View our Blueprint Storage Category hereWith this article, we will review various types
and methods of Blueprint
Storage and Large Document Storage. We'll
provide points for you to consider before making a purchase of any Blueprint
Storage Box, Blueprint Storage Cabinet, Blueprint Storage Bags, or Blueprint
Storage Rack. We understand that storing your
Blueprints safely and securely is important, and
that you want to have
them organized for quick and easy reference and
retrieval. In many cases we
cannot recommend a specific item due to; we have not
seen your office space, have not seen number of
workers in your organization, how the workers are
situated such as on multiple floors of an office
building, and do not know the number of prints you
plan to store today and in the future. Our article
will simply get your thought process started and
hopefully get you going in the right direction.
When seeking Blueprint Storage Solutions, you must
first start by considering how many sheets and plan
sets you have that you want to store. And, then
consider how will your collection grow in the
future. Will you have some storage solutions that
offer quick retrieval but less protection? For
example; a
Blueprint
Mobile Stand (also known as a Blueprint
Stands, Blueprint Racks, and Hanging Stands) that is located near the people that use the
plans the most. Mobile Stands offer quick access to
hanging files where the hanging clamps can be
removed easily and then laid on a workers desk, or
laid out on a reference table. Obviously, it would not
make sense to have a worker walk back to a storage
room to pull drawings out of a steel flat file
drawer that's located 50 feet away from their desk
or down a flight of stairs each day.
So, you may want to mix your solution selection
such as; Mobile Stands (Hanging File Stands) that would be located
next to workers, but have Steel Flat Files located
in a back room for archived or prints that are used
less frequent.
Basic starting points to consider when seeking to
organize your Blueprint Storage would be; do you
want flat storage, rolled storage, permanent
storage, or locked storage. Rolling up drawings takes time, but it
does allow for them to be stood up on end beside a
workers desk. Corrugated
Upright Roll Files and Wire Upright Roll Files offer
quick access to rolled drawings right beside a workers desk.
We mentioned security such as locked storage
previously in this article. Some companies
either put locks on the drawers or either build a
secure area which is typically called a "Plan Room". Depending on the
volume of prints that need to be secured and the
amount of space you have in your office, can dictate
whether or not to build a Plan Room. Plan Rooms are
great as they can have a locked door with all of
your
Flat Files located in a dedicated room within
your office.
Something else you should consider is the
investment in blueprints you or your company has. Some prints
from CAD files that were printed on a CAD Plotter can be
reproduced (printed again and again) easily, even if
you have a disaster such as a fire. As long as the
drawing data is backed up by your computer network
administrator, you should be fine. But, what if your
drawings have notes, or have been hand-drawn, or
what if they were the only available original
drawings. Your drawings may have many many hours
invested in them and as a result make the documents
become very valuable and not easily replaced. Many
Universities and Plants have the problem of having
only originals that are available and once these
documents are gone, they are lost forever. In these
cases, we recommend a secured Plan Room with fire
suppression (possibly not of the water type since
water would ruin your documents. We recommend learn
more about fire suppression systems which is outside
the scope of this document), and we recommend Steel
Flat Files that secure the drawings and add a level
of protection. Some Blueprint Cabinets even offer
fire protection as one of their features. You would
need to read more about what each cabinet has to
offer and how these levels of protection work.
In summary, we have touched on various points of
which you should consider before you make a purchase
of a Blueprint Storage Solution. We would even
recommend possibly getting a meeting together within
your company to discuss what each user would want.
Would some want Upright Roll Stands beside their
desks, would some want to build a Plan Room. Does
your documents need to be secured? There are many
questions that you should ask yourself and others
that will be using the storage solutions. Hopefully
our document will help get your thoughts and
questions started so that you will be satisfied once
your solution is decided upon and plan put into
effect.
Disclaimer; By reading this guide on
our website, you agree to not hold anyone
responsible for any misuse or misunderstandings that
you may make. EngineerSupply.com does NOT assume any
responsibility with providing this information.
Copyright 2005
-
The EngineerSupply.com Product Team