Walmart is consolidating its shipments in the first mile of the supply chain in a move designed to simplify how “prepaid” suppliers ship inventory to U.S. warehouses. The consolidation will enable the retail giant to move products to shelves faster, cut logistics costs and improve in-stock product availability across its fulfillment network. On Tuesday, Walmart introduced the Prepaid Consolidation Program, which enables prepaid suppliers to consolidate smaller orders of separate shipments into one truck at one of its three automated consolidation centers, before shipping the pallet to one of its 42 individual regional distribution centers. The process is designed to save the costs that would be incurred if the smaller shipments were traveling directly from the origin to the regional warehouses via less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. Vendors often use LTL carriers when their shipments can only take up part of a truck’s space, rather than the entire semi-trailer.…