The search for high-quality laboratory furniture is a necessity when designing your own lab. It all comes down to selecting the right materials and suppliers that can help you take your laboratory to the next level. Custom lab furniture can ensure that your lab is as efficient and safe as it can be.

Selecting the Right Materials

The materials that your lab tables and casework are made out of will be what sets your lab apart from the rest. Make sure to consider whether or not your lab will need chemical resistant surfaces that deter chemicals from damaging the tables and prevent workers from coming into contact with these substances.

You should make sure to choose these materials based on the needs of your lab.

Laminate

Laminate is used for decorative cabinets, but it is not recommended for exposure to extreme humidity or heat. You’ll most often see laminate lab cabinets in schools because they’re aesthetically pleasing and because students will most likely not be using high heat materials on their own.

Laminate is one of the cheapest options, but it is only light-duty and has:

Low bacterial resistance
Low chemical resistance
Low moisture resistance
Low scratch resistance

Laminate is ideal for labs that have a low budget and perform only general functions.

Wood

Wood is a traditional choice for lab cabinets, but it’s susceptible to wear and tear. As you may know from having wood in your home, it shows every scratch and discoloration.

Wood is more expensive than laminate but is still on the cheaper side of lab furniture. However, it also has all of the low resistance as laminate and dents easily on impact.

This material is ideal for basic testing and dry research. Cabinets made from wood are much more attractive than laminate but don’t offer many more benefits than that.

Steel

Steel lab benches are one of the most popular choices for labs. It’s heavy-duty and typically has a powder coat finish that resists cracking and peeling. What’s most beneficial is that the coating is corrosion and chemical resistant.

Steel also has a moderate bacterial, chemical, scratch, and moisture resistance. It’s also available fairly cheap and very easy to clean. However, it can dent on impact.

These benches are typically ideal for chemical and industrial testing, along with other labs where tables need to withstand wear and tear.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is similar to steel, but it’s made out of chromium and nickel. It’s resistant to both rust and corrosion, and can’t be penetrated by liquids.

Stainless steel is considered moderate to heavy-duty and has a high fungal resistance and high moisture resistance. Like steel, it is extremely easy to clean. However, it has low scratch-resistance and often comes at a high price.

This material is ideal for food testing, autopsy, and pharmaceutical labs, along with others that do experiments were results depend on non-contamination.

Choosing a Supplier

After you understand what type of materials you want to be used, you should look for a supplier that offers high-quality solutions. The quality of the lab equipment depends on the quality of the manufacturer.

Budget

Your budget will have a huge say in what supplier you choose to work with. However, it’s important that you base your decision on much more than price alone. Quality should not be compromised for cost because your lab furniture has a direct impact on the efficiency and safety of your lab.

Also, low cost and low-quality furniture will need changes and repairs more frequently than high-quality furniture made from high-quality materials. The decision to choose high-quality over low-cost will help you save in the long run on maintenance costs, so it’s up to you to decide your priorities.

Product Quality

As we have just mentioned, quality is key to keeping costs down. However, it’s also a way of keeping the lab efficient. High-quality casework means that every single day, lab technicians will be able to utilize them, so they’ll need to stand up to time. Frequent repairs take time out of workers’ days, so you can avoid the hassle by choosing high-quality materials at the start.

Products manufactured in America are known to be much more high quality because of the higher standards. When you purchase cheap imported furniture, you can expect lab tables that don’t last as long.

To ensure that you’re getting a high-quality product, you should ask about the standards of the manufacturer and how each piece is constructed.

Customer Service

While some customers prefer to send their specifications to the supplier for a quote, others will want to use the manufacturer as a resource. It’s important to make sure that all of the details being considered in the lab design, including countertop material, are being run by the experts.

A quality supplier takes the time to get to know their customers and their needs and help them come up with the best solutions.

Lead Time

You should always consider how long you have to wait for the product. Most of the time, lab designers are on a strict deadline. Most casework is made to order, so it does take some time to reach production.

Shipment time will also impact the deadline. If your product is across the country, it may take longer than expected.

If you have a deadline, make sure to tell the supplier and see if they’re able to work with you on lead time.

Customization

One of the most significant considerations to keep in mind is customization. Your lab will have different needs from every other lab, and standard lab equipment might not cut it.

Your supplier should have the technology and ability to make custom products based on your pricepoint. Make sure to ask the supplier what they’re able to do for you before making a final decision. Often times, they may have ideas that you didn’t think of before that can help you elevate your lab design.

The post Custom Lab Furniture Guide: Selecting the Right Materials and Supplier appeared first on LabTech Supply.

source https://www.labtechsupplyco.com/custom-lab-furniture-guide-selecting-the-right-materials-and-supplier/

As marijuana becomes legal in more and more states across the US, we see a boom in the growth of cannabis labs. Of course, labs are necessary for testing the quality of the products. In fact, many cannabis and CBD companies are posting their lab results online to ensure that they provide the ultimate transparency for their customers. It’s important that they’re able to prove CBD content and THC content in products.

With this need comes the need for effective cannabis labs to provide solutions to manufacturers of these products and help customers make a purchasing decision. When designing a lab for those purposes, one must consider the needs and value of each component, including lab furniture and other features.

What to Consider When Designing a Cannabis Lab

When designing your lab, you should consider a few things before purchasing equipment, furniture, or anything else.

Safety

Lab safety is an important aspect of design. You’ll need all of the safety features of a regular lab, like alarm systems, eyewash stations, and emergency showers. But you’ll also need to choose lab benches, tables, and furniture that can ensure the safety in the lab, like chemical resistance surface.

Efficiency

An efficient lab means getting the most out of the day. In order to increase efficiency, you’ll have to optimize workspaces. Consider the daily routine of a lab worker. You don’t want them running around from station to station all day long.

You should make sure that people shouldn’t have to walk too far to access everything that they need in the lab. Specific rooms for dedicated purposes should be close enough to one another so that workers can easily get from area to area.

Space

Space is part of efficiency because the more space available, the easier it is for lab technicians to get where they need to go. They’ll also need space on their workspaces so that they can do important work without the risk of bumping into an expensive piece of instrumentation.

Space also has to do with organization. A more organized lab means that people will be able to focus on the tasks at hand and get more done. This is also true for workspaces. Crowded workspaces can be dangerous with different chemicals that can get knocked over.

Believe it or not, custom lab furniture can help any cannabis lab achieve all three of these important aspects.

Cannabis Lab Furniture Selection Guide

When looking for the perfect lab furniture for your cannabis laboratory, it’s important to consider not only the shape of a lab table, but the features that you can get with it that maximize space, improve efficiency, and ensure safety.

Custom Sizes

Standard sized lab equipment doesn’t work for every lab. In some cases, you’ll have a dedicated space to fill, and a large table may clutter the room or make space limited. By choosing custom sizes, you can have the workspaces you need available without compromising on space.

The traditional one-size-fits-all lab tables are often an inconvenience for technicians because they need to be able to move around. Not to mention, ill-fitting lab furniture can lead to bumps, breaks, and spills.

While space may not be high on your priority list, you must consider the possible breakages that can occur if workers end up bumping into each other on the regular. Consider that this might mean you have to replace valuable instruments, which will impact your lab budget and productivity.

Custom Drawers and Cabinets

Cannabis labs require optimal storage. Lab technicians are going to have a lot on their workstations, from instrumentation to important data. Lab cabinets and drawers allow these workers to store the items they’re not using to keep them safe from harm until they need them again.

Lab tables equipped with storage help keep workspaces neat and organized, helping to improve efficiency. Not only that, but they also help prevent spillage. As you may know, clutter can cause chaos, which can lead to someone’s arm knocking over dangerous chemicals. Storage solutions help prevent this and ensure the continued safety of the lab and all of its workers.

LDC Arms

Another feature that can increase the organization of a workspace is LDC arms. Computers should not take up too much of a workspace, which is why LDC arms help workers utilize computers without having to keep their experiments in a different location.

These arms keep computer monitors away from tables so that lab techs can continue to work without hassle. When large items, like a computer monitor, are up and out of the way, your lab technicians won’t have to maneuver to type, avoiding any hazardous chemical spills.

Adjustable Legs

Working at different heights may be necessary for a cannabis lab. For example, if a plant is on a standard table, the top leaves may be taller than a lab tech can reach. You can avoid the need for step stools when you have laboratory tables that can change height when you need them to. At the same time, you can increase the level of safety when workers don’t have to stand on tables to do their work.

Being able to make these subtle changes means that lab technicians can be more efficient and increase the speed at which they work.

Mobility Options

Your lab tables should never be attached to the floor. At the very least, it’s beneficial to have options when designing your space. You shouldn’t have to commit to any one position for workspaces. Immobile benches make it difficult for workers to create their own workflows.

For example, a staff may want to extend their workspace with a second table. This can’t be done with a table that is directly attached to the floor. The option to have a mobile table means that lab technicians can choose how they work, which will ultimately positively impact their efficiency.

The post Laboratory Furniture and Tech Supply Selection Guide for Cannabis Lab appeared first on LabTech Supply.

source https://www.labtechsupplyco.com/laboratory-furniture-and-tech-supply-selection-guide-for-cannabis-lab/

Lab Tech Supply Company

Tuesday 26 November 2019

Custom Lab Furniture Guide: Selecting the Right Materials and Supplier