Industrial Furniture Blog By RDM

Creating ergonomically sound workspaces is gaining increased popularity these days. An adjustable table is a wonderful option to make the best improvement to your environment. It is the easiest way to add adjustability and RDM Industrial Products can design ergonomic tables to fit many kinds of work environments. The ability to adjust the height of a table to suit any user makes these tables the best investment for your money.

Businesses, schools, daycare facilities, and many other entities that serve a large population find adjustable height tables to be extremely useful. Any type of business or facility that deals with a diverse population of users can benefit from the use of RDM adjustable tables. The ability to adjust your table heights enables you to accommodate your diverse groups of guests, employees, or students by allowing you to provide the table height setting that is best for those in attendance. They also help to make people feel more comfortable.

Adjustable tables are ideal for many environments. RDM Industrial Products provides adjustable tables that are easy to raise and lower. You can adjust the height of the table by simply turning a small hand crank or pushing a button. The adjustable height tables often feature surfaces that clean up very easily. Keeping people happy and comfortable is important so that they can focus on learning or producing.

Special needs individuals often encounter problems with table height. The average lift table isn’t designed to allow for a wheelchair to fit beneath it. However, accessibility is no longer an issue with RDM’s adjustable height tables. They provide ADA table models that make it possible to change the height of the table surface to fit the height of a wheelchair and the user.

As the name implies, an adjustable table is one that comes with features that enable the user to lengthen or shorten the height of the table to suit your own individual ergonomic needs. Some of the adjustable features in a table include adjustable footrest, table legs, pedestal table, or table base, among others. Aside from the basic flat table, RDM also offers many other adjustable height table styles, which have various accessories that can be adjusted to suit a user’s specific height, which promotes better posture while seated at the table. These accessories can make the user’s experience more comfortable. If you ever find yourself suffering from back, lower back and spinal problems then consider addressing your working posture with the use of an RDM adjustable table. Go ahead and Contact us at RDM Industrial Products to find your new adjustable height table for your new ergonomically improved environment.

RDM is a group of skilled industrial designers, manufacturers and customer service personnel who are devoted to providing quality industrial furniture to client specifications in a number of fields, including electronics, biotechnology, health care, IT, advanced research, manufacturing and more. We’ve proudly served the Bay Area since 1977, keeping regional industry safe and organized. We’re also proud to be registered as a minority owned business that represents the area’s diverse, thriving culture in its staff.

Beyond the factory floor, workshop or lab, RDM also creates custom furniture solutions for reception and service counters and store fixtures in environments as diverse as high end customer service and cafeteria food service. Our products have become a part of everything from electronics clean rooms to military aviation facilities.

We can serve a diverse array of needs because our mission revolves around three core goals: Quality, Service and Timing. What does that mean?

Quality: Our industrial workbenches and lab tables conform to the client’s specifications whenever possible, within the best practices established by particular industries and techniques. That means components such as ESD static control systems, hydraulics, HEPA filtration and laminar airflow much pass stringent quality control before it goes to the client.

Service: We strive for the highest level of service by keeping our personnel “in the loop” about the realities of industrial furniture manufacturing. Our integrated process allows you to specify exactly what you want right from the initial order, and you will always be given realistic time and cost estimates.

Timing: Thanks to our extensive experience and constantly improving technologies in manufacturing and shipping, RDM can supply your needs from virtually any distance in a relatively short time frame. We aim to have your facility up and running ASAP.

We both manufacture products and offer peripheral products that compliment them such as monitor stands, foot rests and chairs, along with other ergonomic and technical solutions.

No matter your business size or industry, RDM stands with you, ready to help you achieve top level performance with high quality furniture that’s there when you need it, complementing your work flow perfectly. Contact us to see what we can do for you.

Work flow is vitally important to any company’s success, but it’s even more critical in the manufacturing industry, where proper work flow not only improves time efficiency but reduces accidents – and in some industries, serious accidents can jeopardize employee safety. Pinning down, refining and improving your company’s work flow is the first priority for managers, but in too many cases they place the full burden of adaptation on staff or tools and machinery, when the real barrier to inefficiency is inappropriate industrial furniture.

A key industrial workbench can influence every aspect of your work flow. The right one improves flow – the work one hurts it. Let’s examine examples from the four main elements of work flow:

Processes: Proper workstations can make or break the construction of processes. For example, if you don’t have workbenches that are large enough to accommodate a full step you must divide it into sub-steps, increasing overall production time and staffing. If two workers need to be side by side in a particular location, the industrial workbench must fit both the site and workers.

Planning and Scheduling: Your goal is to keep maximum uptime with minimum expenditures. You might require workers to “hot desk” between shifts. Each choice needs to be supported with the proper furniture. If you have hot-desking IT requirements you need room for a workstation computer and its cabling – and ergonomic aids to maintain worker efficiency.

Flow Control: Can you start, stop and modify a moving work flow easily? Without an organized production process the answer is probably “no.” For instance, you may require a flow rack workstation that can act as a hub for the transportation of finish products and components. Without it, you must rely on a process external to the workstation (staff consultation, a database, etc.), increasing the number of steps to both stop and start work.

Transit Visibility: When one workstation evolves into a miscellaneous hub for problem solving this can look like a good solution in the short term, but eventually that space becomes inefficient and swamped with half-finished work. Custom workbenches designed as checkpoints for specific parts of a work flow improve both flow and visibility. Managers need only go to the responsible workstation, either physically or through the station’s computer.

As you can see, it isn’t enough to have the right tools and people. They need a working environment that supports the safest, most efficient operations. That’s what we provide at RDM. Contact us for a quote on industrial workbenches and other furniture that will improve your work flow.

This month, we’ll look at some of RDM Industrial Products’ economical industrial workbenches and other furniture solutions.

The Model A-109PE Industrial Workbench above is one of RDM’s most popular industrial workbenches. It’s a light duty workbench with no lower crossmember supports, but it’s still tough thanks to its durable, fully-welded steel construction. It supports many, many customization options.

The Model F-103PE Overhead Shelf Workstation is a cost-effective solution for light duty computing. Like the A-109PE, it is greatly customizable – that’s the advantage of buying from the manufacturer.

1P-K Series Static Control Ergonomic Chair shows that you don’t need to sacrifice comfort and safety to stay within your industrial furniture budget. This is a full-featured industrial chair with static-control vinyl upholstery, lumbar support and enough adjustability to suit any member of your staff.

These are just a few of RDM Industrial Product’s economy furniture models. If you’re ready to outfit your shop with professional industrial furniture and want to get the best value for your dollar, Contact RDM today!

What do RDM’s industrial furniture and the space shuttle have in common? Both of them have landed at White Sands Missile Range. In 2007, RDM was awarded two defense contracts to build furniture and lockers for White Sands. All in all, RDM provided over $22,000 in products and services to upgrade the base’s storage and furnishings.

Why did White Sands go with RDM? We provide unmatched value for the cost: the kind of quality that they could rely on in an environment that cannot tolerate poor performance of any kind. They need industrial furniture that conforms to their best practices – and so do you. Here are three reasons why you should choose RDM:

Ergonomic Industrial Furniture Reduces Accidents

RDM can create custom shapes and sizes for most of its industrial furniture catalogue, along with ergonomic additions to make virtually any workstation more efficient. This is critical in an environment like White Sands, where staff track missiles, aircraft and other high performance technologies. They need industrial furniture that gets out of the way of their workflow – and so do you.

Custom Industrial Furniture Creates a Controlled Environment

RDM Industrial Products is uniquely diverse. Few laboratory and industrial furniture manufacturers have so many products and capabilities under one roof. That means RDM is capable of not only providing furniture that stands up to extreme stress from heavy loads, heat and chemical reactions, but they can also provide lab tables and other furniture to satisfy cleanroom quality controlled environments. With RDM, you never have to choose between the ideal and convenient solution – RDM Industrial Products provides both, so that you can order industrial furniture that creates the exact environment you need from one source.

RDM’s Industrial Furniture Saves Money

RDM secured the White Sands contract because they provided the best value. RDM’s manufacturing and sales are under one roof, so there’s no need to pay a middleman. RDM manufactures most of our products on site, minimizing reshipping costs that they would otherwise have to pass on to our customers. Please Contact RDM for your Industrial or Lab Furniture needs. See the difference that a complete solution provider makes.

Your work surface is the most important part of your industrial workbench. If you pick the wrong surface it may stain or wear prematurely. The wrong work surface may even lead to an accident. At RDM Industrial Products, we offer top quality work surfaces for all of our industrial workbenches with a variety of surfacing options. If needed, our sales team can help guide you through the process of selecting the right surface. Below are four quick examples of the workbench surfaces that fit various workplace demands.

Cleanroom: Stainless steel is not always the go-to material for the surface of a cleanroom workbench. The exact requirements are based on particular cleanroom standards. Stainless steel surfaces don’t scratch easily or accumulate foreign matter. They can also be quickly and easily cleaned. Electropolished stainless steel can be very pricey, but is necessary for clean rooms of class 10 or above. For cleanrooms of class 100 or less, there are many other more cost-effective options available, such as our standard plastic laminated top with added phenolic backing sheet. The laminated surface does not particulate, and the underside of the wood substrate is sealed with the phenolic backing sheet.

ESD Static Control: If you are working with static sensitive materials or equipment the top choice is clear: You need a static control table with an ESD protective laminated work surface. These surfaces work in concert with our properly grounded steel table frames, providing a dissipative path that leads harmful static away from your products or equipment. They also help to reduce electrical charge buildup.

Heavy Duty Manufacturing: Stainless steel tables provide a durable work surface for manufacturing, though an additional layer of rough material may be warranted for traction. Keep in mind that in these cases, you will need a table frame that will support your specific load / activity. We also offer solid plate steel tops for heavy-duty applications.

Semi-Service: In this case, the workbench actually serves as front of house furnishing where it’s not only visible to the public, but may even be used by customers. There are a number of “Do it yourself” businesses that need a proper mix of beauty and utility. In this case, the right material is really based on a combination of use and image. Stainless steel is great for kitchens, for instance, while wood (see our wood industrial workbenches) is a great all around material. Also, our plastic laminated tops are available in hundreds of standard colors and patterns.

Whatever your choice for a work surface, we have the industrial table solution you need, or we can manufacture one with the dimensions and materials you specify. Contact RDM to find out how we can make tables / workbenches that are a precise fit for your needs.

One of the most common mistakes people make when they’re outfitting a lab for private development and manufacturing is to ignore the type of lab surfaces they need in order to perform safe, productive work. Lab tables and other laboratory or industrial furnishings that look the same side by side can actually have vastly different uses, depending on the type of work surfaces they use. Here at RDM we can manufacture furnishing solutions to meet and exceed your needs; the dimensions and surface materials are separate concerns, but both are important. Your table or bench needs to fit its area — but it also needs to survive actual use, too. Below are some basic guiding principles when it’s time to place your order:

Know the Standard: Always be aware of your local city, state and federal laws, as well as professional advisories for the material you expect to be handling. For example, if you’re handling live specimens you probably should peruse the CDC’s Biosafety Level Criteria. Private companies will not typically work with infectious agents, so in all likelihood you’ll look to Biosafety Level-1 criteria, which specify a water-impervious surface with the ability to handle moderately high temperatures. Other fields will have specific requirements in for heat, chemical reaction and conductivity.

Don’t Skimp on Surface Integrity for the Sake of Price: It’s never worth it to save money by skirting regulations and advisories. Aside from the safety and liability issues the fact is that you won’t really save money. You’ll just make the demand for a replacement come that much sooner. If you purchase a bench that allows water to penetrate any cracks or crevices on the surface coating, you’ll end up with enough rot or corrosion to rapidly render it useless. Besides, lab surface technology has advanced to the point where it’s economical to make choices that exceed the requirements. Trespa’s TopLab Plus is one example of an excellent all-around solid surface material that suits many laboratory and industrial area applications.

When in Doubt, Ask: With over three decades in the industrial furniture business, RDM has plenty of experience outfitting research and manufacturing facilities with lab furniture of all kinds. If you’re not sure how to outfit a space within your budget, talk to us. We’ll draw on what we know to help you find the best possible solution. Contact RDM for your lab furniture solution. We’ll strive to exceed your expectations.

RDM Industrial Products features a wide range of ergonomic products. In many cases, ergonomics is used as a buzzword to describe any comfortable piece of furniture or equipment, but there’s much more to it than that. Ergonomic adjustments make work environments more efficient and easier to use productively. Here are five ways proper ergonomic products do that for a lab table, industrial workbench or other professional workstation.

Body Alignment

The reason “ergonomic” is used as a synonym for “comfortable” is because of this benefit. If your monitor is in the right position you can see it without straining your neck. You can type with less chance of suffering a repetitive strain injury. This is the most commonly known benefit of ergonomic products.

Cognitive Ease

Less well known is how ergonomic products help you think better. This is because proper equipment allows you to adjust your workspace into a more intuitive configuration. For example, if you need to enter data after inspecting a sample in a lab, the ergonomic solution is to put the monitor at or near the same sight line. This means the worker doesn’t have a gap where the sample is out of sight, where he might forget and have to check again, slowing his progress.

Injury Reduction

As everyone knows, less comfortable workspaces can cause injury due to repetitive strain, but the fact is that poor ergonomics cause injury by promoting inattention or leaving hazards in a worker’s path.

Time Motion Efficiency

Correct ergonomics lets people work faster, by positioning workstation elements in such a way as to reduce the number of motions required to complete a task. Many companies hire professionals to perform time motion studies in their workplace, but any perceptive manager can improve efficiency just by looking at how a workstation forces someone to take certain steps, and then modifying that space to eliminate those steps.

The manifold benefits of ergonomic equipment will multiply your workstation’s output. Contact RDM for product ideas that can do this for you.

One of the advantages of buying from RDM is that as a manufacturer, we are able to make custom orders to fit your industry, workspace and safety requirements. While we offer a tremendous selection of industrial workbenches and lab tables, these can be seen as starting points to help you order a custom product in addition to being standard products themselves. Our industrial furniture gallery is also an excellent way to help you define exactly what you need.

You can help make the ordering process as smooth as possible by following a few simple steps. First of all, make sure you’re familiar with all applicable, state, local and federal regulations that might apply to installing the new furnishings. For many businesses this is as simple as checking the local fire code, but if you work with hazardous materials or perform research your requirements can be much stricter.

Another thing that you can do to ensure an easy ordering process is to accurately measure the space your furniture is going to occupy. This is a simple task that can save time and pain. By avoiding inaccurate, out of date floor plans, you can avoid major estimating and install catastrophies. Please make sure you have reliable, current measurements.

Talk to us to see what we can build for you (the answer is: almost anything). We can recommend materials, offer initial quotes and answer questions about the item’s characteristics and life cycle.

Schedule work around the installation. If you’re moving a wheeled workbench in this may take no time at all, but if it’s time to install permanent counter space or complex lab furnishings you will need to figure out how installation will affect your work. Pay special attention to time sensitive activities such as industrial curing and similar manufacturing processes.

Contact RDM Industrial Products to start the process or ask for more detailed guidelines. We’re ready to provide the perfect custom industrial furniture solution for you.

This time around we’ll be looking at RDM’s lab tables and other lab furnishings. We provide both standardized and custom lab furniture solutions for our clients. Let’s see some of the products we build for this category.

This is the Model A-109P-WD Wood Frame Laboratory Table. It features a chemical resistant surface that makes it ideal for heavy duty, general purpose use. Similar models are available in heavy duty steel. Like all of our lab furniture, we can provide many different custom options for everything from surfacing to built-in storage.

This is one of our Flame Resistant Metal Cabinets. Its reinforced steel construction and coating make it the ideal safe solution for storing flammable materials. This cabinet comes in many different sizes and configurations beyond what’s shown here.

This is an adjustable-height lab table frame we had custom designed for a school. Note that at the time this photo was taken we had not yet installed the work surfaces. The customer had specific space, storage and color requirements that we were happy to satisfy. This photo shows the table area (at the back) in a lowered position, but it can actually hydraulically lift above the height of the sink. You can find other pictures in our custom desk gallery.

Contact us to order or inquire about your custom lab table or furniture solution. We’re eager to discuss and meet your needs.