Founded in 1974, Veritable Vegetable is a women-owned and led organic produce distribution company based in San Francisco, California. Known for sourcing and delivering the freshest, highest-quality produce with unmatched service, the company is driven by purpose and a commitment to sustainability. Powered by a near zero-emission green fleet, Veritable Vegetable leads the way in building an equitable and sustainable food system through innovative problem-solving, technology and best practices.
Veritable Vegetable has between 700 and 800 SKUs and ships over 50,000 orders a year from their two warehouses. “The most important things to our customers are accuracy, customer service, quality and timeliness of delivery,” said Karen Sallinger, an Owner, and the Director of Sales for Veritable Vegetable.
Driving efficiency and sustainability
As part of their continuous improvement initiatives while driving further sustainability, Veritable Vegetable began exploring automation solutions and after thorough evaluation, decided that a voice-directed optimization solution was their best option.
Veritable Vegetable officially engaged Lucas Systems in early 2022 to implement a new voice-directed picking optimization system in their warehouses, which, in addition to enhancing accuracy and productivity, would eliminate the use of paper pick slips. The solution development process involved detailed customization and flexibility for Veritable Vegetable’s unique split case program, a complex two-part picking process, where customers can order partial cases of products, and orders are first picked in part and then combined with the bulk of the order.
“Lucas stood out as the clear choice. They asked the right questions, listened attentively, and demonstrated a strong understanding of our industry. Their solution offered the flexibility we needed to align with our unique workflows, making the decision both straightforward and confident.”
Split cases? No problem
As explained by Training Manager Ann Sawner, order pullers are responsible for assembling custom orders tailored to individual customer requests. The system allows order pullers to work on multiple customer orders simultaneously by assigning each box to a specific customer. As the puller progresses through the warehouse, the system—guided by Jennifer, the brains, optimization engine and voice of the Veritable Vegetable solution—directs them to the correct slot. Upon arrival, the puller confirms their location, retrieves the specified quantity, and places the items into the designated box. This placement is verified by scanning the barcode label on the box, ensuring accuracy.
Once the order is complete, the barcode label serves as a record linking all items within the box to the respective customer. A custom shipping label is then generated for the box. These boxes are subsequently transferred to the primary warehouse, where they are consolidated with the main order before final shipment.
Empowering workers and managers
With Veritable Vegetable’s previous paper-based system, new hires had to learn a lot of nuances about how to properly document and handle split case orders. But with Lucas, the training process was streamlined, as order pullers just need to learn a few simple voice commands like “slot empty” to indicate missing items. This allowed Veritable Vegetable to get new hires from the training room to the warehouse floor more quickly when working on split case orders. The Lucas Management Console provides targeted training capabilities, allowing the training manager to assign specific orders and tasks to new hires based on their skill level.
The Lucas Management Console also provides a comprehensive set of views and reports that can be used to closely monitor real-time operational and user status. Management can view current data on work in process and associate productivity. Data captured by Lucas allows managers to use standard reporting tools to create additional reports for special situations or as reporting needs change.
Manny Cardozo, Day Warehouse Lead explained that previously, assigning and building orders with paper-based processes was cumbersome and prone to inefficiencies, often resulting in oversized pallets that wouldn’t fit in trucks. With Lucas, the process is streamlined. “Each order corresponds to a single pallet, and Jennifer provides clear, step-by-step instructions via headset,” he said. “Order builders are guided to the exact slots, verify quantities by repeating numbers, and assemble pallets according to precise specifications, including height and type.”
As summarized by CEO Mary Jane Evans, working with Lucas has provided a myriad of benefits. “How we blend our sustainability and how we make that accrue to customer satisfaction is always a balance that we’re looking for,” she explained. “Add to that the efficiencies and effectiveness that Lucas enables, and it’s the ultimate winning combination.”
Driving improvements in every facet of warehouse execution
Veritable Vegetable realized a 40% reduction in errors with a corresponding improvement of 60% less credits back to customers based on those errors. The system also reduced paper usage by 49% across Veritable Vegetable operations, which is equivalent to 23 less trees used every year, dramatically enhancing sustainability and supporting safety, as workers don’t have to look down to read paper slips and it keeps us hands free. In addition to the paper elimination, the enhanced accuracy also cuts down on reverse logistics. “We don’t have to run our trucks out of the way to pick up something we had misdelivered or make a new delivery, further minimizing our carbon footprint,” said Evans.
“I love to take our customers on tours through the warehouse, and one of the first things I point out is our staff wearing their headsets. I explain our pick to voice system has really increased the accuracy of your orders. It really gets their attention.”
