Ep. #38: Which Vehicle Restraint is Right for You?

This episode. Now today's dock lock is so much Mm-hmm. productivity, energy savings, and environmental control.

Listeners, today we've got Jake Wyand here visiting us. He's gonna be talking about vehicle restraints with us on Right from the Source. Jake, welcome to the program. Thanks. It's good to be here. So Jake, first off, what's your title with Right Height? So I'm a I'm a regional sales vice president. I've been with the company uh a little over twenty years. Started in nineteen ninety eight, so uh

I've been around the block, for sure. Awesome. So definitely a lot of experience. You know your way around a vehicle restraint. I do indeed. Yep. Anything and everything right height and then some So besides right height, any hobbies, passions outside of work? Yeah, I uh I've got uh four teenagers.

Uh we got three that are in late stage high school, one in college. So yeah, one of my hobbies and passions is trying to figure out how to pay for that. Uh uh otherwise we uh like to get on the water on a little lake east of Cincinnati where I live. passion wise, I've gotten involved in a sort of an ancestry project lately. One of my relatives invited me into a a big family tree online and

sort of chasing ghosts, I guess, if you will. I was able to to go to a a farm from my uh fourth great grandfather last weekend and march around the farm and actually find uh where he's buried on the property was kinda cool. Uh not only I him but his son, so

uncovering some of that family history was is really cool. It's gotten me kinda stoked lately about that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's great to get out and kinda connect with some of those roots. Yeah. Yeah. I think as you get older it, you know, you you wanna know where you came from. Uh well one of the places Right Height has come from, I would say besides the leveler obviously with the name Reighthite, that's kinda where it all started, but

One of the you know, vehicle restraints obviously the dock lock is uh is kind of what made Wright Height the the company that it is today. That's one of of many different vehicle restraint options that are out there. Can you give us a brief note? explanation of what really a vehicle restraint is and and what it does. Sure. Yeah. You know, people s use the word dock lock the way that, you know, us as consumers would use the word band aid or popsicle or frisbee, right?

And I think you don't realize when you're referring to those devices or or objects that those are actually brand names, right? You sorta use it ubiquitously to describe any one of those. My kids chased down the ice cream man way back when, you know. They wanted a popsicle, they didn't want ice cream on a stick, right? And that's the way that people talk about

vehicle restraints is they refer to them as a dock lock. You engage a dock lock, you don't engage the vehicle restraint, quote unquote. And so it was really a a an industry that ReitHype created through the late seventies and actually brought it to market as you know in in nineteen eighty. And in doing so, really what they were doing was changing what was then the technology of the time, right? Up until then the only restraint quote unquote that I think you could

Are you the merits of that word was a was a wheel chock. And for the most part everybody realized that wheel chocks didn't work and that's what really inspired our founder, Art White, to invent this concept of the dock lock. You know, dock locks can take these days all different types of shapes and sizes.

Certainly the wheel chalk is still the minimum requirement by OSHA by their nineteen ten seventy-eight mandate. A lot of customers will take the next step beyond that and utilize light communication systems. Uh we in fact actually have a package where we provide light communication systems that are sort of prepared to take a dock lock, you know, bolt it on. That modular approach is something that you'll see from us throughout our product line.

being able to start with something small and grow it in bits and pieces so that you're not having to commit so much of your budget all at one time, but you can grow in retrofit as your needs change. So that's really the the sort of Intro to Dock Locks. I would say that these days you have a lot of different variety to choose from, both from right height and elsewhere. But really the the core of them all boil down to to four categories. You're either going to have a rotating hook

style dock lock, which is still probably the the most prevalent in the marketplace. It's certainly still our flagship model. Uh the rotating hook offers some benefits in the fact that it really addresses all of the types of dock accidents that you would see, whether they be horizontally oriented, whether they be uh vertically oriented.

sort of oriented, you know, the truck pulling away versus potentially collapsing on its landing gear. That's what I mean by vertical versus horizontal separation. There's uh also wheel based restraints. That's something that Right Height pioneered. uh back in the mid nineties uh because so many trucks on the road

really wouldn't be compatible with a traditional uh rear impact guard style dock lock. And in that way right height brought about the idea of actually engaging the wheels of the truck. So so far we haven't seen a truck that, you know, doesn't have wheels on it. Although I think In Germany they they use a a box style truck that disengages from the the chassis and

is you know, sort of stands on legs. So I guess you you could put an asterisk on that. Otherwise, you know, the four different categories. The third one would be a a vertical barrier type restraint, which is, you know, a little bit more economically oriented.

We would typically see that, you know, in customers that have large distribution centers or a large footprint and they want to address the core tenants of keeping the trailer attached to the building, but maybe don't quite have the budget to to go all the way to what we would consider to be the the sort of gold standard, right?

Still functional, still better than wheel using wheel chocks for sure, but not necessarily gaining all of the advantage of of what we would call the the original rotating hook style restraint. And then the last one is a stabilizing dock lock and this is something that uh more and more we're we're seeing utilization of, particularly in heavy industries, you know, steel, pulp and paper.

industries that really weigh down the trailer and the motion of the forklift in and out of the trailer is gonna cause that trailer to move about uh quite a bit. You know what we see probably the most usage for that particular design these days is the uh emergence of automation at the loading dock.

Uh so you've probably made other podcasts uh with some of my cohorts where they're talking about the idea of uh automated guided vehicles, laser guided vehicles that now are actually coming not just within the warehouse but all the way to the dock and into the trailer.

Uh those tend to be heavy designs that that will move the trailer as they load them and they also are very susceptible to interruption by the movement of the trailer. So the more you can keep that trailer in place, keep it vertically stabilized. Uh better for the process, better for the product, better for the people, uh by not creating you know repetitive sort of motion-related injuries.

Wow, just naming the different types of restraints that are out there that can be kind of overwhelming for somebody to to think about. Couple that with all the innovations that I'm sure each one of those kinds of restraints that you mentioned there. it can be quite a bit for somebody to to look at and kind of sift through.

So short of talking to a rep right away, where could somebody who has a a loading dock uh get started? What what should they do? I think, you know, certainly you want to engage a rep, but you're right. I you know, me personally, I tend to do research ahead of contacting a a salesperson, you know, in my personal dealings these days and I'm sure that, you know, a lot of our clients and customers do the same thing.

Uh I'd say the a great place to start is on our website, right.com. And uh the best way to to look at that is, you know, we have a section related to uh restraints. Uh you can look through the literature. Uh we have some guides that help you assess what exactly it is that are the the parameters that we use when we make recommendations.

Some of those are related to, you know, the types of traffic and types of operations. So one of those I would say is live loading versus dropping the trailer, right?

live loading is when the tractor or the cab of the truck is still underneath uh the front of the trailer. And so really what you're worried about in that situation is the trailer pulling away under power, right? There's a miscommunication the uh the truck driver departs before he's supposed to and the concern being that the forklift would be left half on and half off of the trailer and and the ensuing uh incident.

Uh other types of concerns that uh customers wanna address or want to uh have knowledge of is dropping the trailer, right? So live versus dropping the trailer or live loading versus a um spotted trailer. will have its own unique uh issues. before I mentioned the vertical versus horizontal separation when we talk about live loading it's a it's purely horizontal separation, but when you spot the trailer you can have horizontal as well as vertical separation. So

The horizontal part of that would be the trailer scooting away from the dock with the repeated entry and exit of the forklift. The vertical separation would be the collapse of the landing gear. So Those two are going to really sort of guide us when we make a recommendation and you certainly want to have knowledge of that.

before engaging a representative so that you would have those sort of answers to help them help you, if you will. I would say you also want to look at the types of trailers that you're servicing or types of trucks. because in many cases you could use lift gates on the back. Lift gates are typically not gonna have the rear impact guard for us to engage to.

Uh you could also have stepledge trucks which are common in local delivery operations, you know, bakeries for example. So those are the kinds of trucks that you're not gonna be able to engage with a traditional rear impact guard. And the more that you know about your own operation, the more a representative's gonna be able to help you with that.

And in utilizing that chart on our website that I spoke of earlier or the literature that we have on the website, you'll have knowledge of a lot of that to make that interaction with the representative, you know, more fruitful when it happens.

So I know one of the things too is especially if they go to to right height dot com to to research vehicle restraints, they're probably gonna see some uh literature on there about a package of uh loading dock equipment that can just come with the the restraint itself. Obviously, you know, a little bit of a a higher price point potentially, but you talk a little bit about what a package around just a vehicle restraint itself might look like.

Sure, y you know, we we really use the restraint these days as more than just engaging the truck, but you're right, it also functions as sort of the hub of the operation of the equipment in general. And it can take a number of different, you know, shapes and sizes, right? One of the best ways to integrate a restraint into your current operation is to interlock it with your leveler or with your door.

Uh we find a lot of customers find value in that because the more that you can make that uh restraint sort of a core tenant of the sequence of operation. Specifically, you know, we want to make sure that the restraint is engaged before the dock leveler can be deployed. Uh that way we enforce the use of the restraint that's at the facility.

we can also sort of reverse that where the leveler has to be stored before the restraint can be disengaged. So that's one way to to do that. When it comes to a pedestrians type operation, if you want to keep people away from the edge of the loading dock. You can integrate the restraint with the door operation. You can also integrate the restraint with what we call a dock guardian, which is a barrier type system that's designed to keep pedestrians and fork trucks away from the edge of the dock.

And in that way the guardian cannot be opened until the restraint is engaged. And likewise the truck can't depart, i.e., you can't release the truck until the barrier is placed again. So that sort of comprehensive approach to it is something that we're very well coached in. We work with a lot of large customers. in creating those repeatable environments across their network to make sure that uh we're really looking at the entirety of the operation and not just one little small piece.

And obviously uh any kind of sale that you could make is great, but it's really about creating that that safe and productive environment at the same time. So what else can the right vehicle restraint? bring to a loading dock operation. Can you get into some details on that? Yeah, I mentioned, you know, originally when this device was brought about forty years ago, it was purely uh to keep the truck attached to the building. You know, these days we're really using it

as the hub of the dock operation. And specifically we've expanded the idea of the restraint and safety at the dock. to almost be fifty feet on either side of that dock wall. We want to encourage communication at the dock. We want to encourage pedestrian safety at the dock. We've introduced an entire line of products that we call the View Systems VU. Uh and the idea there is that we're not only protecting again the truck from departing the building

But we're encouraging that communication with uh like corner view and leveler view systems. Those are just sort of redundant communications so that the red and green lights that are on the inside of the building become very, very obvious to the forklift driver.

it's sort of a status at a glance, if you will, as opposed to having to look back at a control box to see whether or not it's safe to to enter or exit the trailer. When it comes to pedestrians, that fifty foot barrier or buffer on either side of the wall were actually queuing the pedestrian on the inside of the dock

as to whether or not there's occupancy inside the trailer, right? So e everybody who's been in a uh warehouse these days has seen the blue light that's mounted on the forklift and it chases the forklift around the facility. And the idea is is that when you see the blue light you know that there's a forklift nearby.

and you know not to get in the pathway of that lift truck. Well, the challenge at the dock level is that when that forklift goes into the trailer, the blue light disappears into the trailer with them and then you're sort of back where you started again. So Uh one of the the products in that view line that I was talking about is the pedestrian view. Which essentially illuminates uh the leveler with a very vibrant blue light.

anytime there's motion inside the trailer. So it really helps to sort of complete the circle and to uh to echo and make sure that that blue light system is really comprehensive and works throughout the facility, including at the dock.

On the outside of the building we have a system that we call the approach view and unfortunately it was brought about because of incidents uh related to what we're seeing uh these days on on what we call boots on the ground accidents. That means that somebody from inside the facility or just a pedestrian in general uh walking around on the drive approach.

where the uh the truck and trailer are operating. Should they get caught in between the the trailer and the dock, you can obviously see that that's uh you know, a an obviously a big concern and and it's and it's heartbreaking to see when those accidents happen because they do make the news there was one in my area uh uh just in the last couple of weeks and uh it really goes to speak about

what right height is about and trying to look ahead. You know, our motto is always looking ahead. But what we developed is concept called the approach view so that that blind sort of moment uh where somebody maybe isn't paying attention on the outside of the building, we create an alert to a backing trailer to make sure that we catch their attention uh to let them know that there's actually uh an impending danger of a trailer backing up behind them.

So that's a couple of ways that uh you know we we really think outside the box, uh ways that Right Hype brings innovation to a market that we created. that you may not see in the other vehicle restraints out there. Notice how I didn't say dock locks out there, right? We other things that we're doing is enhancing productivity. So safety's one thing, productivity's another thing that we can help encourage.

One of the things that a lot of our customers don't consider is that this can really be the hub of a data collection capability system, right? We're really into the development of smart equipment in our Internet of Things platform. And one of the ways that that takes shape as it relates to dock locks. is that, you know, when you engage the restraint

Uh and when you release the restraint, you're creating timestamps, right? We can utilize not only the the status of the sensors, but the timestamps that are created by those sensors to really package that all together and give a lot of insights to our customers. Uh as it relates to trailer turn time.

you know, which trailers are dwelling at the dock, which docks are open, which docks are, you know, available or not available at the moment, which ones have been dwelling too long need to have focus on them so that they can be turned and reduce any kind of uh detainage and demurage charges.

how many times those equipment have cycled so that you can look at maintaining the equipment on a usage basis as opposed to just purely on a three or a six month timeline. Right? Lastly, safety managers can utilize these to to look at ways that maybe there's been excessive overrides. Uh maybe they've had issues with trailers that are coming that are not compliant and they they need to look at that, right? So all of that is part of this holistic internet of things that Right Height is developing.

uh to help facility managers not just from a safety perspective but a productivity perspective, efficiencies in facility utilization, and just general equipment lifecycle management. That is quite a lot of advancement from the wheel chalk. I'm just kinda thinking about our topic today and vehicle restraints and how you've mentioned how it's really just the the hub for

for so much more that can be brought to a facility. Covering off on, you know, safety and then getting into productivity and the, you know, monitoring of of everything that a an internet of things, kind of this digital platform can help set up for a customer. What else should be considered when looking at vehicle restraints for for customers who are listening?

I think you really want to find a good partner that you're going to go down this road with. These days anything's available on the internet and uh it's easy to find a provider that says that, yeah, we can do that too, right? you really want to be with somebody that's done it before, particularly if you're going to look across your network and and try to make a large deployment of restraint. So from a local to a national basis.

choose wisely on on who you're going to partner with, right? Ideally that partner is going to have not only installation capabilities, but they're gonna have uh the ability to service that product down the line.

Nothing that you buy in an industrial environment is going to be maintenance free and you really need to make sure that you have a good partner that's going to be able to take care of that product for you. The last thing I would say is that you wanna make sure that that partner knows how to put the product in. in that the product, the dock lock, is truly considered in a holistic way as far as the installation to the building and to the system of which you are starting with.

And at right height, you know, we start with a forty point survey we do not ship a dock lock without having that survey which tells us exactly how it's going to be applied to the environment. We want to know what the bumper dimensions are, what the lip of the leveler is, what's the orientation of the trailer.

to the dock? Is it leaning towards the building or away from the building? I know there's there's forty more of those questions roughly. I mean how many did I say? I said four, so there's thirty six more of them are roughly that really help us have peace to know that when we put it out there

it's not going to fail when it's tested because the worst thing that you can do is to put a product in that gives you a false sense of security or to put a product in that you don't know how you're going to take care of it. and that it's uh going to work when you need it to work, right? So making sure that that partner is is both uh appropriate on the front end and in the long term, I would say, is the most critical.

And as you mentioned earlier, right height always looking ahead. I know that when it comes to the vehicle restraint too, once upon a time, before the, you know, Internet of Things and all those, you know, sensor capabilities to make that Really this just steel product smart uh essentially that was all kind of programmed in or ready to be programmed in at a at a future date. So truly always looking ahead on that aspect too of what can the facility do

three years from now, five years from now, it's not just here's a one stopgap solution kind of thing. Yeah, absolutely. And and I mentioned before, you know, starting with light communication, that's the most basic way to address safety at the dock. We can help with that and then when the customer's ready, we can bolt on the hardware to make it a restraint. When they want to make it smart, we can bolt on the hardware and the software to make it smart.

Uh when they want to address pedestrian safety, we can put that on as well. So really I I feel like that always looking ahead, it it applies in in a holistic sense to right height in the way that we approach innovation in general, but it appr it applies at a at a product level as well in our ability to to help the customer grow and to to fit their needs.

And not necessarily have to do it all at one time. Yeah. Well Jake, is there anything that you feel like we missed about vehicle restraints that you wanted to cover off on? I can't think of anything, uh, other than uh, you know, visit right height dot com if you're looking to start the journey.

and uh reach out to your local representative. They're a great resource to help you uh figure out what you need. Perfect. Well thanks so much Jake. Kind of stealing my outro line here, but that's just fine. So hey Jake Thanks for being on the program and uh be sure to follow RightHide on all social media platforms. Visit right.com for additional information or to connect with a team member. All right, thanks, Jake. Thank you.

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