This continuing effort needs to include determining from what sources—customers, employees, suppliers, and the public—it will solicit ideas and innovations. It must also effectively engage its employees; ensure they have an entrepreneurial mindset as well as an innovation skill set to make sure that the ideas and innovations they conceive of, make it to the market.
Where to Start
The first step is to come to the full realization that innovation is not a one-and-done process. Successful innovation requires ongoing guidance and encouragement of your personnel. Therefore, a company needs to commit to a long-term innovation strategy and develop a budget for the continuing training and allocation of the resources this will require.
The second step involves a steadfast commitment to innovation by an organization is required, including educating employees on how to think like an entrepreneur, providing them with the proper innovation tools, and then training them on those tools. This will in turn provide an ongoing river of innovations.
If you could use assistance with successfully encouraging and reinforcing innovation within your personnel, please contact us using the information below so we can be a resource to you in this critical area.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17, years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive, and systematic FastTrak Innovation Program™, Innovation Academy™, and Structure of Success™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century enterprise.
Office: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
