Focus on flexibility
Traditional shelving using the entire room
Traditional moving aisle storage often called mobile storage is a tried and tested solution to increase the capacity of any static shelving system by removing the aisles and in its place inserting more shelving and racking.
To do this static shelving is mounted on mobile bases running on tracks on the floor In this scenario, Static shelving equates to 120 linear metes of storage using all the room space with five separate aisles.
Don't settle for "one size fits all " traditional office cupboards and filing cabinets. Opt instead for a more mixed approach between traditional and high density shelving to make best use of storage space.
Why lose out on the high costs of office space
You can gain just by changing your filing system and storage methods.
Many offices may be missing out by using traditional storage cabinets, often supplied by office furniture companies - experts in office furniture but not necessarily in office storage and filing.
When dealing with office furniture companies, their space planners' answer to growing storage needs will generally be desk pedestals, filing cabinets or cupboards supplied from their own product range.
But this "one size fits all" policy isn't always the most efficient solution. Instead, if similar sized items can be stored together, shelves can be tailored to suit the items, with very little wasted space. That is not to say traditional filing cabinets are bad; they are right in the right place, say where space is limited.
However, in premises where where space can be made available, a mixed approach between traditional and high density shelving can significantly improve your storage capacity. This can be done by reducing the amount of cupboards and filing cabinets and introducing a mobile filing shelving or rotary filing cabinets.
Comparing storage solutions
An example of space saving in a typical office is in the case of the office filing cupboard. It is 500mm deep to store leverarch files that are 270mm deep. Why not have 300mm deep shelves offering a 40% space saving on one bay?
Another example is a filing cabinet which will store 2 linear metres of filing. This could instead be stored in a standard bay of shelving that will hold three and a half times more filing in the same footprint!
There are ranges of shelving and high density filing systems that will add value to any office and in return increase space utilization many times over. A mixed "shades of grey" approach is a winning solution and offers flexibility to meet changing office needs. At what cost ?
Mobile filing storage sounds expensive. But this isn't necessarily true. At worst, it costs the same per linear metre as traditional filing storage methods, and in many cases the cost is much less. There often is a break-even point when high density storage systems come into their own. And when this happens we can release lost space in the workplace for other options of use, may it be more storage or more desks or both.
