Modular Office Furniture Overview

By Author: John Tang
Total Articles: 512
Comment this article

Today, modular open office panel systems are offered by a variety of manufacturers. Office managers and planners are confronted with a bewildering array of designs and price options. Purchasing decisions have grown more complex with the need to accommodate the massive increase in intelligence being accessed by employees. The term computer-intensive workspace (a office cubicles) describes a totally different environment than that of 30 years ago when a telephone, electric typewriter or shared word processing systems comprised office technology.

Managing technology in the workspace has become a science of its own. For example, there are standards that govern the design and placement of voice, data and video cabling upon which employees depend for high-speed Internet access, for file sharing on their firms Local Area Networks (LANs) and to communicate with other company locations, customers and suppliers via intranets and extranets.

These concerns have become more critical with the introduction of the fluid workspace. Today's office floorplans are far from static. Work ...
... areas expand, contract and reconfigure to meet the ever-changing needs of a business. Modular office furniture, cubicles, and wall systems - and their cabling infrastructure - must accommodate these Moves, Adds and Changes (MACs) quickly, inexpensively and reliably.

Systems must be designed to conform to proposed OSHA standards related to health problems associated with intensive computer use, and to address work-related disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injuries. These conditions affect millions of workers and cost companies billions of dollars in lost productivity and disability payments.

For the most part, the office furniture industry has largely been unresponsive to these dramatic changes in the workplace. Many manufacturers are constrained by obsolete product designs, marketing and distribution methods dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.

This paper will take a close look at modular furniture systems and provide guidelines to help office and information technology managers make educated purchasing decisions. It will examine first costs and lifetime costs of a system, cable management, ergonomics, construction details, lighting, accessories, privacy, and other concerns impacting the purchasing decision. While the paper will broadly focus on cable management in office systems, a companion paper, An Introduction to High Performance Cabling Systems, provides a more thorough treatment of that topic in today's technology-packed offices.

A Look at Some Trends
Today, many businesses are spending more on high technology office equipment than on industrial machinery. An office without a computer is more the exception than the rule. Moreover, employees frequently have intelligent peripherals such as modems, printers and fax capability in their own workspace, or if not, have access to shared facilities.

Meanwhile, organizations where personnel spend a bulk of their time out of the office are turning to alternative solutions such as hoteling to achieve two objectives. One is to lower real estate cost; the other is to reduce the number of workstations below the number of employees, who reserve space in advance when they're in the facility. While these actions result in efficient space utilization, they call for greater flexibility in furniture and equipment to accommodate the changing needs of the staff in an ad-hoc environment. Companies are also reducing the average amount of floorspace per employee to approximately 200 square feet today from 250 in the middle of the 1990s, according to the Building Owner and Manager Association.

Added to this is an increase in what is called the corporate churn rate. The International Facilities Management Association reported that the average corporate relocation rate is now 44%, meaning that in any given year, 44 out of each hundred employees move within the facility.

Other trends relate to softer factors that nevertheless can play a major role in the ultimate success of an organization. Highly skilled workers will always be in demand, and because of that, have an influence on the way offices look. Monolithic cubicles of Dilbert fame can act as a deterrent to attracting qualified personnel. Instead, forward-looking firms are installing office systems that allow workers to put their own signature on their workplace in terms of varying panel heights, the use glass panels, marker boards, shelving and other accouterments. This new residential approach to office design helps attract employees and make them feel more at home on the job, instead of a numbered peg in a monolithic hole.