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.