Ins & Outs of Stainless Steel Industrial Furniture

Lab work can be rough sometimes. Important experiments and chemical reactions go off regularly all around you, and potentially caustic and hazardous substances are almost always within reach. Proper lab furniture is essential, of course, but just any kind of furniture won’t do. Your research team will need something of industrial quality that can reliably handle the special stresses of the lab.

For many reasons, stainless steel is the ideal material out of which to make at least a significant portion of your lab furniture, casework, and equipment, and RDM Industrial Products stands ready to custom build any kind of stainless steel industrial furniture that your lab may require. With our 40 years of experience building factory-direct lab equipment for our clients, we’re prepared to meet even your minutest specifications.

Here is some important information about the kinds of stainless steel laboratory furniture that we make and why your lab would benefit enormously from introducing some of it into its daily operations.

RDM’s Types of Stainless Steel Industrial Furniture

First, let us give you a quick overview of the kinds of stainless steel furniture that we can supply to your lab.

• Tables: Stainless steel work tables are one of the most important tools that it’s possible to have in the lab. They can store or carry equipment, and they are often the site where much critical work is done. RDM manufactures stainless steel work tables in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
• Workbenches: Stainless steel workbenches are also essential laboratory tools. They are similar to tables in many ways, but are generally rectangular and are designed so that lab personnel may comfortably do their work there while either sitting or standing. Many of our workbenches can also be made with drawers or cabinets included.
• Carts: Stainless steel utility carts are small, wheeled contraptions that allow lab workers to quickly and easily transport all kinds of things — usually chemicals or tools — across the lab. Some of our carts are simple one-tiered models, while others are larger and come with multiple shelves.
• Cabinets and Lockers: Stainless steel cabinets are consummate storage tools. When potentially dangerous chemicals are not in use, they need to be kept somewhere where they can’t do serious damage, even in the unfortunate case of a spill or mishap. Stainless steel cabinets are ideal for such tasks. A set of stainless steel lockers also provides a great place for lab workers to store their street clothes or other belongings during the workday.

RDM can customize all of these products in many different ways. Some of the many stainless steel table options that we offer include the ability to customize dimensions, add in variable-height capabilities, add in drawers or lower shelves, and place wheels under the table legs to give them mobility.

Many of these same options are also available for our stainless steel utility carts and workbenches. If you buy one of our stainless steel workbenches, you also have the option of adding in overhead racks and shelves to let you keep more tools and equipment close at hand.

Lastly, our stainless steel cabinets can be made in varying heights, depths, and other dimensions: 84 inches high, between 18 and 48 inches wide, and either 16 or 21 inches deep. You also have the option of equipping cabinets with either swinging or sliding doors, or of giving them no doors at all. Moreover, the doors can be made of either glass or stainless steel.

Check out our full lineup of quality-designed stainless steel industrial furniture — all proudly manufacture in the USA — today.

Some Key Features of Stainless Steel Furniture

Some very important general properties and features pervade all of our different types of industrial-grade lab furniture, features that extend far beyond just the stainless steel table options and other customization features that we’ve already mentioned. These things all contribute to making our furniture extremely useful in a laboratory setting. Here are some of them:

• Durability: Stainless steel is tough, and that’s probably the primary reason why so many labs simply won’t accept any major furniture that’s made of anything else. In an environment loaded with dangerous substances, occasional spills and other human-caused accidents are bound to happen. Good lab furnishings, therefore, should be able to take some damage without breaking down. Anything that’s made of steel can meet that challenge.
• No Rusting or Discoloration: Stainless steel is called “stainless” because it doesn’t rust or discolor. When a small amount of chromium is alloyed with steel, it prevents oxygen from reacting with it. That means the metal doesn’t rust. Because stainless steel doesn’t absorb liquids, it can’t be discolored either.
• Fireproofing and Chemical Resistance: RDM can take the natural properties of stainless steel and modify them so that our furniture can become even more impressive. If you so desire, we can make any furniture that we build for you fireproof and chemical-and-corrosion resistant. These things can be extremely important if your lab staff regularly handles dangerous, flammable, or explosive compounds. Moreover, we can even cost our furniture with static-resistant ESD for you.

Important Benefits

Now that you know so much more about the kinds of stainless steel industrial furniture we offer, you may be asking yourself why you should make the necessary investment and deck out your lab with it. Here are some of the most salient benefits of industrial-quality stainless steel lab furniture:

• Longevity: As mentioned, stainless steel lab furniture is durable and rust-resistant. We can make it flame, static and chemical resistant for you as well. All of this means that your furniture will last longer and that your lab will be able to rely on it for years and years.
• Lab Worker Safety: Storing dangerous compounds in chemical-resistant and flame-resistant cabinets, for example, means that any accidents that might happen with said compounds are less likely to injure workers. Stainless steel furniture can promote worker safety in many other ways as well.
• Wide Customizability: The various customizability options that we’ve mentioned above ultimately put more power into your hands. They allow you to meet needs on a more granular level, and this will ultimately make your lab more dynamic and efficient.
• Cost Savings: All of the features and benefits that we’ve mentioned so far — the toughness and longevity, the fact that they can help keep lab personnel safe — all add up to one other very important thing: they cost you less money in the long run. You might save money because you’ll spend less on replacing damaged furniture, or your lab might produce more because workers are less likely to get hurt.

Which Industries Use Them?

With so many clear and significant benefits, you won’t be surprised that many industries make liberal use of stainless steel furniture in their facilities. Here are just some examples:

• Scientific and medical research labs
• Engineering and design firms
• Hospitals and medical schools
• Automotive and aerospace manufacturing firms

Conclusion

Given both the sheer number and the weight of the advantages that stainless steel industrial furniture can confer upon your lab, you should really consider it a necessity. And no matter what your lab’s peculiar needs happen to be, RDM can use its 40 years of industry experience to supply them.