The idea of trying to concisely describe the nearly-infinite ways that a Spacesaver mobile storage system can be personalized is a pretty daunting task. Impossible in a single blog post for sure. Probably impossible in a year's worth of blog posts. This much reading would grow tiresome for even the most diehard storage enthusiast like me. Even photos (each worth a thousand words) would take up too much storage space in your brain.
The combinations of colors, laminate patterns, shelving and cabinet types and accessories, modes of operation, safety options, lengths, widths, heights, etc. can make your head spin.
It wasn't too daunting for my friend Wayne Thomas at STORAGELogic of Maryland. Wayne took this challenge head-on and, through the creative use of technology, made the impossible possible. Rather than spinning your head, Wayne chose to spin the mobile storage system. Good choice Wayne. Take a look at Wayne's very cool creation below.
If you can't see the video, click here.
Check out more cool videos on Spacesaver's YouTube channel.
OK so it doesn't quite show you EVERY possible combination. Maybe that still is impossible. But I think you get the picture. Lots of options. Make it your own. No storage challange is impossible with all of these choices available to a skilled storage specialist like Wayne.
Matt Tourdot - Storage Enthusiast
Cool video created by Wayne H. Thomas, Jr. - project manager and designer at STORAGELogic of Maryland. STORAGELogic of Maryland is home to your local skilled storage specialists in the cities of Baltimore, Salisbury, Ocean City (the Eastern Shore), Annapolis, Columbia, Westminster, Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, and Oakland. Music is "Sunspark" by DanoSongs.com
Looking for a skilled storage specialist in your area? Give us a call at 1-800-255-8170 or contact us here and we'll hook you up.
To learn more about the nearly-infinite ways that mobile storage can solve your storage challanges download this mobile systems brochure.
To learn more about our endless configurations click here to download the Spacesaver High Density Mobile Systems Brochure.
Jefferson Airplane and Dirty Harry were the rage in the late 60’s and early 70’s at the time High Density Storage started making its way in the Western World. Another icon of the time, Bob Dylan, and his recent hit video that says it best, “Things Have Changed. ” So must your equipment.
Clint Eastwood has a body of work second to none, members of JA have persisted and produced influential and substantial music to load in your iPod and shake, rattle, and roll your world. When it comes to safety concerns the evolution of High Density Mobile Shelving has also stepped up to the rigors of today’s environment and safety issues.
Back in the 70’s the default safety for this type of equipment was “Yell and Tell.” Someone would be down an aisle looking for a document or artifact and the only way to protect themself was to shout out, “I’m in here.”
Take a peek at this picture. Tell me what you see, and then I' tell you how today's Spacesaver High Density Mobile Storage are engineered for today’s work place.
To start off we have hard-working three people gathering and sorting within the aisle of the system. High Density Mobile Storage System isn’t an accessory that holds important things it is a work center too.
It is important that individuals be protected as there will be multiple entries and exits at any given time.
If the system is powered then it must be able to identify those who remain in the aisle without getting confused. Spacesaver offers three levels of powered protection for these people. Each of the three systems has a specific focus.
The first system focuses on work environments where the users can be trained.
The second system focuses on environments where the work force is untrainable, such as public access areas in any sort of library.
The third level of powered safety, needs to protect more than people, it protects the things too.
Spacesaver compact shelving systems can be integrated into building management and control systems to provide additional protection. Designed with both busy times and off-hours in mind the mobile system becomes fully integrated with the fire suppression system. This is the Gold Standard for powered systems.
But what about Mechanical Assist, you know, those systems with handles you turn to move the shelving?
Let's go back to the photo and focus on the young man. What is he wearing? Headphones...maybe even noise reduction headphones.
You may not allow this in your facility but it happens all over the world. He can hear Jefferson Airplane loud and clear (if he were so inclined) but he sure as can be can't hear much of anything else. In mechanical-assist mobile shelving systems this "all-too-often situation" must be considered.
Spacesaver's In-aisle Safety Brake manages this potential hazzard, thank you very much. Watch the video below for a more detailed explanantion of how the MA In-Aisle SAfety Brake works. If you are unable to view it click here.
That which Spacesaver has accomplished with our powered options has now set the Gold Standard for all mechanical-assist mobile shelving systems. Stopping is measured in fractions of inches.
The old standby “Yell and Tell” safety system is forever obsolete. That's a good thing.
John Fisher - Spacesaver Storage Specialist
This kit includes information on our mobile systems, Eclipse Powered Mobile Shelving and Mechanical-Assist Mobile Shelving. Also included are how these mobile storage systems offer you a variety of options, most important safety options, security, reliability, load control and so much more. Click here to download!
The utility of your local college or university library is changing! There is a shift that is affecting not only the services offered to patrons, but also the space available for collections. Libraries are no longer the place for research, browsing, studying, or quiet reflection. In order to create room for more educational requirements and ever-changing media formats, libraries have had to add spaces such as video rooms, writing and tutoring centers, meeting places and even internet cafes for their ever-demanding students and faculty. While all this is happening, their collections continue to grow resulting in libraries running out of room for the traditional printed medium.
Attempts to trim down the size of these collections by culling or scanning have had limited success, and are not realistic or attractive for many institutions. Building additional spaces at the library – even if funding is available – is often impossible, for libraries and research centers are often land-locked in the middle of campus. Therefore, libraries need to find innovative and cost sensible ways of storage, without giving up services.
One common approach to battle this situation is to build storage space exclusively for materials that are rarely requested. Another approach includes installing high-density mobile shelving or automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) within the existing library, or even building or leasing large-scale, climate-controlled off-site repositories. Storage options in these off-site buildings often include fixed shelving systems, mezzanines or static high-bay storage systems. An emerging solution includes the concept pictured in this blog, involving compact movable shelving systems (Mobile High-Bay). A solution that could significantly reduce the collection space required as well as the size of the building. A smaller building has lower construction costs and as well as lower life-cycle expenses of heating, cooling and lighting.
In summary, space-starved libraries must meet a balance between the need for more room for people and collections and the need to maintain a high level of service, all while maintaining their institutional objectives, such as the desire for green buildings and holding down costs. These are complicated issues facing libraries today, which will require a good understanding of the variety of solutions available to them in order to effectively manage collections.
Learn more about the challenges that libraries are facing today. Download and read the whitepaper entitled, "Running Out of Room", by Mark Haubenschild; and check out the brochure on the XTend™ Mobile High-bay storage option!
Also, see video of XTend™ Mobile High-bay system in action!
Storage Solved!
Ronald Chisholm, P.E. - Storage Specialist
Download Whitepaper and XTend™ brochure!
As I read a recent article titled “Evidence Depository Lockers”, I identified at least 6 helpful tips that any property and evidence room supervisor can benefit from hearing when it comes to evidence lockers for hand gun storage or long gun storage, narcotics storage, money storage and even biological evidence storage.
So here they are... straight from someone in-the-know…Officer Steve Berdrow -a 25 year vetran of the Burbank Police Department. Steve served assignments from supervisor of the Property and Evidence section to manager of all police department facilities and spent 9 years as co-project manager for the $30 million police and fire headquarters building project –an experience he undoubtedly draws from in the article.
#1 Conduct site visits to other police agencies -learn from their experiences.
In the article, Steve encourages those planning new build or renovation projects to see what others with similar situations are doing and ask how it’s working for them. A lot can be learned from the successes and failures of others –like what challenges were solved and what new challenges were created from the building’s design? What products were selected, why? How do those products function within the design?
#2 Place evidence lockers so they can be conveniently accessed from within the Report Writing Room.
He goes on to say, “In most of the police agencies that we have seen, evidence is tagged and packaged in a Report Writing Room. Therefore, a logical place for the evidence lockers is in that room.”
#3 Build “pass through” lockers into the common wall between the Report Writing Room and the Property Room, whenever feasible.
If the Property Section was adjacent to the Report Writing Room, "pass through" lockers could be constructed into the common wall –making protecting the chain of custody of evidence effective AND efficient.
#4 Avoid standard lockers that have simple “gravity” locks.
I thought Steve had a lot of good insight and advice regarding the type of lockers to avoid and what features were “must haves” to protect against tampering. He cautions, “Be wary of standard metal lockers that look like school physical education lockers. Some types of those can be easily opened with a bent paper clip, because they have only a gravity lock.”
| He then goes on to describe what he finds to be critical evidence depository locker features and how those features aid in evidence processing by stating, “The easiest type of locker to manage from the Property Officer's perspective is one that remains open until an item of evidence is put inside. The door is then closed and it locks automatically with a spring loaded catch. When properly constructed, they cannot be opened from the Report Writing Room side. |
Evidence Storage Kit.
Download It Now!
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The Property Officer then removes the evidence from that side of the locker, flips the catch to open the door to the Report Writing Room, secures the Property Room side, and the locker is ready to be used again. No keys to mess with!”
#5 Vary the size of openings within the evidence lockers.
Evidence comes in all shapes and sizes so it is important to have lockers with a variety of compartment sizes –including refrigeration units for biological evidence storage or drying cabinets for…well the obvious…drying items with fresh blood!
Since many items of evidence are small, I found one of Steve’s tips very smart. He recommends, “Consider having one locker with a small opening in a fixed front panel instead of a door. That way several small items can all go into one locker instead of taking up several lockers. Sample uses would be for Polaroid photos, drivers licenses, and miscellaneous small papers. The opening should not be so large that someone could reach a hand through it.”
#6 Specify a woven wire gate on the property room side of the locker.
Steve wraps up the article by speaking to the benefits of having a woven wire gate on the property room side of the lockers. He explains, “That way you can see into all of the lockers without having to open each small door to see if there is anything inside.” A critical detail when incorporating a woven wire gate is to make sure that the gate fits closely to the back of the lockers. This will eliminate the potential for someone to reach through an open locker into an adjacent one to tamper with or remove evidence."
I came across the "Evidence Depository Lockers" article in The Evidence Log (a quarterly publication of the IAPE)
Jason Konz - Storage Specialist
Learn more about Law Enforcement Storage and Evidence Storage and how you can get organized with your evidence. Download the Law Enforcement Storage and Evidence Storage Kit!"
Money? Nope!
Hours? Nada.
Pay? Sorry.
Chasing Down Supplies? Bingo!
This article is all about news you can use on the patient floor for proper storage of supplies, medicine and equipment.
In the past few weeks the topics of efficiencies in the hospital have risen to new levels in the press. In fact, it seems that every hospital we venture into these days wants to discuss the following (check out this article from the New York Times to learn more hospital efficiencies http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/business/11seattle.html):
- Toyota & Lean
- Six Sigma
- Improving Efficiencies
- Eliminating Wasted Time
Many, if not most of these healthcare systems have been involved in some type of grant funded study, such as Transition Care at the Bedside by the Wood Foundation - or they have been part of independent third party studies like those done by Kaiser Permanentes "A 36-Hospital Time and Motion Study: How Do Medical-Surgical Nurses Spend Their Time?"
Either way, the findings are all very similar. They find that:
Nurses spend a tremendous amount of time and effort hunting & gathering.
This time could be spent more efficiently in patient care. Storage and placement of supplies plays a vital role in this.
And the quality of care increases with more nursing care.
FACTS: Nurses walk too much. Nurses hunt for supplies too often.
Click on this link to learn what hospitals in Minnesota are doing to spend more time with patients.http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/98213569.html?page=1&c=y
The simple truth is that nursing as a whole is a very challenging profession and by placing hurdles in their path we are slowing the process of improving patient care – which elevates the cost of care. Time and motion studies have proven time and again that Point of Need Point of Care Storage Solutions for supplies, medical equipment, medicine and information are KEY for eliminating wasted time & energy by the clinical staff.
If you are unable to see this video click here.
Physical Design and Architectural Layouts.
Challenging & Changing System Processes.
Staffing Levels & Nurse Ratio’s.
These are all important high level, long term area’s that can impact care.
Here is a short simple solution you can do today –
GET YOUR NURSING WING EVALUATED TO SEE IF YOU ARE MAXIMIZING POINT OF NEED POINT OF CARE STORAGE.
Click here to watch a Point of Need Video for better efficiencies of your space from Spacesaver.
Jason Freeman - Director of Healthcare Spacesaver
Learn more about how point-of-need healthcare storage can greatly increase efficiencies, minimize unnecessary in-room patient interruptions, and reduce of hospital-acquired infection.
Download our Point-of-Need Healthcare Storage Kit.
How many people will fit on this elevator? Did we just pass a dinosaur named Sue? Isn’t the lake like, right outside the door - and above us?
These thoughts kept crossing my mind as I looked around at the faces of those who would share this anthropological adventure – then the elevator door opens, and around the corner, a much larger door opens to reveal what can at this point only be described as – the other 98% - and all that that implies.
In the newly created depths of this grand and historic building on the shores of Lake Michigan, lie what was once spread all over the world in out-dated and dusty storerooms and over-stuffed cellars. This is the collection beyond collections of both history and knowledge – of which most patrons of this grandiose museum only get to see two percent of.
The shear size of the Chicago Field Museum’s collection is only part of what has my jaw dragging along the floor — to realize that this collection of stories — a million in every aisle, is now kept and protected, in a facility specifically designed for it’s contents, and in less than half the space you would expect. It’s organized and it’s moving! Quite literally, the vast expanse of this collection is predominantly stored and accessed easily on a mobile storage system designed to keep it both protected AND accessible by allowing the entire collection to be “compacted” into less space than you’d need if it were housed on traditional static shelving and cabinets.
“This system has allowed us to give back and partner with the very societies and culture’s we display – helping them regain their history, and us acquire more knowledge about the artifacts,” exclaims Christopher Philipp, the Regenstein Collections Manager of Pacific Anthropology at The Field Museum in Chicago, IL. “We now have the capability to view, learn and properly catalog the entire collection as it continues to be brought back here to it’s home at the museum, as well as create new opportunity for more in-depth viewing of these cultures’ history by our patrons in the public venue upstairs”
We all chatted ecstatically up the elevator; blown away by the magnitude of this effort and the stories we’d tell our kids tonight — about the really cool old stuff we saw, in the really cool new storage facility.
David Potter - Storage Specialist
Museum Storage & Special Collections Guide Book & The Field Museum of Natural History Case Study
Museum storage and special collections require a wide variety of unique storage solutions for all the different types of items within collections. This guide book demonstrates different types of solutions to meet almost any collection care need. Click here to download the Guide Book.
Download this free case study to learn more about how it's done at the Field Museum. Give us a shout to see how to store your one-of-a-kind collection!
Let's face it, we live in serious times. A struggling economy, an oil disaster and hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, ongoing healthcare debates, jobs on the decline, and Brett Favre is a Viking.
That's' nothing compared to what our troops go through each day.
To honor and thank our Armed Forces this Independence Day, I could have easily dug up one of the many excellent tribute videos on YouTube. I had a few picked out, but one specifically grabbed me as most appropriate for our troops deployed overseas, those suffering in our Gulf Coast regions, the unemployed, and Packer Fans.
I truly believe in laughter. Ask anyone that knows me. Sure, it doesn't make all that bad stuff go away; but for that short period of time that you do spend giggling... it does go away. No matter how brief it is.
That's why I chose to share this video with you. It celebrates the independence of our great nation in a light-hearted way (plus I grew up with and love the Muppets). I hope it makes you laugh, if only for a moment.
Then, do what Statler and Waldorf (The Guys from the Balcony) did at the end of the video... send it to everyone you know that needs a laugh. They will appreciate it.
Enjoy the video. Have a safe and hilarious 4th of July!
If you are unable to view the video below please click here.
Brad Tusing - Storage Specialist