The most basic system of storage is shelving, but in a manufacturing or even a healthcare environment, you might not have the floor space to dedicate to a fixed shelving unit. And one thing manufacturer Akro-Mils realized is that if your objects-to-be-stored are already in little bins, you don't really need shelves; what you need is a way to suspend the bins in space.

Their ReadySpace Storage System gets rid of the shelves altogether, instead using a wall-mounted louvered steel panel as its backbone. Bins of various sizes and colors are designed to easily clip into the louvers, so users can quickly grab a bin to carry to a workstation or swap the arrangements around at will.

The bins are designed to clip into the louvers and deal with the one-dimensional force of gravity. But optional Bin Retainer Clips can be added to deal with lateral motion if, for example, you wanted to mount the panels in the back of a truck. A mobile worker performing repairs might need to carry just a few assortments of parts to a jobsite, which the removeable bins lend themselves perfectly to.

If you have a little more in-facility real estate to play with, the system scales up to include bench-mounted and freestanding iterations. While these require a dedicated footprint, they still use far less materials than standard shelving.

Lastly, an in-facility mobile floor unit is available, for situations where you might need to temporarily move the whole kit-n-caboodle over to a particular workstation, then get it back out of the way once the appropriate bins have been accessed.

Akro-Mils Industrial Storage Solutions:
» Part 1: Indicator Bins
» Part 2: The Shelf-Less ReadySpace
» Part 3: The Double-Duty ProCart