Everywhere you look nowadays there are help wanted signs hanging on doors and in windows. The “shortage” of help is causing backlogs and service issues in many areas of commerce throughout the country. The reasons for the lack of willing and able workers are many, but the ultimate effect is that there is work to be done and nobody interested in doing it. The precast industry is not immune to worker shortages. It has been an issue simmering at a low boil well before the world went into a tailspin with the pandemic. One solution to worker shortages is already known by the precast industry and other segments of business as well. The solution is automation. The workforce is no longer willing or interested in filling positions that are able to be completed by mechanical means. There is an evolution underway that will change the way we operate business. The change will take time and come with a price, as change always does, but the long-term benefits for both workers and businesses will outweigh the growing pains necessary to achieve a “modernized” workplace mentality. Whether a machine takes your food order or lays out a precast concrete bed according to specs, the worker shortage is fueling momentum toward a more automated world.