Ep. #10: Optimizing the Loading Dock Environment

Blazer, the director of Marketing. She's not sure. You're listening to Right from the Source, expert insights on safety, security, productivity, energy savings, control at the loading dock and Your industrial or commercial facilities.

is right from the source. And today joining us on the podcast, we have Mary Blazer. Welcome Mary. Thanks. Thanks, hi. Good to be here. So first off, what's your title at Right Height? I am the director of marketing and business development for Right Height Enclosures, Environmental Enclosures Course. So what do you do in that role with right height? Well, I work from everything from the market research stage, identifying market trends and also what new products are needed in the marketplace.

And then I work very closely with our engineering group to make sure that those products get developed. And then I work also on marketing communications and advertising and PR and social media and sales tool development and sales support. So it really kinda runs the gamut. How long have you been with Right Height in in the industry? Uh well twenty four and a half years. So next year will be my twenty fifth year at right height and in the industry.

Uh any hobbies or passions outside of work that you like to pursue? Well, I have two grown children, so family is really important, my faith, uh my friends, those are m probably my passions. Um, but I like to ski and boat and do a little bit of cooking, not a lot. Travel. Well on today's podcast we won't be talking about any of your hobbies specifically, except for I suppose seals and shelters are a little bit of a hobby. Um Big part of my life right now, yeah.

There you go. So our first question here has to do with um loading docks and specifically loading dock uh enclosures and different types. Floating dock itself connects businesses to other businesses and and consumers ultimately. It also connects the outdoors to the inside of a facility, which can create a lot of environmental challenges. Can you talk about some of those challenges?

What I like to have people do is envision the outside of their loading dock, their building, as a series of great big huge holes in the wall. Okay, if you think about your dock door, your eight by ten or nine by ten or ten by twelve dock door, you might have two or three or seven or eight or a hundred of those. Those represent great big huge holes in the wall of your facility, right?

So what our goal is is to create an environmental barrier between the outside of that facility and the inside of the facility when trailers are in place. We like to say keep the bad stuff out and the good stuff in. So what that means is I wanna keep any the bad stuff out is contaminants of any type dust, bugs, pests, rodents.

Um I want to keep out weather that can cause product damage or or employee discomfort. I want to keep out rain and snow and melting water. But then I also want to keep the good stuff fit. And the good stuff is the energy that I'm paying a lot of money for, whether it's heating energy, uh or cooling energy in a refrigerated type of facility. Um and I also want to help prevent uh pilfer.

So I don't lose things out of the opening. That could be uh pharmaceuticals or electronics or anything that can be surreptitiously dropped out of that opening um and picked up later. And the real challenge comes in devising a system of products that will seal around all four sides of the opening regardless of the size or the type of the trailer that's put. It's kind of a deceptive industry because there's a lot more going on I think than people typically uh consider.

first hear a little bit about maybe the difference between dock seals and dock shelters, kind of a a one oh one on how we can start to close those those gaps that are there. Sure, that's a great question because uh a lot of people don't really know the difference between dock seals and shelters. They think there is sort of a commodity product and you see this black thing around the opening of the back of your of your dock doors at your loading dock.

And you know what is that? Well, there's really two types of of those enclosures. Um, we have a category called dock seals, which are a foam compression type seal. It's a smaller unit comprised of of a steel or a wood backer, some type of a rigid backer, with a big chunk of industrial foam attached to the backer and that's surrounded by an industrial fabric of varying types. And the way it works is that the trailer will actually back in

and compress that foam against the wall along the the sides and the top to create a pretty tight seal around those three sides of the opening. It creates a nice tight seal. It tends to be less expensive than the shelter category in general. And it's a great solution in a number of applications. The drawback of the dock seal category, that foam compression type seal, number one, those units can wear out

Strong force against them. While the trailer backs in, you've got that 80,000 pound trailer or a hundred thousand pound trailer backing in, compressing the foam, and then bouncing up and down as it's being loaded and unloaded. and that process just creates a tremendous amount of pressure and friction um that can lead to early wear and tear if it's not designed properly. The other drawback to a dock seal is that what happens is the trailer as it's backing in and compressing

Uh I use this very technical term. It smooshes all of that foam and fabric into the opening of the trailer. Not all of it, but enough of it that you can create an obstruction that prevents you from getting real clear, easy access to the loads on the trailer. Your forklift comes in and there's there's foam and fabric that's smooshed into the opening.

So we call that obstructed access. And that can that can affect productivity and and so you have to just be real aware that that can be an issue. And then the third general drawback of dock seals in general is that they are limited to Smaller door openings, typically uh nine by ten or less, and also they're limited in the variety of the trailer traffic that they can serve.

particularly if you have a high variation in the height of the trailer, that can become a a challenge for dock seals. But they're a great solution for some customers. So you have to go through a differentiation process and a discovery process to determine if if that's the right solution for any particular customer. The other category dock shelters are they perform the same functions, but they're constructed differently. So they're larger, they're made of different components.

the trailer will back through a set of side curtains that wipe against the sides in the top of the unit instead of of the trailer actually compressing into the phone. So the benefits are you can seal uh a much higher variety of of trailer sizes and and types and dimensions. You have much more flexibility in that regard. Um it'll fit on taller door openings and wider door openings. So you have more flexibility there. It's much less susceptible to damage.

because you're not experiencing the same level of pressure and friction that you would be with a compression type of seal. But the drawbacks tend to be in certain types of dock shelters, they're not going to give you as great of sealing efficiency.

as as a dock seal would. So you have to be really careful when you're choosing a dock shelter, because there's so many different kinds, that you you choose one that's gonna give you the amount of sealing efficiency that you really need and is actually gonna close up the gaps because dock shelters in general are more prone to leaving gaps. than duck seals are just by virtue of their of their construction.

When talking about the difference between some of the shelters that are out there, what what should customers be looking for? What are customers uh really saying to to you uh as the as a manufacturer of these? What's interesting is that the lineup of shelters that's out there in the industry, including in our own product lineup, include the very original design that started the whole industry of dock steels and shelters, which was invented by the company that Right Hype Purchased.

The From Elk Company. That is the same design that was originally brought to market in nineteen fifty one. So it's really old. It's old technology and it's outdated and there are better solutions, but it's still out there on the market. Um there are there are a number of of of different stair steps in the dock shelter lineup. Same in the dock seal lineup.

And what you're gonna be getting if as you go from one to the next, as you're stair stepping up from good to better to best in your lineup, whether it's a duck seal or duck shelter. are the ways that the different solutions will do two things. One is

stand up against the wear and tear that dock enclosures are typically uh subject to on the dock. And that depends on design and and materials that are used. So there's a lot of things that go into that process. And then the other is the ceiling ability. And to answer your question more directly, what are customers asking of us? In the time that I've worked in this industry, I've seen the focus go from all I really need to do is seal a great big gap.

to okay now that's good but now I I I really need to seal more gaps. For example, some shelters that don't have uh a feature on the end of the side curtains that will close up the trailer door hinge gap.

I can tell you more about what that is if you're interested. I am. But some shelters have that, others don't. If you don't have that feature on your shelter, you're going to be leaving about a two and a half square foot hole in the wall that comes from the fact that there is about a two inch strip on either side of the trailer doors when the swing open doors are open that is left unsealed with with many shelters.

So if you leave that unsealed, it's like leaving a big window open next to every dock position in your facility. So it just doesn't make a lot of sense. So in the nineteen nineties we set about closing up that gap. And then over the years since then, there's been more focus on sealing smaller and smaller gaps. We look at a phenomenon called white space, and that's when you're standing on the inside of the dock.

looking out towards the trailer when it's in place and anywhere that you can see daylight that indicates a gap and that's a problem. It's become more of a problem as regulations, industry regulations Have um gotten more stringent. Uh that's the Food Safety Modernization Act, since that has been put in place. Facilities are required. To prevent infiltration of contaminants from the outside environment. So we have to make our products, our system of products.

uh better and better to be able to seal up smaller and smaller gaps. And then we've seen much more attention to managing energy cost and that you know that just means preventing the the loss of energy through those gaps. and through the steel leveler deck of um of the opening. We've also seen other trends include

Uh requirements for greater durability. You know, these things are an investment. So we've put a lot of effort in in recent years into beefing up the durability of this these products. And then I think the last thing I think we've seen Is more of a push for a really comprehensive solution. You know, prior to say, I'd say ten or twelve years ago, the focus was on three sides of the dock door opening. But as the attention towards smaller and smaller gaps

is becoming the focus of many facilities. There's been a lot more attention on really effective sealing of that fourth side. So what we like to do is look at not just the seal or shelter, but also what are the additional components that we're going to need to be able to seal effectively on the fourth side of the opening when the trailer is in place.

Would you like to talk about some of those gaps that are either on the the bottom side near the leveler or even some of the smaller gaps that you were mentioning? Uh what kinds of products exist for customers? Sure. So let's look at let's be standing in the facility.

You've got your trailer backed in and what I'm looking for now are any kind of light along the sides. Dock seals tend to seal those gaps pretty well, but some types of dock shelters will leave big gaps. Others won't. Moving up to the corners. You're looking there for the space where the the side curtains of the dock shelter meet up with the head curtain of the dock shelter at the top of the of the trailer. And most dock shelters leave a gap there.

It's only the most sophisticated and most expensive, frankly, dock shelters that can actually seal those gaps well. And then there's the top. Now even some docks seal Can leave gaps at the top. They don't always seal that well against the top of the trailer. So, what we want there is a a type of header unit.

the best type, the only type really that can really seal well at the top of the trailer and prevent those gaps, um, use weight and gravity in the header. Then on that fourth side that you were talking about, even if the trailer is not in place and the dock door is closed, There's the opportunity for two things to happen for a lot of contaminants to fill the dock pit underneath the dock leveler. And then there's also, even when the dock overhead door is closed, you can still have gaps.

around and under the dock door. So there's different products that you can use to fill those gaps. And then when the trailer is in place and the dock door is open, you'll see gaps at the corners particularly Of the dock leveler when it's in place in the bed of the trailer, you can see big gaps down at the corner, and there are products to fill those gaps. In other situations you might have

a vertical dock leveler, one that that is standing up and the trailer backs in and the doors are opened inside the building before the dock leveler is put into place on the bed of the trailer. In those situations you can have big gaps at the front of the dock, at the dock face before the the leveler goes into the uh the trailer and also again at the corners. So there's a you have to find a system of products to put in place

depending on the specifics of your application, the type of loading, unloading you're doing, the type of trailers you're receiving, the type of leveler you have. Like I said earlier, it's a more sophisticated process than than a lot of people give it credit to being. It definitely sounds like there's not a one size fits all solution. It definitely depends on your loading dock setup, what your needs are, uh maybe even what your environment is. That's a lot of factors to consider.

Absolutely. We have a a very thorough discovery process that starts with evaluating the conditions outside on your loading dock. Even before you start looking at trailers, you have to look at building construction and the drive approach, the the what is it level, is it decline, is it incline?

How much space is there between your doctor openings? How large or how small are your doctor openings? What kind of obstructions are in place? We look at all of that stuff, all that physical kind of stuff before we Start narrowing down what the right uh types of solutions might be. We start with the, you know, is should it be a dock seal or a dock shelter? Okay, once we get that determined.

Um we look at now what are the all the specific variables that can go into to designing the right size. It's a very precise science really to get what should the what should the size of the unit be, how wide should the curtains be? front opening be? What's the bevel on the side? What is the uh what's the taper? What taper do we need? How long should the curtain drap be for the uh for the for the header? What should the projection of the unit be? You know.

w how many of this type of trailer and this type of trailer and this type of trailer are you getting? What's the percentage breakdown and how frequently are they visiting your docks? What kind of materials should we use to create the the right amount of durability and longevity?

Um do you rent the building, do you own the building? How long do you plan to be in it? It's it's it's very complicated. And we do make most of our units uh our are most of them are custom made because of all those variable y factors that go Sounds like you were running through the checklist like you had it right in front of you here, Mary. That was very impressive. You've seen that before.

I have seen that before. Yeah, yeah. And and it always surprises people. It always'cause they look like the most simple like the simplest thing. Mm-hmm. Uh and it's it's not as simple as it looks. So we need to be we need to be expert at it. There's a lot of opportunity for education in the industry. As old as these products are, uh we still find that there's a ton of opportunity for education because there are so many choices.

There are real choices, it's not a commodity product. And uh people need to be aware of the choices. Mm-hmm.

Well, you've certainly filled in a lot of those uh those choices here today. Um, is there anything that you feel like we missed that you wanted to touch on as it relates relates to seals and shelters and Hm. You know, like I said, man, I could talk for two hours. Right. We'll do another one sometime and we'll get into some of the specifics, two or three, because there's different issues in the industry. But I think what I really would like anybody to take away from this who might be listening is

to how serious they should take that job of sealing up those great big huge holes in their with the greater food safety regulations, the f the FISMA and all of the different audits and quality control measures that are in place at facilities and in industry. Sealing up the loading dock is becoming a more and more important area that facilities, customers, companies should be looking at and need to be looking at if they're not already

We'd love to have you back on the podcast another time, Mary, just to talk about some of those issues in in finer detail. Until then, thanks for being part of the show. today. Great, thanks for having me. If you enjoyed this episode of Write from the Source, be sure to subscribe on your preferred listening platform. right height social media channels. Want more supply chain logistics solutions for your facility?