The new Games Workshop warehouse here in the states looks to be coming online soon complete with automated robots for order fulfillment!
You may remember recently GW cut off restocks to stores for a few weeks. We weren’t exactly sure the reason at the time, but according to an industry insider, it looks like it was in an effort to get the new Memphis Distribution Warehouse expansion fully operational (yes, just like the Death Star), in time for the holidays.
The distribution center sat as a 100,000 Sq ft building, but since 2019 it has been expanded by another 50,000 ft.
Coming from Tom Chipley, the North American logistics manager for GW:
The company has operated at the Memphis site for 15 years and it’s time to expand and update the facility
Renovations aren’t all they’re doing. To keep up with the increasing demand for the hobby, they’ll be updating the way they move products.
Among the improvements will be the addition of a new picking system for the warehousing operation
Let’s hope this also clears up the recent allocation issues we’ve been seeing in North America. As the last couple of releases have been, shall we say, not very favorable.
At the time of writing this, it will reportedly be 2 more weeks until things really ramp back up.
IRL Robots & Some Good News From Games Workshop
The Memphis warehouse is the hub for all of North America and with this region making up a giant portion of GW’s sales, it is super important to their overall revenue.
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As we reported back in 2019, they had plans to expand the factory by another 50,000 square feet and even ordered up an automated picking system from China!
Image From Hikrobotics
Omnissiah be praised, according to an Industry Insider back in 2019, these IRL robots are part of GW’s new automation system and warehouse expansion.
Workshop has been growing. Now they’re making things more automated with IRL robots. It’s called something like a Hikrobot– a smart machine that can pull orders from shelves and recharge itself (like a Roomba).
With the new expansion and automated systems coming online while pumping the breaks on store restock orders, we hope this really boosts everything before the holidays.
Plus, it looks like we’ll be seeing the new Kill Team box and the Black Templars Army Starter Set quite soon. The last thing anyone wants is another highly limited allocation for an early release box.
Do you think this will help with allocations moving forward?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
