All about office shelving

Any modern office is equipped with shelving to accommodate current documentation and archives. First of all, an office rack should be roomy, but compact and convenient. Therefore, when choosing it, you need to cover all the nuances. The correct size, configuration and position of the rack will help you manage your workspace wisely.

Despite the fact that most actions and operations now take place in electronic form, information is processed and archived by special professional programs, it is still impossible to completely avoid the use of paper media. It is necessary to somehow systematize contracts, a card index, accounting and other documentation that is archived and collected.

The modern furniture market provides a huge selection of various shelving units. They differ in size, materials of manufacture and design. The most popular are metal office racks and wooden counterparts. The demand for plastic products is minimal.

Some requirements are put forward for shelving elements, concerning not only color and design solutions. Shelves in the interior can be considered as elements of room zoning, since this type of furniture, if necessary, serves as a partition between specific groups of employees or sectors, delimiting a single space.

The functionality of the shelving systems is assessed by:

• capacity;
• the possibility of using modules;
• the number of cells;
• calculated load;
• dimensions;
• installation method (stationary or mobile);
• accessibility (one / two-way).

For offices, shelving racks designed for light loads and small or large-sized items (boxes, documents, etc.) are suitable. Usually shelving units are installed within walking distance from workplaces. Like any modern furniture, a paper storage rack can be made in different colors, differ in design, materials, functionality and other characteristics. Shelf space is used in a variety of ways according to the ideas of a particular organization. Most often, they place office equipment, books, allocate space for folders, documentation and small office items.

When choosing a rack for documents in an office, one should take into account how many papers have to be placed there, and from this follows the calculation of the number of shelves and the carrying capacity of the rack. It depends on this parameter whether the shelves can withstand all the necessary documentation, whether they will not lose their shape under weight. Based on the above, the material from which the furniture is made is also selected.

Today, the most practical are office racks with shelves made of wood or metal. They are convenient to use in the premises of offices of different directions: archive, accounting, offices of employees and management. The design assumes temporary and long-term storage of documents, bulky boxes or small items. The cells in the rack can be symmetrically located and the same size or differ in their parameters.

For example, you can order filing cabinets with open and closed shelves, designed to store documents for general and limited access. Closed boxes are equipped with locks if desired.

Usually such furniture is made stationary. But it can be easily modified and moved based on the needs of the employees of the enterprise. It is advisable to purchase a rack with the ability to move it when employees use the same documentation while in a cramped room. For example, there is a constant shortage of space in HR departments and archives. Therefore, here mobile structures are not only important, but necessary.

But mobile racks are more expensive than stationary ones due to their complicated design. They are equipped with special rails or wheels installed instead of legs. Accordingly, they are set in motion in different ways: by means of an electromechanical mechanism or by manual action. There are actually many options for rack configurations, and they really save an impressive amount of space.

In small rooms, in addition to mobile ones, it is convenient to install desktop shelving. These structures also support a lot of weighty documentation and can be either straight or angled.

Viewed structures without a wall at the back are often used to divide the space. This is a convenient option for large offices where workplace zoning is required. But open shelving is also favored in places where there are few square meters per employee. Such furniture promotes free air circulation in the room.

If a large volume of documentation is stored in the office, it is better to organize its storage in closed racks. Thus, it will be possible to avoid visible clutter in the working area. The choice of combined models will be optimal. Essential documents will be placed in plain sight, and the rest will be safely hidden until needed.

Currently, a wide selection of designs for storing office documents is open to buyers. Manufacturers use iron, natural wood, chipboard, plastic and other raw materials as materials. And also racks are created with a different number of shelves and drawers. Therefore, the first step in choosing a rack should be a clear understanding of how many shelves are required to solve the task at hand.

The strongest, without a doubt, metal racks, which are sold in ready-made versions or made to order with the required number of cells. From day to day, the rack in the office will be replenished with more and more papers, which means that it is important to take care of the capacity, taking into account the future volume of documentation.

At the same time, the metal structure is easily assembled and dismantled. It is quite lightweight and mobile. Any employee can change the location and direction of the shelves.

The same cannot be said about the chipboard construction. Usually, metal structural elements are attached to each other without effort and locksmith tools. Storage systems are equipped with special hooks for ease of installation. If necessary, the storage system can be expanded by additionally purchasing racks. However, you should not count on the original design of metal options. But it is precisely their laconicism that most often suits the furnishings of most offices.

Choosing a rack made of chipboard, it will be easy to equip an office in the desired style and direction. But it is worth remembering that the reliability and strength of such a material are inferior to those of metal. They imply a shorter service life, they can fail much faster, which will entail unforeseen costs. If you plan to store light items such as awards, folders, photo frames, statuettes, diplomas on their shelves, you can choose a frame made of chipboard or MDF with peace of mind. In addition, wood-like racks are perfectly combined with other furniture.

Document filing systems made of solid wood look presentable and elegant. But for the gorgeous visual characteristics of wooden products, you will have to pay a lot. It is recommended at the time of purchase to ask the seller how you can protect wooden surfaces if they are not treated with moisture resistant compounds.

When choosing a design from one material or another, it is reasonable to take into account not only the characteristics of the product, but also the user's needs.

Wooden shelves are suitable for organizing storage of no less metal, but there are some nuances. A wooden structure can deform: swell, bend, delaminate with a sharp change in temperature or high humidity. And on plastic shelves it will not be possible to arrange a lot of papers, since the shelves will certainly bend. Lightweight plastic is often used to place a small amount of paper, for example, under a filing cabinet or personal files of employees, portfolios, and so on.

Finding the most suitable furniture will take a lot of time, so many companies prefer to order it directly from the manufacturer according to their parameters. In addition to the specific material, you need to think carefully about the position of the shelves. Probably, some of them will need to be additionally strengthened. Based on what purpose is determined for the rack, it will be possible to guess how long it will last. You will probably have to think about specific materials.

When it was possible to decide on this column, it is time to think about the functionality of the rack, its external aesthetics and the tasks that it will have to solve. Depending on the functionality of the structure, the warranty period for its service is determined. The experience of many companies shows that the number and variety of office documents is constantly progressing, so it is recommended to purchase racks with a large number of shelves, drawers and special dividers.

Here it all depends on what exactly and in what quantity will be stored in the cells. It makes no sense to purchase an overall rack that will stand idle half-empty. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that large models can be very high. It is necessary to purchase a small step-ladder to the office, which allows you to quickly get and fold the necessary documents. Although at the top, a rarely-used archive is usually stored.

The width of the structure is selected depending on its location. When choosing racks for installation in an office, you need to take into account various factors: purpose, number of employees who will operate them, floor area. If necessary, racks are developed according to an individual project in compliance with all the requirements. You may need a low version of the shelving, since offices are different, and each company has its own specifics of work.

Manufacturers make racks from all kinds of materials, coming up with original designs for new structures. Choosing a model taking into account personal preferences will not be difficult.

The office rack successfully combines a design approach and everyday practicality. The many shelves hold a large variety of things. At the same time, this type of furniture does not clutter up the space, unlike large cabinets or voluminous chests of drawers. The rack should be aesthetically pleasing and fit well into the interior of the office. Sometimes a wardrobe with open shelves serves as a kind of divider that divides the room, which looks stylish and non-standard. In this case, an open or combined design will be suitable.

In the absence of a back wall, you have to take care of the aesthetics of the rack, as well as think over how convenient it is to store things or papers there. It is beautiful and practical to use shelving accessories on open shelves. Considering the design of the rack and the room, it can be different boxes, containers made of plastic, rattan, plastic dividers for papers. All these gadgets will greatly simplify the work with the documentation. In addition, sorting is needed to maintain order in the documents, so that each paper is in its place.

Plastic containers make the shelving lightweight and convenient, giving it a modern style. Such devices are quite cheap, so the purchase will not greatly affect the company's budget.

An interesting solution is asymmetric white cells. Yes, this is not always practical, because you do not use most of them to the fullest, but the interior with such a design only wins. They do not store any heavy things because of the risk of deformation. The purpose of decorative structures and unusual cells is to decorate a room.

Currently, the most in demand are metal office racks. These are the most reliable, practical and generally high-quality systems capable of withstanding high load-bearing loads. Such furniture fits perfectly into business interiors, designed in a minimalist design. Traditionally, metal racks are painted in discreet colors, so the system can be installed in any room. But choosing a structure for sorting documents in the required color scheme will not be difficult. When choosing a stylish shelving unit for your office, you need to remember that, first of all, it must be functional and reliable.

In this video, you will take a closer look at mobile shelving for document archiving.