Getting Your Supply Room Under Control

Sooner or later it happens to every business – extra items begin to build up in the supply room or storage closet and before long any semblance of order ends up buried under mounds of printer paper, toner cartridges, and boxes of paperclips that you're sure must have been bought in bulk for a perfectly good reason. Storage room chaos can strike any business, from the smallest office to the largest warehouse. Bringing order to chaos can be a challenging job, but it will ultimately pay dividends as good organization saves the time and sanity of your employees.

Using Wall-Mounted Wire Shelving to Save Space

Usable, walkable floor space is often at a premium in any storage area. Your storage room or closet is for stuff, not people, so it makes sense to pack it as densely as possible. Unfortunately, this ignores the basic fact that people will ultimately be the ones using the stuff crammed into every nook and cranny of your storage room. It is an important matter of both convenience and safety that there be sufficient floor space for employees to easily move around in storage rooms to add, remove, and inventory items.

One excellent solution to the floor space problem is to make use of a wall-mounted wire shelving systems where possible to save as much floor space as possible. By using wall-mounted shelving along the walls of your storage room, you save the space that would normally be occupied by full shelving units.

Wall mounted systems also allow for a great deal of flexibility. The racks for the wall mounted shelving can be placed higher on the wall, for example, to save space on the floor for larger items or a less cluttered walking path. Most wall mounted shelving systems are fully adjustable as well, which allows you to place the tracks at a convenient height while still adjusting the shelves to keep them wall above the floor.

Keeping it all Organized

Once you have freed up space along your walls and created safe, uncluttered paths, it's time to make use of all that shelving to create a storage space that your employees won't hate to use. While arranging your storage room, keep these handy tips in mind:

• Resist the urge to alphabetize or otherwise implement complicated organizational systems unless you are managing a warehouse or other very, very large storage space. For small storage spaces, these systems are likely to just slow employees down.
• Take stock of the items your employees are using the most as well as the items that you replenish most often (probably one and the same). These items should be placed as close to the entrance of the storage room as possible. Use the back of the storage room, floor space, or otherwise inconvenient areas for items that are used only infrequently.
• Don't go overboard with organization, but don't ignore it entirely either. Keep like items together wherever possible. You shouldn't have a system so complex that your employees require training on its usage, but there should be logic to which items are placed near each other.
• Make heavy use of storage containers such as bins. Choose clear bins where possible and make liberal usage of labeling. Keeping items (especially small items) in containers makes it easier to find items and helps the storage room to look less cluttered.