Ep. #32: When to Upgrade Loading Dock Equipment

Make equipment upgrades. You're listening to right from the source, expert insights on the productivity, energy savings, and environmental control. Your industrial or commercial facility.

You're listening to right from the source and today's guest is Alan Cairo. Alan, welcome. Thank you, Ken, I appreciate it. Yeah. Uh so first give the listeners your title, uh, yours in the industry, uh what you do exactly. Sure. Sure. Again, my name is Alan Cairo. I'm one of the regional sales vice president with Right Height. I've been lucky enough to uh to be in the industry as well as work for Right Height for the uh the past ten years.

So it's uh it's been a good run and I'm looking forward to a continued run. Any hobbies or passions outside of work? Yeah, definitely. Probably uh some of the the usuals that you've probably heard in the past. Uh family, enjoy spending time with my uh my children and my grandson.

an avid outdoorsman, uh whether it be uh warm or cold weather. Love getting outside and breaking away from uh from the office when I can. Um passions, probably believe it or not, uh people uh is a passion of mine. And what I mean by that is I've just Love getting to know people, uh love getting to see what makes people tick. And uh maybe pick up some items or characteristics that uh that maybe I can incorporate into my life and uh and and go with that.

Oh, that's excellent. I love to hear that. There are are so many cynics out there, so there's always something you can learn from somebody, that's for sure.

Alright, so today's topic, we are going to be talking about upgrading loading dock equipment and ways that facilities can partner with Right Height to do that. So for our first question, you know certainly every business is looking for any kind of edge that they can get, any sort of competitive advantage. So even loading deck equipment you can make small improvements, little upgrades here and there that could end up making a truly tangible difference. So starting with loading dot controls.

What kinds of upgrades can be made there, Alan? That's a great question, Ken. It's funny in regards to when most people look at the loading dock, their mind probably typically goes to the actual equipment. uh maybe a loading dock leveler, uh a dock lock, maybe a overhead sectional door or a barrier system. And the controls, I don't want to say are an afterthought, but it's not the first item that pops into their heads. Um in looking at the controls, it's obviously a very important part.

of the loading dock specifically and upgrades can be made. Just some examples I can give if we're looking at the uh the facility itself and maybe looking at uh the dock lock or the trailer is trained outside the facility. We may want to incorporate a sensor possibly on that dock lock that can tie into the existing controls of the facility and that can enhance the actual productivity at the loading dock.

Customers looking to get a better feel and understanding of how long it's taking them to unload or load an actual trailer, that simple sensor and that plug into the controls can really give them a better feel for how productive or improductive they're being at that point. Uh also looking at some other examples, some customers have a process in place where the dock operator needs to understand when that trailer has backed into the loading.

And by doing that they're forced to open up that sectional door, which can create a pretty unsafe situation for an operator, just meaning falling off the actual loading dock or Standing there when a large trailer is still backing up to the loading dock. Again, two situations that are very dangerous. By simply adding what we would call a a trailer presence sensor to the outside of the building and tying that into the controls.

It alleviates that issue from happening by allowing the operator to know exactly when that trailer is in the park position and they can then safely open the sectional door and begin the process of loading or unloading. Looking at the inside of the facility, actually, because we've been focusing on the outside, maybe simply adding some motion sensors to the inside of the facility that are maybe angled towards the inside of the trailer.

And what those motion sensors can do when they're connected with the controls that the loading dock is. Make everyone aware of if and when someone or something such as a fork truck are inside the trailer. Uh while we're walking through facilities, we can't always see exactly if and when someone or a fork truck is inside the trailer.

So if we can be notified if and when that happens by the existing controls that are on the wall, it behooves all of us to be aware of that because it's going to create a safer working environment for. So you mentioned a lot about sensors here and just being able to to detect that presence and movement. they incorporate directly into existing products or do Uh would a facility need to actually get a a brand new product too? Or and does it depend, I guess?

have the ability to be upgraded with these sensors and tied into those controls that they're currently using in their facility. And I know that every dock is something that right height talks about in terms of uh safety packages especially that You know, it's it's important that every dock is is safe. Can you talk a little bit about how improving safety and efficiency through that program is done? Sure, definitely. And you're right. Every dock I guess is uh is not created equally.

When you look at it in a broad spectrum. And what I mean by that is every facility, you know, has a different layout or a different setup, and maybe they're at a different point. in their uh in their process for creating a safer, more efficient uh loading dock environment.

Or maybe even a customer within the same facility is looking at a handful of loading docks that are where they expect them to be and they still need to upgrade some other loading docks to catch up with the loading docks that have been upgraded.

So what we try to do is take a look at what a customer's existing situation is, uh maybe take a look at their existing budget as well, because we understand not every customer is in the exact same situation financially or product-wise, like I had mentioned. So we want to make sure that we're offering the appropriate solution based on what the existing customers' needs are as well as what their budget is.

And that's one thing we like to pride ourselves on at right height is we have a plethora of solutions that can be used dependent upon the needed solution as well as the budget that a customer currently has. Maybe a a c facility with a larger budget.

kinda thinking out into the future, something like the Internet of Things. And I obviously that's it's been around for a little bit now, but definitely at the loading dock I feel like that's an area where Things are just kinda getting ramped up. Can you talk about maybe some solutions there? Definitely, and I'm I'm glad you brought it up, Ken.

And looking at the world we're all living in right now, obviously we're very data driven and uh we all want information immediately and as rapid as possible, whether it be within a facility or our own personal life. And that's not uh any different when looking at, you know, the loading dock area.

So right now we have the capability uh in regards to a solution we've offered up to our uh our client base probably about two years ago is when we started this this uh solution called Optiview, and it gives us the opportunity to basically have our equipment be smart, quote unquote. So again, receiving that data and presenting that data to our customers where they can make data driven decisions on a daily, monthly, or annual basis.

to see exactly what's happening at the loading dock, what trends they're seeing, if they're trending in the appropriate direction or not. And obviously make data driven decisions. based on how those processes may need to be altered or or changed at that point. Very cool futuristic stuff for sure. But I'm gonna take it back in time a little bit to the present and even further historically here to the loading dock leveler.

fairly simple piece of equipment overall. Are there little upgrades that can be made there to this piece of equipment that can help make it an operation more efficient and safer? Most definitely. It it's funny when you talk to customers that are currently using loading dock levelers like the example we're using, they typically feel as if that leveler they have is all they're gonna get, meaning I can't do any upgrades to this.

I'm gonna have to ride this level out until it's it's ran the course of its lifetime, and then I'll upgrade at that point. And that truly isn't the case. A lot of different ways we can upgrade existing levelers and just some examples in regards to that would be a good number of our customers are using mechanical levelers. And in order to operate and engage that mechanical leveler, it's a manual process.

We're pulling chains. We're using the weight of our own torso in our bodies to walk that leveler down to be able to allow it to arrest on the back end of the trailer. So it's a two or three step manual process, whereas in looking at those manual levelers for our customers and simply offering up a hydraulic conversion kit.

It gives us the ability and our customer the ability to keep that leveler in place and not replace the entire leveler and just add a simplistic hydraulic conversion kit to make that an automated process. Anytime we can automate any process, it's going to be much more efficient and safe at the end of the day.

Really uh from an efficiency standpoint and a safety standpoint, I think that's a great solution. Any other uh safety upgrades that can be made to the leveler? Yeah, definitely. One thing that we found out over the years, um and it's an unfortunate statistic. About eight percent of all fork truck accidents within the US every year are basically if and when a fork truck goes off or over the loading dock, which as you can imagine is a pretty catastrophic event when that happens.

So when customers are seeing that potential near miss from happening or hearing of these accidents from happening, they have the opportunity to upgrade the front end of that leveler, specifically if it's a hydraulic level. And we have a piece of uh equipment or a solution that we call the safety list. So it's more or less a replacement of that existing lip of the leveler and putting the new safety lip on, which more or less creates a barrier at the loading dock when the leveler's not being used.

Um so it ensures that that fork truck doesn't have the opportunity to back off or roll off or fall off that loading dock. And it one obviously is a much safer environment. But two, it actually creates a more productive environment because those fork truck drivers aren't too concerned about getting too close to the loading dock and maybe veering off the edge.

Knowing what that safety lit barrier that's there and it's in place really allows them to focus on the task at hand. Sometimes having that assurance that you know you're not gonna fall can can help speed you up.

Sticking with the safety topic here, routine maintenance on something like a leveler can be kind of a challenge. You know, there's probably an in-house person who could do it. I mean, you're talking about usually just oiling up the the machine if it needs it. But that leveler can be

What, a thousand pounds or more? Can you talk about how doing that safely is important as well? Yeah, and that and that's an aspect where a lot of people don't think of it unless they've actually had to crawl underneath the dock level, which I can tell you leaves a lot to be desired. It is a pretty scary environment. And again, like you had mentioned, imagine yourself crawling underneath that leveler to perform maintenance or maybe clean out the actual dock pit itself.

Just that sheer weight of that steel plate above your head can be a little nerve-wracking. So one solution we offer up to our customers is what we call a safety strut. And what this strut does, it supports Not only the deck of the leveler, but the lip as well.

to ensure if it's a right-height technician or maybe one of our customers maintenance technicians handling the plan maintenance on the leveler itself, they can know that they're going to be covered and going to be safe underneath that dock level or whether they're just under there performing maintenance. whether a fork truck maybe even impacts that level or while they're underneath it. It can handle the force and the weight of that fork truck.

to ensure that they're gonna be able to go home safely to their family at the end of the day. Oh that's that's impressive. Unfortunately some facilities won't make any kinds of these upgrade purchases unless they're getting complaints from employees or there are issues that are cropped up.

Not to say that all facility managers are like that. There are plenty of very, you know, forward-thinking ones who always want to have the the newest, greatest gadget out there and make those little upgrades along the way. But for those who aren't. What would you say to facility managers

who are who are looking to maybe stay on top of these upgrades as they come along? Yeah, it's obviously a a topic that probably isn't in the the front of every facility manager's mind. They're wearing a lot of hats on a daily basis and Typically these thoughts may not come into play until like you had mentioned, maybe there's a complaint by an associate or an issue comes up. The one suggestion I typically give to my customers are lean on your local expertise.

Lean on the actual material handling equipment suppliers that you're working with, such as Right Height. You know, we have the Right Height sales team, we have the Right Height service technicians as well, and both are trained. in such a way that just by simply looking or maybe maintaining the equipment, we can offer up suggestions for upgrades to help improve that productivity, efficiency, and safety that we've been talking about.

I don't expect my customers to be the experts by any means on when it comes to loading dock equipment and hopefully that's where we can take that concern and that work off of their plate and help them understand what is available for upgrades. Oh that's well said. Is there anything we missed, Alan, as it relates to upgrades or anything that uh facility managers can do or anything that Right Hide offers?

Sure. Um you've just brought another uh idea to mind for me here in regards to uh working with those facility managers. One thing we do, whether it be a right-height sales rep or a technician, we can create an offer up, an actual deliverable to our customers. That would be a right-height survey.

So imagine I'm going to the loading dock and I'm going to survey the loading dock and see exactly what equipment you have there and maybe what equipment you don't have there if we're looking at maybe upgrading to some safety features. with that survey, you can utilize that as an instant type of report to understand what the priority should be for you and your company moving forward, whether it be this quarter, next quarter, next year, whatever that might be.

And it just gives some direction to our customers and helps them prioritize knowing what they want to button up first, second, third, and fourth, and et cetera, based on the budget and maybe the future budgets that they could have. That's awesome. But really a a plan that's tailored directly to that customer. Well, uh appreciate you being on the show here today, Alan. It was a pleasure. Likewise, appreciate it, Ken.

Alright listeners, be sure to follow RightHide on all social media platforms. Visit RightHight.com for additional information or to connect with a team member. If you enjoyed this episode of Write from the Source, be sure to subscribe on your preferred listening platform. channels. Want more supply chain logistics solutions for your facility? Is that right?