Medline, guests celebrate more AutoStore at Tracy, Calif., distribution center
By Medline Newsroom Staff | September 11, 2025
Medline, guests celebrate more AutoStore at Tracy, Calif., distribution center
Second installations now active at three Medline DCs to address customer demand and help employees fill orders more efficiently
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Jim Eveland, vice president of regional operations for Medline, welcomes attendees in Tracy, Calif.
Customers across Northern California and the surrounding states will benefit from Medline’s expanded use of AutoStore storage and retrieval technology at its distribution center (DC) in Tracy, Calif. And last Friday, some of them got to see it up close.
About 125 people – more than 50 community members and customers, plus leaders from Medline and Swisslog, the integration partner for AutoStore – gathered at the Tracy DC for the formal introduction of the facility’s second AutoStore installation, which went into use earlier this year. Combined, the two Tracy installations consist of 174 robots that assist human order pickers by retrieving and transporting bins of stored products, then putting those bins back while retrieving others. The result is simplified and speedier order fulfillment in which pick times can improve by two to four times – an important efficiency booster as Medline provides next-day delivery to 95% of its U.S. customers.
Three Medline DCs now have second planned AutoStore installations – the Tracy and Rialto facilities in California, plus the DC in Lacey, Wash. Companywide, there are now 20 active AutoStore installations across 17 sites, Jim Eveland, vice president of regional operations, told attendees.
Among the customers joining the celebration – and later touring the facility to see AutoStore in action – was Amanda Chawla, chief supply chain and post-acute care officer for Stanford Medicine, located about 60 miles from the Tracy DC. She stressed the high stakes of logistics in healthcare.
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Amanda Chawla (right) with Sherry Yeom, vice president, regional field sales, acute care, Medline
“The smallest missing piece of a medical supply can ripple into a significant missed moment of care,” Chawla said. “That’s why days like today matter. Investment in automation and good process turns uncertainty into reliability. While a supply chain cannot create the cure, it can and does remove friction so cures and miracles can happen. The distance from a loading dock to a bedside is short in feet but immense in consequence. The right item in the right place at the right time — every time — is what caregivers and patients deserve.
“The expansion here in Tracy, especially the investments in automation, means fewer touches, fewer errors, faster turns and more certainty.”
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Dan Arriola (left), mayor of Tracy, Calif., and Derek Lang of Swisslog
Derek Lang, Swisslog’s vice president of customer service, echoed that sentiment. Medline was the first company to implement AutoStore at its Libertyville, Ill., DC in 2013 and is its largest global user today.
“With this solution, Medline has been able to consistently meet and exceed the customer’s expectation for speed and accuracy while also creating an outstanding working environment for employees through ergonomic pick stations and software,” Lang said.
Dan Arriola, mayor of Tracy, extolled the overall benefits of having a Medline facility in the community. The Tracy DC is one of three within a 20-minute drive of each other (along with sites in Manteca and Lathrop, Calif.). Each employs more than 1,100 people.
“Medline’s presence here makes a real difference for our economy, for our residents, for our families and for the future of our entire community,” Arriola said. “This is the most prominent Medline distribution center in the region, and we could not be more proud to have them here.”
Learn more about Medline’s use of AutoStore and what it means for customers.
Medline Newsroom Staff
Medline Newsroom Staff
Medline's newsroom staff researches and reports on the latest news and trends in healthcare.