Cost is always an important consideration when selecting new lab furniture for an industrial research facility. On the other hand, your choice of lab benches, seating, storage and other lab furnishings need to support the people and specific processes that take place in the laboratory.
This can lead to a conflict between sourcing your industrial lab furniture from standard, off-the-shelf ranges, or looking for a bespoke laboratory furniture manufacturer to ensure a perfect fit, using materials especially suited to the type of work your lab or cleanroom is involved with.
Here we take a look at the pros and cons of choosing off-the-shelf or custom furniture and see how, by choosing the right supplier, it is possible to combine the best of both worlds.
Standard Lab Furniture
The main advantage of choosing off-the-shelf industrial lab furniture is cost. Standard lab tables, cabinets etc, are generally cheaper than bespoke alternatives as they are produced in large quantities, leading to economy of scale.
But if the result is a lab which does not properly support the work that your staff are trying to do, there may be longer term, hidden costs which may eventually outweigh the cost savings. For example:
Wasted space – All industrial and commercial organisations need to be mindful of making the best use of space, whether that relates to an office, a factory floor or a specialist laboratory. Limiting yourself to only standard furniture may result in a layout which is less than optimal.
Ergonomics – Simple issues such as the height of a lab work bench, or the adjustability of seating, may have implications for how long personnel can work comfortably before needing a break. Operator comfort can also have an effect on error rates, which in turn can lead to quality control issues.
Integration with equipment – A typical industrial lab will include not only benching, seating and storage, but also a number of items of specialist equipment, such as microbiological safety cabinets, incubators, IVF cabinets, fume cupboards, refrigeration units etc. Often, benching will need to be fitted around or in between these items, and standard units may or may not always provide a perfect fit.
Supporting workflow – The work of many research and production labs involves repeating the same procedures, moving samples or products from one part of the lab to another, or from one piece of equipment to another in a particular sequence.
How the furniture is designed and laid out can make these operations more efficient or less efficient, and it can even help to reduce accidents by minimising transit distances between one part of the lab and another. Using only standard units may sometimes prevent the most efficient workflow from being achieved, which could have a long-term impact on the productivity of the lab.
Bespoke Laboratory Furniture
The key advantage of bespoke lab furniture is that you can ensure that it exactly fits the room available, leading to better use of space and better workflow and productivity. It can also mean that equipment is better integrated, allowing you to place equipment where you need it to be, rather than where it is forced to be by the rest of the furniture. However, custom made furniture will typically be more expensive.
So, given these pros and cons, which is the best option for you?
Choosing Between Bespoke and Standard
The truth is that within any particular lab there will be some furniture which can be quite happily selected from a standard range, while there will be some elements which need to fulfil very specific requirements and really do need to be bespoke in order to enable the lab to function at its best.
But this poses the possibility of having to find two different lab furniture suppliers, one who can supply off-the-shelf furniture items, and one who can deliver bespoke solutions. Quite apart from the extra admin involved in liaising with two different suppliers, there is the issue of ensuring that the furniture from the two suppliers will integrate properly when they are installed.
Industrial Laboratory Furniture from Tecomak Furniture Solutions
We have “Solutions” in our name for good reason! We provide a complete solution to your lab furnishing needs, combining economical standard industrial lab furniture (e.g. work benches, seating, storage etc) with bespoke elements as required, all fully compatible and integrated with each other by our expert installers.
We are both designers and manufacturers, so our ranges include designs that are made in high quantities delivering economy of scale – such as our pedestal and suspended laboratory furniture. But we can also provide variations on these designs, or completely new designs as necessary, for part or all of your laboratory.
We are also suppliers of Labosystem, an Italian designed modular lab furniture range which frequently provides an answer to the “standard versus custom” dilemma for our clients. The range is designed to fit together in a number of different ways to achieve the exact combination required, and it is pre-manufactured in large quantities to bring down cost.
We provide a full installation service to ensure full integration between all units and equipment, including joins, seals and so on.
In short, we can provide you with a high quality, bespoke solution that fully meets your needs, but incorporating standard units from our ranges wherever possible in order to minimise costs – and with only one supplier to liaise with, from initial planning right through to installation.
ContactTecomak Furniture Solutions for information about our standard and modular laboratory furniture.
Read more
Laboratory Furniture in Cleanrooms, Clean Areas and General Labs
Fixtures and Fittings for Clean Area Laboratories
