Q & A about Mobile Shelving

Where?

The short answer to this question would be because it’s practical. As mentioned above, whether you’re overseeing an office, an HR department, a library or a hospital’s archive of medical records, mobile units will come in handy and offer you the most practical solution to high density filing and archiving.

The best thing about mobile shelving units is that they can increase storage capacity by 100% all the while using the same floor space as the conventional static shelving. On the other hand, if you need the floor space, then you can keep the same loading capacity but cut the space used by shelving in half. In other words, whether you’re looking for a 100% capacity increase or a 50% decrease in space usage, mobile shelving systems are your answer.

In addition to offering this great choice between capacity and space, mobile systems also lead to a reduction in costs, both in storage and office running costs and if that’s not reason enough, these systems are highly versatile, allowing you to store so much more than files and papers.

Where?

Mobile shelving units can be used everywhere and that’s not an exaggeration. They don’t come flat packed, so every system is designed to suit specific spaces and accommodate particular needs, which is why these systems are so versatile.

• Offices – regardless of the great focus many businesses put on paperless operations, most of the office environments still have to deal with great volumes of working files and mobile storage shelving is the best suited solution for an office. Such a system can be configured as to store suspension files, box files, papers of any size and so on, helping workers keep everything in the same place and easily accessible.
• Banks & Building Societies – as with office environments, banks and building societies still rely heavily on paper and they are obliged by law to keep customers’ records for a certain period of time. In addition, bank employees may have to refer to these files quite often for the regular operations of the financial institution. Due to the large volume of paper records that banks and building societies must face, mobile shelving units are the ideal solution.
• Solicitors & Legal Offices – whether lawyers and solicitors keep files due to legislation requirements or because they need to refer to them during the settlement of a case, the fact is that this type of environment also needs effective file storage and as the floor space is usually never enough, mobile systems are the perfect answer.
• Hospitals – medical records and hospital admissions are still kept on paper and it’s a known fact that space is a considerable issue within hospitals, reason for which mobile shelving systems are a great solution. Medical records are vital for the smooth running of a hospital or surgery, so having a shelving system that allows high volume storage within limited space with easy accessibility it’s truly essential.
• Libraries & Archives – you won’t find more files or papers in any one environment than in a library or an archive. Mobile storage shelving in this type of environments provide the most practical and effective solution to both the high volume of items to store and the generally restricted storage space.

Which?

Although mobile shelving solutions are basically relying on the same key concept, shelving units mounted on floor tracks, there are a few variations that help make these systems versatile, so it’s good to know all your options before choosing a mobile storage shelving unit for your business.

The first major distinction that can be made is between sliding bays and move-a-side units. Sliding bays are mounted on floor tracks which are perpendicular to the back wall and they can be slid onward along their depth. As opposed to this, the move-a-side units are mounted on floor tracks parallel to the back wall they slide along their width. The latter version is best suitable for areas with very limited space.

Another distinction can be made between hand operated units, with the usual push/pull system, and mechanically assisted wheel systems, which are more suitable for applications where a larger number of bays is required. Last, but not least, especially for office environments, you get to choose from a range of decorative front panels, which allows you to match the mobile shelving to the surrounding environment. To that extent, for general offices, you could go a beech or wooden finish, while for hospitals or archives, an all steel look may be more appropriate.

How it works?

As already mentioned, mobile shelving systems are bays mounted on floor tracks, so their operational process is quite simple: because bays move along these tracks, there is a need for only one aisle. Therefore, when access to a certain items is needed, regardless of its location, the mobile shelving units can be moved aside until the needed aisle is created.

In static shelving, between each two bays there had to be an aisle, so that you could actually get access to the either side of the bay, which means that for let’s say a run of 6 bays, you needed to leave enough space for 5 aisles. With mobile shelving systems, the bays are stuck together with them only separating when you need to create that one aisle, which means one of two things: you can either have the run of 6 bays in half the space or actually have double the bays in the same space.

Apart from freeing up floor space or helping increase storage capacity without the expanse of extra space, mobile shelving systems also enable smooth and quiet operation, due to their design and functional mechanism. Moreover, because mobile shelving is a highly adaptable system, having this type of storage installed will prove a highly sustainable solution.

At what cost?

When it comes to custom designed shelving solutions, it’s hard to talk prices, because each space and each environment has its own particularities, so the mobile shelving systems are not identical from one place to another. However, mobile storage shelving is not as expensive as one would think, especially if you take into account the cost reductions that it allows for on the long run.

The cost of the system depend on the size of the projects, the type of units and even the type of finish you choose, but the Rapid Racking Design team can supply you with move-a-side systems from as low as £985. The move-a-side solution is the simplest system of mobile shelving and it’s hand operated, but this isn’t to mean that mechanically assisted systems will cost you a fortune.

When considering the costs of mobile shelving units, you should really take into account the benefits as well, especially the ones referring to other costs, because this type of shelving will help you reduce office running costs and storage costs all together.