Lucas Systems Wins Best Logistics Innovation

As we wrap up our annual Distributor Best Practices, Lucas Systems stood out in the Best Logistics Innovation category.

Large distributors face a myriad of challenges just to keep up with the increasing demand. There’s particularly a lot of pressure to pick, process and ship orders in a timely manner ― which is no easy feat, no matter the company size. 

For more than 20 years, Lucas Systems has been helping RNDC to optimize its distribution centers by providing warehouse voice picking and adjacent technologies. Utilizing different systems such as Jennifer and the Lucas Management Console, RNDC has doubled bottle picking productivity while also improving accuracy to an impressive rate of over 99%, as stated in the case study. 

Lucas Systems Brings Efficiency to Warehouses

Recently, Lucas Systems introduced its Dynamic Pallet Builder technologies, which offer a dynamic and automated way for workers to build better pallets with optimal efficiency. Wholesalers can even tailor the technologies to suit their specific warehouse needs.

“It’s constantly and dynamically optimizing throughout the day,” said Lucas Systems CMO Ken Ramoutar in a news release.

The sophisticated software solution – which sifts through a myriad of requirements and data points – makes thousands of calculations per minute looking across relevant warehouse operations to determine the appropriate trade-offs needed to optimally pick, group, sequence and stack items on one or more pallets at a time.

Pallet-building recommendations consider a wide variety of variables including product size, weight, stacking rules, shipping regulations, worker travel distance, safety, route order, order priorities and more.

Lucas Systems customer, Veritable Vegetable, uses Dynamic Pallet Builder to better optimize its delivery routes, according to the company. The California-based organic produce distribution company uses a two-part voice-directed picking process to split its pallets. In doing so, its pallet-building logic is tailored to precisely match its trucks and delivery operations.

“This personalized approach provides optimal efficiencies for us, and it also gives our customers more flexibility when placing orders. Both are extremely important,” said Veritable Vegetable owner and CEO Mary Jane Evans in the release.

The software solution, which seamlessly integrates with a wide variety of warehouse management systems, is unique because it’s highly configurable, aligning with a company’s specific operations and priorities. Additionally, the software solution dynamically recomputes optimal pallet builds in response to orders continually flowing into the warehouse.

According to Lucas Systems, 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.

Continuous Technological Advancements

In addition to Dynamic Pallet Builder, over the past year, Lucas Systems executives have announced several ‘dynamically driven’ technologies to help warehouse operators quickly adapt to changing operational conditions or shifts in demand. These include Dynamic Work Optimization, which delivers more effective warehouse performance by considering in-the-moment complexities related to order priority, SKU clustering, proximity and warehouse layout.

There is also Dynamic Slotting, which applies machine-learning algorithms to recommend which products should be moved in the moment. It learns the spatial characteristics of a warehouse and predicts task time based on activity-level data. The model then continues to ‘learn,’ providing continuous optimization as conditions change.

These technological enhancements have provided great benefit to Lucas Systems’ customers and allowed the company to build on its 27-year legacy of making life easier for warehouse workers and managers.

To read the rest of the honorees from our 2025 Distributor Best Practices Awards, click here.

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