Efficiency is the office key
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BUSINESS efficiency is all about cutting out wasteful procedures and maximising resources—or in simpler terms earning as much as you can from what you have got.
And for the haulier and coach operator that's no longer just a matter of using vehicles and drivers properly. With wages and costs increasing, office procedures have come under the microscope.
When time is money, well chosen business equipment, be it simple or sophisticated, can be highly cost effective. For example, most transport managers will have been brought up In the era of khaki coloured steel filing cabinets and drab desks.
But the modern office will be almost luxurious by comparison, as a walk through the showrooms of any large supplier will show.
It is likely to be finished in light or dark wood in such professional style that many such items would not disgrace a modern home. Why? Well I suspect that this trend has come about for three reasons.
The first is that staff, particularly female staff, appreciate a home-like office, are happier and so work better. A modern decor helps in staff recruitment and slows down staff turnover. The third reason is that office equipment—certainly when used for filing or storage—is very durable and if the price difference between the old-style metal furniture and modern timber finishes is modest it surely makes sense to choose timber. The furniture has to be lived with for a long time!
Because space tends to be at a premium, particularly in town centre offices, filing systems which are compact make good sense. Myers and Son, of Oldbury, Warley, Worcs, markets the Rondoffle A6. It is 13in diameter, on a revolving base, divided into eight segments, each of which contains 125 hinged record cards permitting full face readability. The Rondofile is normally supplied with 1,000 special A6 record cards, in four colours, together with a set of 24 alphabetically coded dividers and eight self-adhesive labels for functional identification.
The A6 cards are ruled to match typewriter spacing. A two-tier adaptor allowing Rondofiles to be stacked in pairs—each pair holding 2,000 cards—is available.
Filing covers are available from several manufacturers. The Birmingham Envelope Co Ltd, 109-139 Sarehole Road, Birmingham, markets a range of Brampton Springback binders in various colours.
These binders enable pages to be added without punching or line up holes, presenting an even appearance. Just the job for the managing director's office to impress visitors!
The same firm supplies PVC ring binders and PVC brief cases in three colours and box files and collapsible transfer cases in various sizes.
A useful data trolley supplied by Birmingham Envelope Company for open suspended files can be "twinned" with a working surface between each unit. The trolleys are on castors and the units could readily be pushed into a cupboard when not in use.
The Acco Company, Bretton Way, Bretton, Peterborough, markets a useful range of printout filing and retrieval units, with castors if required. The system is designed to grow and filing may be single point, lateral or vertical.
Addressing machines are readily available from several makers. A simple machine capable of 500 addresses per hour is the mini-Master made by