There are a number of considerations with regard to mobile aisle shel


There are a number of considerations with regard to mobile aisle shelving. As PeterK noted, you generally have to build up the floor a bit around the rails, but that is part of installation. They can generally use your carpet squares or floor tiles to finish. Most systems can be installed with locks to protect the files inside after hours. The manual systems are generally engineered well enough to open and close easily. I worked for a company that had a records center set up with mobile aisle. The shelves were 12 feet high and probably that long on each carriage and you could easily move several rows manually.

Give consideration to the number of people who might need to access the space simultaneously. If you have a single aisle system, you may have someone standing around from time to time waiting for another person to vacate an aisle.


A bigger factor is floor loads. If the space you are using is an upper floor, you may need to have an engineering survey to look at what the floor can support in a given area. Building management / ownership may want a say on installing this sort of system.


One of the considerations is that the mobile aisle carriages can handle a lot of different configurations of shelving and related equipment. I have seen standard file drawers installed in a mobile aisle system, but you start getting into some serious weight issues and lose some of the capacity of a standard open shelf filing system.

When you talk to vendors about these shelving systems, also talk to them about file conversions. Some vendors in this space can also bundle in the cost of converting files and capitalizing (consult with your finance people) the cost of conversation might be possible, reducing the impact of the change.

You have to play with the space available to you to see if there is benefit over traditional file systems. I think it is also important to fully understand your current and projected future needs for filing. I worked for a company that had made a huge investment in mobile aisle equipment in the early 1990's and ended up pulling it all down. The space left behind was difficult to utilize. Lastly, really understand how fast people need those files. You might find that by indexing the files really well, you can box them up and send them offsite for less money, while having only a modest impact on retrieval times. consider the cost of the filing equipment, file conversion, and ongoing real estate cost, against the cost to index and send the files offsite (with the ongoing cost of retrieval and refile).
 
Patrick Cunningham, CRM, CIP, FAI
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