AmeriShade Inc, working with the General Contracting firm of Korte Company, will design and build shade structures for the shipping truck docks, front office courtyard, the bus drop off area,and visitor entrance as well as receiving office and front office sun screens.

"This will be an entirely new prototype," chairman and chief executive officer David Bernauer asserted earlier this year. "We're really going out on the leading edge here. The technology that's in that [center] is not cheap--it's going to be a $180 million investment for this DC, before inventory--but it's going to be at least 20 percent more efficient than the ones we have out there today."

The Distribution Center is designed to facilitate the employment of people of disabilities, using technology to enable the disabled workers to bridge the productivity gap and maintain Walgreens' competitive edge in business operations. Walgreens does not expect the new facility to cost more because of the technology. "If we can't do it, who can?"