Your van is where you will often spend a lot of your time, on the road or finding equipment. When it comes to equipment, you’ll need your van to be organised and able to hold everything you might need for any job.
Creating the storage space needed is one of the problems facing industrial workers today. With so much (often heavy) equipment to cater for every job, finding the most efficient and space saving way to store this will do wonders for your organisation.
So how can you save space and keep your van more organised?
Space Saving
- Organise your inventory: The first step to organising your van is removing the jumbled equipment you already store in there. Go through your tools and remove any items you do not use frequently. These don’t have to be discarded, just perhaps stored elsewhere so they don’t use up precious space that could be allocated to more useful equipment.
- Install a roof rack: Some bulkier items such as ladders can be placed on a roof rack to saver vital space inside. Using bungee cables and straps you can fix these items to the roof rack or store machinery and equipment in a roof box to then attach to the roof rack.
- Invest in custom racking: Custom racking is the only way to ensure you really make the most of the space inside your specific van. The racking takes your van dimensions into account, alongside the type and amount of equipment you have, and the result is a completely unique storage system to suit you. For more information about custom racking, visit our website. (https://www.vanguardfullfit.co.uk/services/internal-van-racking/)
- Panel and hooks: Perforated panels and hooks are a great way to customise and empty space without taking up a vast amount of room. The hooks can be arranged in any way on the panel and therefore can be switched to accommodate whichever equipment you’re bringing to a particular job. If you’re on a budget but constantly switch your equipment, this is a great solution for you.
- Don’t forget about the paperwork: Having somewhere to store all necessary files and invoices is important. Whether this is in a simple folder in your glove box, or a specially build in paper tray, make sure you don’t forget about storing paperwork when kitting out your van.
Organisational tips
When it comes to organisation, there are ways you can use the space or storage created in a way to help, rather than hinder your activity.
- Organise for ergonomics: Avoiding injury is easy when you put ergonomics first in your storage strategy. Place heavy items at waist height or lower so you’re not at any risk of strain. Don’t place frequently used items behind other items so you avoid having to stretch over any items to reach these.
- Organise for frequency: Store whatever items you use first, or most frequently, closer towards the doors of the van you use most. This ensures that they are always in reach and easier to access during a working session.
- Organise for visibility: For harder to spot items, have them stored in view (for example on hooks). Invest in drawer dividers or inserts to separate smaller items like screws so that you don’t spend time rifling about for a specific type.
- Organise for safety: Wind up and secure wires with clips to avoid them unravelling or the unfortunate outcome of you tripping over them. Remember to always store equipment on wheels side to side across the van so that it can’t crash into the doors if you experience restraint failure.
Not only will these tips and tricks help you with your speed and efficiency, but it will also help you confirm that all equipment has been accounted for when finishing a job.
When things are all neatly organised and everything has a place, it is easier to see what is missing than it is when everything is left in a pile on the van floor.
If organising the interior of your van is something you think would be of use to you, or if you’re interested in any form of custom racking, contact us at VanGuard today.