Ian
Most mobile racking from reputable suppliers works perfectly well.
However, apart from the engineering requirements - level floors strong
enough to take increased point loading, possible weight limits on each
stack to ensure mobility - there are other difficulties.
Access - Only one aisle is available in each section at any one time
and, therefore, in a busy operation, retrieval/putaway staff may be
waiting to gain access to closed aisles while their colleagues work in
the open aisle. If something does go wrong, the relevant storage area
will be inaccessible until the supplier is able to rectify the fault.
What would be the downside of such downtime?
Overhang - It's important that none of the items on shelves overhang,
otherwise the racking will not close.
Air circulation - One county record office had to open up the sides of
the racking to allow air to circulate more freely having discovered
mould on items within the installation. The racks were not opened often
enough in this case.
Fire protection - a pharma company had to drill holes in the top shelves
of their installation because the inert gas from their extinguishing
system was unable to penetrate the closed racks.
The use of mobile racking should really be driven by the type of space
you have. What's your maximum working height? Is there 'free space'
between the floor and ceiling which would be left vacant by installing
mobile racking? We have worked with clients who had installed 2 metre
high mobile racking (and static racking)in a building which had 6 metres
of effective space to the eaves of the building. Double entry, static
racking, utilising the height of the building to the full, would have
provided at least the same amount of storage capacity at a substantially
reduced cost, without the potential difficulties of access etc. The
higher you go, the greater the density on the same foot print. Are
there any spare high level buildings at Dounreay?
Just some thoughts to add to those of John Gervais, with which I agree
in the main, and Chris Catton.
Peter Emmerson
Director
Emmerson Consulting Limited
47a Salisbury Road
Harpenden
Hertfordshire AL5 5AR
Phone 01582 769842
Fax 01582 761740
E-mail [log in to unmask]
This e-mail message and any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you are not the
intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of it
is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please delete it immediately and notify Emmerson Consulting by
return e-mail to the above address.
Emmerson Consulting Limited is registered in England No. 3607347.
Registered Office: Charter Court, Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead,
Hertfordshire HP2 5GE
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Records Management mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Pearson
Sent: 13 February 2003 09:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Advice wanted on mobile shelving
Hi, I am the Records Manager at UKAEA ( United Kingdom Atomic Energy
Authority)Dounreay and we are going to be refurbishing our archive
building
with hopefully mobile shelving. Experience from users of this would be
most
welcome. We plan to go for manual system rather than electric. Are there
any pitfall that I should be aware of?
thanks
Ian Pearson
|