MHI Solutions Improving Supply Chain Performance
Product SpotlightThe loading dock is often overlooked, despite its key function between the trailer and the warehouse. MHI’s Loading Dock Equipment Manufacturers (LODEM) group is helping to improve the industry from within while making others aware of this important link in the overall material handling ecosystem.
Helping others understand this role is vital with the changes occurring throughout the material handling world. Docks are not immune and are often impacted by the changes in other phases. LODEM not only works to amplify this role, but also to tackle its own issues like safety standards, industry data and technological innovations.
This takes plenty of coordination within the dock equipment segment, especially when it comes to developing and implementing safety standards. “It’s always a bit of a conflict when you have competitors collaborating on safety standards or analyzing trends,” said Brett Lindstrom, LODEM chair and director of product management for dock equipment at MHI member Systems LLC. “However, we’re focused on improving our collaboration to better serve the overall market and help to create a safer work environment for dock employees.”
LODEM creates a variety of materials to support safety standards, including ANSI standards and quick reference guides specific to loading dock areas, said Amanda Yaworsky, LODEM vice chair and sales operation manager with MHI member DL Manufacturing. These resources are designed to help industry members ensure that their operations meet the highest safety standards.
DL Manufacturing’s AeroTec AC helps workers remain cool while unloading a trailer. The device takes air‑conditioned air and circulates it at a high volume.
Modernization and Industry Data
Safety and standards have been a moving target as the loading dock sector undergoes—and is impacted by— changes. “There’s a lot of modernization happening in the industry, such as automation and improved technology,” Yaworsky said. “We want to ensure that our industry keeps up with the broader material handling industry.”
Connectivity and data integration are making their way to the docks, too, reflecting this broader trend in material handling. “We live in a world of a wealth of data, and everything is connected nowadays,” Lindstrom said. “Consumers want everything with their operations to have useful data, whether integrated with the dock equipment or software they’re using for logistics.”
Automation and building management systems, vital to the economics of a modern warehouse, play a role on the loading dock, too. “Keeping track of what’s happening inside the building, such as which doors are open and whether product is moving through those doors, is essential for efficiency,” Yaworsky said.
Yet the role that a loading dock can play in automation is often forgotten. Yaworsky, Lindstrom and others participated in a ProMat 2025 seminar: “Why the Loading Dock is a Critical but Forgotten Piece of the Automation Puzzle.”
“If you go into warehouses, looking at all material handling, you’ll see elaborate setups of pulling and packing inventory. It’s all very impressive, but when it comes to the loading dock, you need human interaction,” Lindstrom said. “You need people to ensure the trailer is there and secured.”
New technologies can automate some of that and help solve the workforce shortages.
“I don’t think the dock is any different than the rest of manufacturing or material handling,” Lindstrom said. “But turnover among dock personnel requires making your equipment easy to use. An autonomous operation can reduce the number of staff needed.”
He cites one customer who had an employee whose sole job was to interact with the drivers coming in. When that employee left, the company automated that task. “Once they connected their dock online and used the software, now the drivers can automatically see what dock they need to go to and when their loading/unloading is complete.”