Ep. #41: Loading Dock Automation

Source features Ken Bowman. Commission Vice President of Marketing. loading dock. You're listening to right from the source. Expert insights productivity, energy savings, and environmental control. Your industrial or commercial facilities.

You are listening to Right from the Source, and on today's episode we have Ken Bowman joining us. Hi, Ken. Hey Ken. So today's topic is supply chain technologies impact at the loading dock. But before we get into that. First a little background about yourself. What is your job title and what's your background with Right Height? So I started with Right Height in nineteen ninety-five in a sales role and gradually

took on various roles throughout the organization in the sales and distribution end and now the marketing and product development end of the business for Ride Height. So what's kind of your specialty and focus? Innovation. Yeah. That's my my main focus is innovating new products and new markets for right now.

Any hobbies or passions outside of work? For me, yeah, I do a lot of things. I have a lot of hobbies. My newest hobby is pickleball. So I play a lot of pickleball. I've been playing for three years. But being that this is my second or third podcast can What are your passions in high? Well it's gotta be keeping up after my my two year old son. That's uh I feel like that's a full time job in and of itself, but love watching sports.

Love trying to stay up on all the trends with marketing as best I can just to make sure that we're given everything that we've got for right height to make sure that uh people know who we are. So with today's topic. We're gonna we're gonna dive into that here with supply chain. Customers definitely just like I'm always looking for new marketing techniques and things like that, customers in your field are always looking for new efficiencies and technologies.

So what kinds of supply chain technology is right hide seeing right now and and hearing about when it comes to the loading dock? Oh my gosh, the trough of technologies deep with the supply chain disruptions and labor. issues that all our customers are having. They're turning to technologies across the organization, whether it's Inside their facility with robotics and automation to help streamline a process.

to improve their offering to the customers or what we're here to talk about today is more technologies that are affecting the loading dock whether it's AGVs, automated guided vehicles, sometimes referred to as LGVs, laser guided vehicles. to autonomous yard spotters, that technology is evolving. So that i in and around the loading dock, there are technologies that our customers are beginning to bring to their facilities.

So obviously right height is pretty synonymous with things like the the dock lock and levelers and so things that people might not necessarily think high tech when it comes to their operations. But so how is right height? Really fitting into this evolving technology space.

like you said, can much of our customer base might look at a loading dock door and say, Oh, it's a loading dock door, right? But when you start implementing technologies like A G Vs that have up to or over thirty sensors on one automatic guided vehicle. Then the way that vehicle transitions the loading dock into a trailer. is very important for the process to ultimately work and succeed and bring the efficiencies and productivity.

that they're looking to bring, right? So in many cases it's the loading deck is thought of of maybe it's just the loading deck, but in in essence the loading dock design practices and the equipment solutions, the way we apply the equipment to the specific application is very important to the overall success of these type of products.

So you would say that right height is more than a manufacturer, more than a supplier in these kinds of relationships? We've got hundreds of years of loading dock design and equipment application expertise. That we have at our customers' disposal so that whoever the vendor is on the technology side. that might not have expertise in loading dock design or equipment application we bring to the table to be a trusted partner in that category.

So I you've kinda touched on this a little bit already, but you know, the dock design and equipment applications are definitely a a big deal when it comes to Incorporating these new technologies that we're seeing in the supply chain, whether it's you know AGVs, LGVs, and and and the like.

Um what kinds of situations can arise when those critical decisions are made without careful consideration and as right height had to come in and and clean up some decisions? Yeah, that's kinda where we're at in the in the the evolution of technologies around the dock is the customers invest heavily with partners on the robotics side, the software side. to make a project of this nature come to light and then think, okay, how are we gonna than use it going over and through a dock door.

And in many cases were brought in to uh these projects in maybe the twelfth hour to kind of save the day. That's one of the pitfalls that we're seeing. But again, this is all of this technology is evolving in front of our eyes. And uh we're just trying to get out in front of these projects early so that we can bring efficiencies to the to the commissioning of a given project as opposed to coming in on the backside.

So I definitely know that right height, obviously the the mantra is there and strong, always looking ahead. So that's something that uh as new technologies develop to help improve that supply chain. Right height, you're you're constantly looking at those trends. Are you developing products right now or tweaking existing products right now? We already have products that are suited for this application.

Um one example would be our stabilizing uh vehicle restraint, which creates not only a safe and secure connection to the trailer at the dock, but it also s stabilizes The trailer while it's being loaded and unloaded. I mentioned those 3D sensors on an AGV. It's important that they're not. bouncing around while they're going in and out of a trailer. So our stabilizing vehicle restraint is a big part of the solutions that we might give to an AGV application.

So always looking ahead for sure, but we already have products that we can bring to the market to really help in these applications.

Yeah, and certainly obviously that's just an example of one product that could help out. And I know that every every application is is unique and different and there's really no one size fits all approach. Yeah, that's part of the issue. I mean what Because we're in an evolving technology space with these supply chain technologies, and they have their own set of challenges around autonomous vehicles.

the thought is, oh, it's just a loading dock, but what happens in a dock design project is if you change one component of a dock design, in many cases that will affect it'll have implications on three or four other things around that dock design. So the hundreds and hundreds of years of doc design experience and equipment application, I can't stress that enough. It's just not doc design. It's how to properly apply the equipment into the design for these projects is crucial.

And the reason why I think we need to be involved early on Ken, you've done a great job really of showcasing why the loading dock is a critical link for our listeners and especially those who are considering automation along that supply chain. So what can they do from here? What are some next steps? Yeah, what I would what I would recommend if in fact you have looked at or looking at or even maybe

in the middle of starting an automation project at the loading dock. I would look at Right Height as a trusted partner in part of the team to help make that a successful project for your company. Like you look at the AGV vendor, like you look at your software vendors, right high can be your trusted partner.

at the portal that loading dock to properly design it and put the equipment in for the whatever solution you're looking at. We want to be at the table on the front end to help our great customers bring that high level project to a successful completion. So Right Height should be involved pretty early on. Early on. We just built our new corporate headquarters downtown Milwaukee. We've got a live

Loading dock area. We all of our docks are up and running. We have several dock designs there that are applicable for. any type of autonomous type work that you might be looking at, whether it's inside or outside the building, we can have you to uh Milwaukee bring your A G V vendor, bring your autonomous yard vendor and we can

Have some very fruitful conversations around design and equipment while you're here. Awesome. Is there anything that we missed that you wanted to cover off on? The message is Call us early. Come visit Milwaukee. We can be an equal partner in your project. Just as you look at your AGV vendors, your autonomous yard vendors, your software vendors, we can be part of that.

Well hey, Ken, thanks for being on again today. Thanks. Appreciate your time. All right, and for you listeners out there, be sure to follow Right Height on all social media platforms. Visit right.com for additional information or to connect with the channel. If you enjoyed this episode of Write from the Source, be sure to subscribe on your preferred listening platform and follow Right Height's social media channels. Want more supply chain logistics solutions for your facility? Is it right?