Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1498036
palletcentral.com AUTOMATING Women are now taking on greater responsibilities within the tradition- ally male-dominated pallet industry. By Caryn Smith T he workplace of human-like robots is still a far-off reality, but robotic automation is making its way into industrial wood-processing production, including the pallet industry. Industrial robots (replacing humans) are being used primarily in mass production lines in the automotive sector in welding, molding plastics, and often manipulating heavy, sharp objects. ey are usually separated into their own area for safety reasons. e use of Cobots (collaborating with humans) are now common in diverse settings, used to perform tasks in collaboration with workers. ey specialize in task-driven work, like carrying and fetching WOOD Technology materials, conducting inspections, assembling tasks, screwing parts, etc. ey are easy to program and aff ordable. For pallet companies, a more effi cient use of technology involves automation to increase production, especially with increasing manufacturing labor shortages, with no end in sight. e Bureau of Labor & Statistics reports that at least 750,000 industrial job openings remain, still 50% higher than pre-pandemic. e National Association of Manufacturers study with Deloitte Insights, estimate the likelihood of fi ling these production-type jobs is narrowing with Boomer workers retiring, leaving vacancies and younger generations uninterested in this work. ey project a gap of 2.1 million unfi lled manufacturing jobs by 2030 due to a combination of skills gap and the stagnant workforce. 44 PalletCentral • March-April 2023 Digital Blocks: iStock/miketea; Line Art: iStock/kingwin