Cioffi: Takeaways from 2022 OTR tire conference

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — What a better way to spend a few days than to do it in the Florida sunshine at a well-regarded tire event with a group of friendly and industry-savvy participants.

I had the honor of attending the Tire Industry Association (TIA) Off-the-Road Tire Conference, held Feb. 23-26 in Miramar, along with more than 400 delegates representing manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers throughout the tire industry.

While several industry trends and topics were discussed, here are three of the most significant from the prospective of a hiring manager, in no specific order:

1. Automation
Gene Marks, a writer for Forbes, Inc. and Entrepreneur magazines, illustrated how automation is taking over the automotive and tire industries, including demonstrations of several robots specialized in warehouse packaging that are able to replace humans.

One such robot — "Stretch" from Boston Dynamics — is a worker that doesn't call in sick or not show up, and is available for as little as $75,000. An excerpt from Boston Dynamics literature on the robot reads: "Meet Stretch, a prototype of our new robot designed to automate box-moving tasks in warehouses and distribution centers. Stretch's mobile base allows it to go to where repetitive box-lifting is required — unloading trucks, building pallets of boxes and order building."

With companies' inability to keep themselves staffed in our current climate, the ability to automate alleviates an overabundant workload created by the gap in workers. The reality of an automated world is now. His presentation expressed the ever-growing need to transition with the times.

2. Mental health
Those who have attended past OTR conferences are familiar with the daily safety tip, delivered every morning by Klinge Holdings.

As someone who performs less hands-on work, these safety tips rarely appeal to me. I do respect tech positions, as without them, I wouldn't be able to do what I do. They are the engine of our industry.

That being said, I was blown away by the first safety tip for this year's conference being about mental health. With experience starting several business endeavors and running teams, I can relate to mental health being impacted over the last few years.

All organizations need to take this into account, as we are running our teams pretty hard and pretty lean. It doesn't take much to see that our industry is also not in the best shape either as the average American falls short on physical health to pair with the stress of daily life and work.

The standard American diet, social media consumption, indolence, COVID-19 — just to name a few — all contribute to our mental health situation worsening. In fact, the presentation showed that, according to the National Institute of Mental Illness, 21% of the workforce have had some sort of mental health issue in the past year.

I was blown away about it being potentially that high. I was skeptical about it until I reflected upon myself and realized how I personally went through a situation that impacted my ability of being on the team and working to my full potential.

The presentation reminded us to be aware of that and be transparent about how you feel.

There is always someone there to can talk with.

3. Shortages
On the first day at the conference — the day that Russia invaded Ukraine — Kevin Rohlwing, TIA's senior vice president of training, delivered his economic forecast. This would put further pressure on the chip market and on raw materials, he said.

The uncertainty of the war makes it difficult to grasp the long-term impact of these events as numerous manufacturers subsequently have suspended or pulled production from Russia or are planning to.

The war is sure to complicate the industry and only continue shortages as a whole, but the age of those involved in the industry also is a concern.

We need to do more to build our bench. Most of the manufacturers' reps I spoke with at the conference told me how lean their organizations are. We have an amazing industry, and I believe after having record profit years, most companies have the capability of expanding their head counts and should.

We need to take more action and pass down institutional knowledge from one generation to the next. There seems to be no relief in sight. We need to take it upon ourselves in the industry to find a work-around to our shortages.

A huge thanks to LaKisha Pindell, Rohlwing, Mason Hess and the rest of the TIA team for organizing and hosting such a great event.

I look forward to attending next year's OTR Tire Conference, scheduled Feb. 22-25 at the Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, Ariz.

With how quickly things change across the world, we'll have more interesting topics to discuss.