{"id":3264,"date":"2020-12-22T11:14:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T17:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?p=3264"},"modified":"2021-03-26T13:44:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T18:44:21","slug":"automation-is-key-to-addressing-labor-issues-both-old-and-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/22\/automation-is-key-to-addressing-labor-issues-both-old-and-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Automation Is Key to Addressing Labor Issues\u2014Both Old and New"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Staffing warehouses and distribution centers has been an especially difficult task in recent years, with historically low unemployment rates and growing wages fueling stiff competition for talented workers. Now, with COVID-19 and social distancing added to the mix, that task has become more challenging and complex than ever before, forcing many companies to embrace emerging technologies sooner than they had originally planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It certainly is true that the coronavirus-induced recession has put millions of Americans out of work, but to managers at most warehouses and distribution centers, the labor supply doesn\u2019t seem particularly robust.
\u201cThere are many parts of the country where, despite the high unemployment rate, finding people who want to do warehouse work or distribution-center work is still a challenge,\u201d said Ed Romaine, vice president of marketing and business development for MHI member Conveyco Technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romaine said the available labor supply includes millions of workers recently laid off from hard-hit sectors such as hotels and restaurants. They may take a warehouse job as a stopgap measure, but they\u2019re likely to leave once those industries rebound. So, companies experiencing sustained growth can\u2019t count on them as a long-term solution, he said.
To spend considerable time and resources recruiting and onboarding these workers, only to see them depart when the pandemic abates, amounts to a fool\u2019s errand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not trained to work in a warehouse, so you know that the moment they see opportunities elsewhere, they\u2019re gone,\u201d Romaine said.
John M. Hill, director of MHI member St. Onge, put it just as succinctly: \u201cFinding skilled labor\u2014labor that knows the difference between a warehouse and an outhouse\u2014is going to continue to be a problem, with or without COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staffing warehouses and distribution centers has been an especially difficult task in recent years, with historically low unemployment rates and growing wages fueling stiff competition for talented workers. Now, with COVID-19 and social distancing added to the mix, that task has become more challenging and complex than ever before, forcing many companies to embrace emerging …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[47,1664,419,1030,1904,870,1616,434,442,32,1902,1907,31,243,1287,33,1905,1906],"class_list":["post-3264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solutions-spotlight","category-technology","tag-agv","tag-asrs","tag-automated-guided-vehicles","tag-automated-storage-and-retrieval-system","tag-conveyco-technologies","tag-ed-romaine","tag-john-hill","tag-mhi-annual-industry-report","tag-mhi-solutions","tag-mhi-solutions-community","tag-mhi-solutions-magazine","tag-mhisolutionsmag","tag-rupesh-narkar","tag-st-onge","tag-swisslog","tag-swisslog-logistics","tag-vertical-lift-module","tag-vlm"],"yoast_head":"\nAutomation Is Key to Addressing Labor Issues\u2014Both Old and New - MHI Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/22\/automation-is-key-to-addressing-labor-issues-both-old-and-new\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Automation Is Key to Addressing Labor Issues\u2014Both Old and New - MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Staffing warehouses and distribution centers has been an especially difficult task in recent years, with historically low unemployment rates and growing wages fueling stiff competition for talented workers. 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