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Challenge

            In the heart of Hudson, Illinois, Nussbaum Transportation’s Hudson West Shop stands as a hub of innovation and efficiency. Recently, the shop foreman at this truck center reached out with a clear need: upgrade their inefficient tool room into a space that adheres to the high standards of their operation.

The challenge? This truck center’s current setup was made up of plywood shelving, a system that required labor each time a new tool was added. Every change or additional tool added to this room meant drilling new holes and taking the time to make these changes. This setup also meant having areas of clutter and bins that technicians would have to dig through to find the right tool.

This truck center team envisioned a more durable solution, specifically heavy duty steel wall mounted storage that could live up to their standards and meet the daily demands of their operations. This storage solution also needed to keep tools organized and easily accessible for technicians to grab.

            Truck centers handle a large variety of tools, especially specialized tools, so having a storage solution that kept everything organized was key. This truck center team wanted a storage solution that would offer high visibility for their technicians as opposed to having tools in closed drawers. Their vision included an open shelving concept with pegboard hooks, cradles, and more to hold all of their special tools within reach. This goal of this setup was to save time grabbing tools and create an organized system for this team.

Solution

            The Nussbaum truck center is known for setting the bar high, so we needed a solution that would match the rest of their operations. The durable storage solution for this truck center tool room consisted of a configuration of Rousseau’s 5S metal pegboard. Rousseau’s 5S storage is designed around the principles of Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. This metal pegboard would offer a durable and organized layout for this team, making it easy to be reconfigured as needed.

            The tool room was designed inside one of this truck center’s existing racking bays on the lowest floor level. In doing this, we didn’t need to take up any existing surface shop space, saving them valuable space in their facility. The metal pegboards were measured and designed to fit perfectly inside the racking, maximizing the available space.

            As with anything, when you’re mounting items to an existing dry wall, you want to make sure you’re hitting the studs. In this case, a portion of the pegboard was free standing, so the truck center team consulted Industrial Shelving Systems to make sure the structure supported the pegboard appropriately.

            Another important part of this tool storage solution was versatility. It was important for this truck center to have the ability to add tools to this room or change the configuration over time. “Steel pegboards allow for infinite modularity, which includes adding shadow boards, moving things around, and ensuring that items are well organized to store in the most efficient manner,” says Tom Compton, the project manager. With these metal pegboards, shelving or hooks can easily be taken out in a matter of seconds, allowing for a different configuration.

            With the current wood tool storage setup, this truck center knew they needed a more durable solution. These metal pegboards offer much more durability than wood, or common Masonite setups. Often, when items that are too heavy are placed on wood based shelving, hooks or shelves can rip out of the wall, ruining the board. Metal pegboards have higher weight capacities, last longer, and won’t ever dry rot, allowing for a long term storage solution. This tool storage solution is also easy to keep clean, keeping facilities looking professional.

            With the metal pegboards, Industrial Shelving Systems was able to offer a wide variety of customization. The truck center team chose different accessories including several types of rounded and square hooks as well as shelving to hold their specialized tools.

            Having partnered with this truck center before, we knew aesthetics were an important feature of their new setup. In a previous project, we installed bright red shelving in their facility. To maintain a cohesive design throughout the facility, this metal pegboard needed to be the same striking red. In addition to their wall mounted panels, they wanted to add on finishing panels to give this tool room a clean, high-end look.

Results

This metal wall mounted pegboard will save this team time in their daily operations and will offer them a long term tool storage solution. Over time, they now have the ability to change their setup and reconfigure it as new tools come in or as old tools are retired. This tool room will play a major role in allowing them to provide quick and efficient service to their customers.

Other Metal Pegboard Ideas

These metal pegboards can be customized to fit your specific needs and cohesively fit into your current setups. Depending on how many and what kind of tools you have, these storage solutions can be designed to most effectively store your items.

Available in 20 standard colors, these pegboards can come wall mounted or we can fabricate a free-standing structure to mount them to. Shadow boards can be designed, allowing your team to quickly identify if a tool is missing and take inventory of what needs to be replaced.

Other accessories include spool holders, which hook onto the utility panels and come in a variety of widths and several types of hooks. For lighter items, there are light-duty hooks including drill holders, and for heavier items there are heavy duty hooks with 50lb load capacities.

These pegboards can also come with document holders, providing a clean place to store papers for easy access. If you need to store small parts, plastic bin rails can be added on along with can holders, screwdriver holders, and plier holders.

If this sparked any ideas for your tool organization, reach out to us here or give us a call at 1-800-875-6201, and we can get the ideas flowing.