different high density shelving applicationsYou’re sitting at your desk working on a project. The deadline is looming over your head. Just one more hour and you’ll be done. But where is that file you need? Sighing heavily, you realize it’s somewhere in the storage room. Taking a deep breath you venture in. And after opening every drawer, looking through all the boxes on top of the cabinets, and going through every pile of paper you see, you finally find it – 45 minutes after you started.

All that time has been wasted; you’re annoyed and frustrated; your prior motivation has been zapped away; and most importantly, this isn’t the first time you’ve been through this. It’s time for a new storage system.

With Many Options, Which Storage System is the Right One?

Now the question becomes which storage system should you choose? More lateral cabinets? You waste time opening each drawer because you can’t actually see what’s in the cabinet. And they can only store files. It would be really nice to have some place to put boxes, books and office supplies.

How about open shelving? It might work better than the lateral cabinets, but there just isn’t enough space in the storage room for all the open shelving you would need. What else is there?

What you need is high density shelving. What makes high density shelving better than these traditional storage systems? That’s what we are here to tell you.

Reason #1: High Density Shelving Stores EVERYTHING

high density shelving record storage systemIn the past, high density shelving was mostly used to store files – just like lateral cabinets. But over time, they’ve evolved to store more. The flexibility in design is what allows high density shelving to be so versatile. The system itself can extend all the way up to your storage room’s ceiling. Within the unit, you can have a mix and match of drawers and 4-post shelves. You can even add roll-down doors to secure your stored items.

Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives uses the shelving to store archives that include letters, diaries, maps, photographs, newspapers, books, periodicals, broadsides, and government records. Athletic equipment is stored in high density shelving at the University of Oklahoma. While your business will have its own unique storage needs, these applications give you a small glimpse of what can be housed in the shelves.

Reason #2: High Density Shelving INCREASES Storage Capacity in LESS Spaceorange and white high density shelving

You know you can keep everything in your store room in high density shelving, but what if the room is small and cramped? High density shelving is the vacuum sealer of storage systems. You know the commercials that show a stack of folded sweaters that are put in a bag and vacuum sealed; once they are sealed up, they shrink down massively in size. High density is like that except instead of removing air, access aisles are removed. The rows of shelving collapse together and move on tracks to create the one or two aisles needed to access stored materials.

A Dallas law firm saved over 1,000 square feet in their storage room with high density shelving. The Poage Legislative Library reduced their storage area by 50% to make room for a new presidential collection. And an oil and gas company was able to make space in the store room to add an employee workstation. It doesn’t matter what your storage room looks like because no matter what, with high density shelving, you’re going to make better use of your space.

Reason #3: High Density Shelving Yields a QUICK ROI

Although you might not be thinking about cost, you can bet your boss is. And if you’re thinking about a new storage system, cost has to be factored in. Fortunately, this is yet another area where high density shelving excels over traditional storage systems. Check out the numbers on this table to see how high density shelving compares to lateral file cabinets.

Filing Feet Comparison Table

*Floor plans are based on an 18’x30’ room using letter-sized files

Here is another example: If you fill a room with 61 lateral file cabinets they will provide an estimated 813 linear feet of filing and cost about $43,000. A high density shelving system that holds the same number of files takes up one-third of the floor space and costs $13,000 less.

An Austin area government agency discovered just how fast they could receive a return on their investment with high density shelving. And you can too, especially if you would need to do any type of construction to increase storage space.

High Density Shelving: Your Next Storage System

Your storage system shouldn’t make you frustrated or waste your time. It should be working with you to make things happen. High density shelving will house everything in your storage room, increase your storage capacity, make better use of your space and save you money, which is more than those old lateral cabinets or open shelving ever did for you.

At Southwest Solutions Group® we provide design, planning and installation services for high density shelving. We will also provide a free consultation to determine your exact needs and specifications before the design process begins. To learn more or to speak with a specialist, call us at 1-800-803-1083 or send us a message today.