If you walk into a Vallarta Supermarket, you’ll be greeted by the savory smell of freshly made tortillas, the sound of chopping avocados at the guacamole stand, and the temptation to sit down for a bite at the in-store taqueria before shopping for your authentic Hispanic groceries.
You probably won’t think about how those juicy tomatoes traveled on trucks, from distribution centers, and through the hands of voice-guided warehouse workers, in order to get to the store, but Lee Allen does every day.
Allen is the Director of IT at Vallarta Supermarkets, a 55-store grocery chain in California that specializes in Hispanic food items, fresh produce, traditional cuts of meat, and in-store food services.
When so many distributors today struggle to keep shelves stocked, retain staff, and stay resilient amid supply chain disruption, how do Vallarta’s specialty grocery stores continue to provide their loyal customers with a superior experience and the highest quality fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable goods?
A Seasoned Voice Solution
When Allen joined Vallarta nine years ago, the company had just worked with grocery supply chain systems partner NCR to implement a new WMS and voice technology for warehouse workflows in two of their distribution centers.
Voice at Vallarta, according to Allen, has always been a no-brainer.
“(Voice) allows the selector to focus on what they’re doing – fulfilling an accurate order, every time, no extraneous information, no additional noise.”
“It’s also a safety measure. That driver on the floor, that selector, they’re not having to look down at a screen, they’re not having to look at a piece of paper or a wearable device or whatever. (Instead,) they’re paying attention to the environment that they’re driving in and operating in and focusing on an accurate order. That’s the promise of voice.”
Vallarta’s fast, reliable voice solution allows them to keep their promise to their customers that their farm fresh products enter their warehouse doors and make it to their grocery store shelves in the same day.
Purpose-Built and Rock Solid
Every so often, Allen said, a company approaches his company to sell a new or competing warehouse solution, but Vallarta continues to see the ideal value from voice. The automated voice dialogue that the DC associates hear in their wireless headsets allows them to move product seamlessly and safely, without having to stop and confirm their information manually on a handheld device.
Their voice devices are rugged, so no one ever has to worry about dropping or damaging them in the busy DCs, and “purpose-built,” as Allen calls them – designed uniquely for a voice-guided warehouse worker’s peak performance.
“We don’t think about it. It works. It’s effective, rock solid stable, it doesn’t go down, it just keeps working.”
Vallarta’s voice system was long-supported by Speech Interface Design until Mountain Leverage acquired them in 2021 to form the industry’s largest, most seasoned and dedicated voice team.
Fresh Views on Peak Performance
The Vallarta and Mountain Leverage partnership has been focused on optimizing current operations while looking ahead to Vallarta’s future and prioritizing the end user’s experience.
“We need technology partners that are going to help us to make good decisions,” said Allen. “We need technology partners that are way more expert on their solutions than we are.”
The Mountain Leverage team has collectively visited, advised, supported, and trained voice teams within close to 2,000 unique warehouses globally and is known for coming onsite and helping voice users and team leaders uncovering best practices, tips and tricks, and unknown gaps in their systems that, when solved, lead to maximizing the entire system’s value.
Allen recalled his team’s epiphany a few years ago when the Mountain Leverage team visited to provide a voice system health check.
“Our users were saying that there were certain functionalities they wished the voice solution could do. And the Mountain Leverage team goes, ‘oh, it does do that, and it does it better than you think it does.’ Your team stepped in and helped us to squeeze everything we could out of that solution.”
The Path to Automation
Not only have Vallarta’s voice-guided operations seen continued upwards trends in accuracy and productivity, but the company has also worked with Mountain Leverage to future-proof their solution and embrace the next right move for Vallarta’s supply chain growth and resilience.
Rather than selling a one-size-fits-all solution or offering a single path for upgrades, migrations, and technology integration, Mountain Leverage takes the approach of joining the customer on their side of the table, weighing all the options in front of them, and providing seasoned, trusted guidance so their leaders can make the right decisions for their company’s future.
“You are helping us make sure that we’re maintaining visibility to what’s going on in the marketplace. That’s something we’ve gotten in spades from your team,” said Allen. “You don’t come in and just say, you know, it’s whatever you want. You tell us (for example), there are implications to that choice, and your people also understand not just the technology, but they really understand the supply chain business.”
Farm-to-Table, Today and Tomorrow
As Vallarta continues to grow, they continue to rise above market pressure and ensure their customers remain happy with the quality, diversity, and selection of their products. Their voice solution and Mountain Leverage partnership allows them to broaden their offerings and locations to bring authentic Latino meals to customers and homes across the region.
“Having such a strong partner like Mountain Leverage is that you’re able to put context to everything,” Allen reflected. “We’re not working with a vendor that doesn’t know anything about us and is just trying to sell what they’re selling. You’re a partner. You understand our business. That allows us to keep a very, very fresh product in front of our customers.”