Following the success of the first quarter, Rackline have been featured in the local news.

Rackline Managing Director Lindsay Khan said: “We’ve had a fantastic start to 2011 and all indications show that this should continue for the second half of the year.”

Sentinel published an article (15th August 2011) ‘Cuts help to land orders worth £7m’ to highlight how the business has grown despite the public sector cutbacks.

Commercial director Tracy Goodwin, said: “Departments are amalgamating and they are cutting down on the buildings they are using, but they still need to store the same amount of documentation.

Our systems can increase storage capacity by 70 per cent, so we are benefiting.

We are also benefiting from a lot of publicity about buying British, and we are promoting that side of things quite heavily.”

Please use the link below to read the full article.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk

If you require any further information or would like us to help you with your amalgamation plans, please call 01782 770144 or email theeditor@rackline.co.uk

Cost is an issue, there’s no argument about that in these credit crunch stricken days. But what are the clever ways of saving money? I was intrigued to hear about one of our solicitor clients who had to make a number of redundancies and then found themselves with an empty floor in a building they had a long lease on.

Problem: they had to carry on paying for an empty floor that they could not find another tenant for in these difficult times.

Solution: they put our high density Monotrak mobile storage in and then move their offsite storage back on site to save their offsite storage costs and also improve dramatically their retrieval times of archived files.

Sounds neat and of course we are always pleased to supply our product to clients; a by-product is always that we reduce the square footage occupied by storage and so naturally save rental cost, but would it work in this particular example? I didn’t have access to their calculations so decided to work the numbers myself and see if this could work.

Let’s use in this example 6,000 archive boxes, probably a typical size of archive for a solicitors firm. This would occupy around 9,000 cubic feet in an archive area. If we ignore the original transfer which would cost around £5k (all my figures are based on typical figures I’ve come across in the industry and of course will vary from firm to firm), the monthly cost of storage would be between £2k and £6k, depending on the environment. So let’s say £4k per month typically, but remember retrieval from off site is expensive, if the firm is retrieving just one box per day this adds £400 per month!

So our regular monthly cost is £4,400 per month for 6,000 archive boxes.

But what does mobile high density storage cost? A basic Monotrak system with no frills that could hold 6,000 archive boxes would cost as a one off purchase, under £50k and occupy 3,808 cubic feet.

This basically means you could achieve payback of the mobile system against the offsite storage we costed above in less than one year!

I suppose we now understand the logic of the solicitors who moved their product back. However, there is a sting in the tail. Some offsite storage firms charge a hefty figure for permanent withdrawal of product. For the 6000 boxes in the example above it could be £16k excluding transport. This would have to be taken into account too.

If this method of cost saving appeals to you, Rackline would be happy to run a cost comparison for you and see if your particular situation could benefit.

There may be some files in offices which are not required daily but are of high importance. Their safety may be a concern as anyone could tamper with those documents. In these situations, lockable archive shelving is the answer.

What are its uses?

It can be used in hospitals to store medical records. They provide security and are easily accessible. For big hospitals, the number of patients change daily and so too does the records which are on paper. Storing them can become a much easier task with archive shelving.

They can also be used in government offices to store copies of historic documents, as they are most like of great importance. Companies can use it as a secure backup of all contract papers. You can keep copies of customer records, orders placed for goods and services, or any contract. This may keep clutter away from your office with all the important papers stored systematically.

If yours is an architectural company, you may need to keep the plans and designs in a safe place once you are done with the project. Archive storage is secure and ultimate for large documents too. Every company has to keep financial records safely and archived shelving may prove beneficial.

The main reason people tend to avoid buying archive storage is because they think it is expensive, which is a myth. Along with securing your important documents, they also offer some savings as well due to better organisation and saved time.

Your storage needs to always be mobile as this will help in saving time and provide accessibility. This will prove very beneficial to your company as it can increase productivity and storage options as well.

Reasons to use mobile storage

Security - Security is of the utmost importance when it comes to storing goods. People want their goods to be stored well and not tampered with. Most of these mobile storage units are more complex than the basic lock and key units. Many a time the lockbox is well secured and has been made of steel which is tough and heavy-duty. It also is equipped with a fully functional alarm system and one can also add CCTV surveillance if needed.

Location - You can choose if you want to store your belongings at the company’s warehouse for any security reasons. A customer can choose any prime location to store the unit as per their requirement.

Custom design - Most storage units are made as per standard sizes e.g. 10, 20 or 30 foot long storage units or pods. Depending on the customer’s need, the mobile storage company can manufacture a storage unit that has been custom made. This is generally done to fit large equipment; a good example of which is farm or construction machinery.

The basis on why all this is done is simply for the customer’s convenience. There are few time constraints or restrictions on the mobile units. So if a customer needs to move some items, the pod can remain with the customer.

Businesses may, at some point, require more space for storing old documents and equipment. Even law dictates that a business must keep a record of their last 10 years of finances, in the form of documents. There are other reasons why businesses need to archive hard copies of data. Generally, people transfer the data to an online system such as a database but prefer to preserve old paper documents as a backup in case the system goes down.

Here are some reasons why you should consider archive storage:

Security:

An archive storage system plays an important role in keeping your important documents in a secure environment. For extra protection, you can even install CCTV or can use security personnel.

Saves money:

Storing paper documents in off-site locations will lead you to pay more for storage space. However, storing those documents in an archive storage system will help you to save money. You will even save time as you will not have to visit the premises if you need those documents.

Easy accessibility:

Storing documents in an archive storage system is a quick and easy way to access your documents. With the help of barcode technology, you can easily and quickly locate your documents within the storage unit.

Perfect environment to store:

The environment in an archive storage system is perfect for the long term storage of paper documents and files. In archive storage systems, the conditions are just right to keep your documents fresh for many years to come.

Because of all these reasons, considering archive storage systems is beneficial in terms of saving both the time and money of a business.

Before you go ahead with filing away items, conduct a study of what factors matter the most with your filing system. There are many types of filing systems available as per your requirements.

Here are some points that focus on the features of mobile filing systems:

Mobile filing systems are by far the most efficient storage systems. In this type of system, the shelves are mounted on movable carriages. These shelves glide along and thus provide access to the different shelves. This system is available with both mechanical and electric assists.

It is highly recommended that L&T shelving be used on carriages, the reason being their durability. If the shelves are not durable it may cause stress fractures, because of the torque which is caused by the constant movement.

The system consists of one wide stationary single sided unit and two wide double-sided movable units, all 7 shelves high.

Advantages:

- Utilises the floor space well
- High level of filing efficiency
- No need for offsite/additional storage - which are usually expensive
- Readily accessible files save retrieval time
- Locking facility
- Suitable for colour coding files

These shelves are also available in different types and sizes. You also have the option to alter the counts of shelves per unit. Always make it a point to take a look at the different options available.