For more than 10 years, Lucas Systems has helped leading wine and spirits distributors maintain top-shelf distribution with a high-efficiency voice-directed bottle picking solution using Lucas Move featuring Jennifer. Lucas BottlePick is a comprehensive, configurable solution supporting bucket-brigade style bottle picking for fast-moving items, configurable two-stage cart picking for slower movers, an in-line QC/Audit module, and providing advanced labor and management reporting using the Engage Management Dashboard. The solution includes a standard interface to external automation and IT systems (WCS, WMS and LMS). This pre-configured solution reduces implementation time and costs without sacrificing flexibility or eliminating key tools needed to efficiently manage the wine and spirits DC.
Voice-Directed Bottle- and Case-Picking
Lucas BottlePick creates an ultra-efficient hands- and eyes-free bottle picking process:
- Dramatically Improve Picking Productivity. The Lucas bucket-brigade style pick and pass process creates a self-balancing pick module for teams of 3-30 workers, supporting hourly pick rates as high as 700-800 bottles per hour per person. Lucas Move voice-directed cart picking and merge-to-case processes transform slow-item picking, doubling or tripling pick rates. Overall bottle picking productivity typically increase more than 70 percent.
- Reduce Errors. Hands- and eyes-free picking, configurable UPC checking, and in-line QC/Audit reduce errors by 50 percent or more.
- Flexible Printing Options. On-demand carton label printing improves delivery and check-in at customer sites.
Lucas BottlePick includes three related workflows – bucket brigade pick to carton, pick to cart, and carton merge (cart to carton). The two-stage process for picking slow-moving items drives dramatic efficiency gains. Beyond the hands-on advantages of voice, the solution also provides sophisticated reporting and management tools that complement and extend WMS or labor management systems (LMS). These additional management tools help DC supervisory staff to better manage workflow, view and react to exceptions in real time, and track and manage productivity and performance.
Many bottle-pick DCs also use Lucas voice-directed case picking applications, both for picking fast-moving products to conveyor belts, or to pallets using motorized equipment. The same case-picking applications are used for wine and spirits, beer and other beverage products, including soda and other soft drinks.
QC/Audit
the Lucas QC/Audit Module helps managers prioritize audits to make better use of QC time and improves the efficiency of the hands-on QC process. Compared to random or ad hoc audits, with Lucas QC you can spend less time on QC, but catch more errors before they ship.
- Configurable audit parameters (by picker, customer, product) allow supervisors to better target and manage scarce QC resources.
- In-line PC-based or Mobile QC Application for tablet, RF terminal or other mobile device streamlines the QC step and eliminates post-process key entry and manual adjustments.
- Identify and correct errors before shipments leave the DC. Track errors to the source.
