America’s workforce is aging. According to AARP, nearly half of new jobs in the U.S. last year were filled by workers 55 years or older. Due largely to ongoing labor shortages, this disproportionately small demographic accounted for more than 1.4 million of the 2.9 million new jobs in 2018, many of them in the fast-growing sector of warehousing and distribution centers.
Industrial facilities have generally embraced labor-reducing automated equipment inside the plant, but one area of operations typically lags behind. All too often, workers on loading docks still use manually operated equipment and procedures.