Ep. #20: How IIoT Helps Improve Facility Operations

This episode of Right from the Source features Tim Coobley, the business. At Right Height Digital Solutions. He discusses the industrial Turner means to right height. listening to right from the source. Productivity, energy savings, and environmental control at the loading dock and inside your industrial or commercial facility.

to Right from the Source. And with us today, we have Tim Coobley from RightHide. Hi Tim. How are you doing, Ken? So let's get a little bit of background on you, Tim. So how long have you been in the industry? What's your title with RightHide? So with Right Height, I'm a business development manager for our Right Height Digital Solutions Division, and I've been in the industry for a little over 14 years.

Can you talk a little bit about uh your focus and what you're doing with Right Height right now? Yeah, so Red High Digital Solutions with our tagline of always looking ahead. Felt like there was an opportunity for us to be able to collect data and being able to provide that in a usable format for our customers and thought that was something that could help them to make data-driven decisions moving forward into the future.

That is a lot of stuff right there. That's a that's a kind of a wide focus and I love it. Before we dive into uh that topic a little bit deeper, any other uh hobbies or passions outside of work? I would say my family takes up quite a bit of my time uh with three children and being involved in multiple activities, uh school related, sports related.

And when not doing those, uh I enjoy the game of golf while not good. Uh being outside and in the fresh air is always enjoyable. Yeah, I can relate to that.

So all right, let's dive into some of our questions here. The material handling industry has evolved to the point where the industrial internet of things has really taken a major role. So can you talk a little bit about what I IOT and Industry 4.0 are? And what do these terms specifically mean to write? Yeah, so industrial Internet of Things or IIT and even Industry 4.0 are fairly ambiguous terms that can mean many different things to many different people.

Uh to right height, it means the ability to collect data from equipment and the ability to present that data in a usable format. And that usable format is typically through an intuitive dashboard, and that can be viewed typically on a smartphone, could be on a workstation or a computer or a tablet.

So in talking about IIT, what are some of the the benefits that a facility can can garner from incorporating this into their operations? It's a great question, Ken. And a lot of people talk about uh having the ability to collect data. Uh one of my favorite uh key phrases is not all data is good data.

A lot of times uh folks will be able to collect data from their equipment, but it's not in a usable format that adds any value to the customer. It becomes kind of what I call visual pollution and they kind of push it off to the side. Um but really what we want to be able to do is provide the customer the opportunity to provide that data where they can actually drill into the details.

And it does that for them. And then the opportunity to identify the corrective actions for that particular customer. And then being able to track the results after the corrective action to find out the success. um of what that correction happened. And sometimes that corrective action could be a change in the sequence of operation. Sometimes it could be adding additional equipment or sensors to be able to have an impact on the business in itself.

But we really want to go beyond just sensors and data and doing what I'm calling a data dump and making the customer sort through and find the goal. Yeah. No, I I like that. I th the analogy I was thinking in my head is, you know, the needle in a haystack and it's like Hey, there's

Hey over here, hey over there, and it's finding that needle and then kind of digging down and finding out how did that needle get here? And what can we do about it to make sure that doesn't happen again? Absolutely. And at right height we want to present that needle where it's up in front and center for you so you don't have to look for it.

Yeah, I love it. As far as IoT applying to a facility, can you give me a maybe a few more examples of data maybe that being collected, some regular events that might be happening at a facility that IIT is finding, and then maybe some examples around that. Absolutely. So from an equipment standpoint, you know, we're looking for an instant or a trending alert that's happening within the facility.

And this allows the customer that they can take action in real time if we provide them an instant alert of what's happening. And if the instant alert can identify a potential risk, they can take immediate action.

Um so that's a that's a safety one. Do you have uh examples from maybe an energy standpoint as well? Yeah, so uh a lot of times with our energy that's tracking on our high speed doors. Um so with one customer's uh opportunity we're able to identify a chance for them to uh increase energy savings in a cold storage environment.

Um and we found out that uh some of their doors were not acting properly, mostly because of a sensor adjustment that needed to be done. And again, unless you're standing out there with a clipboard Watching every door, watching every cycle that happens, we were able to identify those. They were able to make a sensor adjustment and being able to increase their energy.

Wright Height has been really making manufacturing equipment for facilities since nineteen sixty five and it's typically been, you know, the the the hard uh physical types of equipment. You know, you think of Things like the leveler, I mean that where right height gets its name. You think of the dock lock of course, and these are all, you know, heavy pieces of machinery that add, you know, safety and efficiency elements um to any warehouse and and loading dock.

So why did Right Height decide to get involved in IIT and and industry four point oh here? It's a great question, Ken. And uh while we're known for steel and and fabric um and physical products, uh that wasn't uncommon for us um in our applications team to get a phone call and say

How can I find out what's happening with my dock lock without physically walking out there? How can I find out what's going on with my high speed door without physically walking out there? How can I find out what's going on with my H V L S fan without having to go out and look at it? So Having the equipment being able to talk to our customers was very critical, and we saw that uh many, many uh years back.

And while this is new to right height as far as being able to collect data and present it in a usable format, It's not new to our customers. There are other industrial suppliers today, if it be the fork truck industry or the battery charging industry, that they're sending data to our customers. So again, it's new to us, but definitely not uh not new to our customers in regards to uh

what they're dealing with on a day-to-day basis and having the opportunity uh to collect data. You know, we really feel like the industrial Internet of Things or Industry 4.0, whatever terminology you want to use, it's not going away.

Customers are expected to be able to make decisions and if they have the data to support those decisions, it's going to allow them to be more efficient in their opportunities and be more efficient in their jobs as it relates to increasing safety, productivity, as well as energy safety. And I mean I like the fact too that you're not going to be able to

You've been saying that it it has come from customers, you're listening to them, and this has been something that's been in development for a long time. You didn't want to just race to market with something that it's just gonna dump out a bunch of data. You wanted to have a very user friendly product. and be able to kind of dive down and deep into those details. So so I know that this is going to be uh discussed in greater detail in a different podcast.

But can you provide a little information about how Optiview can operate independently, but also improve Right Height's loading dock and trailer management software as well? Absolutely. So we came to market in October of twenty nineteen with two solutions for our customers.

Uh the first one being the OptiView platform, which is connecting right height equipment to the platform and being able to collect data specifically from right height equipment. Again, Having the customer being able to review the diagnostic analytics to help them make data driven decisions. The second product that we came to market with is going to be our DockView, Dock and Trailer Management Software.

So while the two are independent, when working together, it gives us a much more robust DocView software system. But that doc and trailer management system is really focused on the logistics team within our customers. customers have come to us and shared that uh

It's kind of very chaotic in our shipping and receiving office. We never know which trailer is at which dock position and for how long. Uh we have lots of two-way radio communication with the dock warehouse workers as well as with the yard jockeys. So they were looking for a way to provide synchronized timing and communication across all stakeholders.

And we really feel like that both technologies offer a value to the customer and they can be independent. But when used together, again, just an incredible robust system for our customers to initiate. Yeah. And again with those real time alerts that you've you know mentioned throughout this podcast too and especially with a a doc management software, I've got to imagine that that is just absolutely critical having that

you know, that instant communication all the time. You're just you're connected. Absolutely. And we're finding a lot of uh even our great customers, Ken, that are operating today and and using spreadsheets or maybe a a shared uh Google Doc or or something else to be able to create that consistent level of communication. And even in those circumstances there's still a lot of confusion, there's still a lot of chaos.

a lot of frustration. You know, if we're both sharing a document and I'm on the phone with dispatch. and you're in the document making a change, I'm constantly, Hey, Ken, I need to get in. Once I'm in, then Jim needs to get in and Steve needs to get in. So being able to have that intuitive dashboard where everyone can be able to access the system.

Everyone sharing same time information. It's an auto refresh system and it's also has the opportunity to be able to share that across the entire network is an incredible value for Yeah. Well you said it earlier. I IOT is here to stay. It's not a trend. Absolutely. Tim, we appreciate you uh visiting us here today on right from the source. So be sure to follow RightHide on all social media platforms. Visit RightHide.com for additional information or to connect with a team member.

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