Applications:
• Private Offices
• Workstations & Shared Spaces
• Conference & training rooms

Products Used:
• Global
• Herman Miller
• National

Thank you Camp Hill installation crew, Barnabas Noel, Keith Seace, Gary Wenger, Dave Pross, Charles Reynolds, and Drexel temps Mike and Jason for a job well done.

Without your hard work and dedication, we would not have been able to install the 460 chairs and 89 tables in the Mund Hall at Lebanon Valley College on time.

With the product shipping two days late, we weren’t sure it was going to ship at all, and arriving Saturday morning, our deadline of Monday morning did not change. We were short-shipped 26 table bases so we scrambled to get rental tables for the students to use at meal times.

Sunday, after the crew was finished, our contact came to us and asked, “If you have any magic left, can you have the remainder of the tables installed before Friday because we have a special breakfast that morning?” To make this happen the Thursday before we had to squeeze the schedule and work around the college’s meal times. In the end, the customer was elated to have all of the new product for the special breakfast.

Consider the difference between planned and unplanned. The wild growth of a forest versus a tame and cultivated garden or the tangled streets of an ancient city compared to the orderly plot of modern city blocks. Sometimes it’s fun to wander in the wild, explore overgrowth, and get lost in back alleys. A business, however, must follow a plan. We look for a clear path over aimless wandering; a straight line toward the goal.

The workplace—the environment where employee meets employer to achieve a common goal—should feel less like a cobbled, zigzag of streets and more like an orderly, clear progression toward achievement and success.

It’s no surprise that academics and business people alike study the components of success, from management to marketplace. Not to be overlooked is the workplace itself. By merging psychology with environmental design, experts have learned how a person’s surroundings at the workplace impact his or her productivity. “Environmental Psychology” has gathered such momentum that universities and colleges offer degrees and conduct research. Architects, designers, and service providers alike consider layout, color, accessibility, furniture, adaptation to technology, and lighting to be absolutely crucial to the positive bottom line of any company.

Pivotal to the success of any business is a space that fosters productivity, creativity, and encourages both individual and collective growth. It must adapt for evolving technology and support employees’ comfort, health, and safety. Here are five ways to bring these elements into your work place.

1. Analyze Your Current Workspace

Think back to the tangle of a forest versus a manicured garden. Office spaces often grow without careful planning because we’re busy attending to the growth, rather than managing the sprawl. Good questions to ask include: are workspaces the appropriate size? Does sound flow freely through a space, or do occupants have a sense of privacy? What type of lighting is being used? Do employees have the tools they need at their fingertips to accomplish their jobs? Is the color palette dull and bland, soothing and calm, or energetic and thought provoking?

“These are details we note when we visit the client for the first time,” says Sid Furst, Director of Sales and Marketing at SupplySource, Inc., a leading provider of interior design, furniture specification, project and contract management, and installation in Pennsylvania. “What is our client’s perception of his or her current environment? When we focus more on the factual than the conceptual, we can sense their needs and move towards a plan.”

2. Create A Supportive Environment

It makes sense that consistently healthy employees leads to increased production. However, simply having an office full of people does not guarantee optimum production. Invite health and comfort into your workspace by offering an environment that supports how your employees work and interact. People feel better in a space that is comfortable, properly lit, and temperature controlled. Studies have monitored employees’ stress and productivity levels related to being in a pleasant atmosphere, having a sense of privacy, and even experiencing a touch of the outdoors brought inside.

Maria Lorena Lehman, author of Sensing Architecture1, holds architecture and design degrees from Virginia Tech and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She has devoted her career to researching how interior environments affect the occupants, from architectural design to the choice of color and lighting. She cites two University of Michigan studies, one in which psychology researchers found that “memory performance and attention spans improved by 20 percent after people spent an hour interacting with nature.” Granted, during a work day, that isn’t always possible. But a second study examined occupants who simply viewed pictures of nature compared to others who viewed images of urban scenes. Those that looked at the nature pictures improved their memory and attention scores as much as 20 percent while those that viewed the urban photos didn’t improve. Studies like these make it clear that environment impacts performance, and that there is much to gain by integrating these concepts into today’s workplace.

3. Manage Energy Use & Space

“Green” is our society’s go word. It is no longer responsible to build new construction or enhance existing space without considering aspects of sustainability, energy management, and conservation. Beyond recycling within the office, using recycled materials, and installing measures that control energy consumption, companies like SupplySource have considered new ways to implement green principles. For example, consider how much space a person requires to do his or her job. In years past, an 8’ x 8’ cubicle was standard. Clunky monitors, jutting a foot or more into the corner where two desks joined, required a cubicle’s occupant to locate at the corner, with work spread on either side of the computer and a rectangular tower pushed somewhere under the desk. Technology demanded layout.

Today, monitors are flat-screened, taking up significantly less space in a workstation, and laptops replace computer towers. Electronic transfer and storage of information demands less physical storage space. Technology has opened its fist on square footage. Most people working in a workstation need their tools to be within their wingspan. A simple reduction in cubicle size by two feet, multiplied by, say, 100 employees, reduces the necessary square footage from 6,400 to 4,800. Reconfiguring the space with 1,600 fewer square feet means potentially less space to lease, heat, and clean. Lower the storage space that’s traditionally above head level to let in more natural light, and save on energy costs. “The accumulated savings over time is huge,” asserts Furst. It’s both energy management and space management at its most basic: less is more.

4. Furnish the Interior

Ergonomics and accessibility impact an employee’s health and attitude. Furniture design company Herman Miller has conducted a range of field studies on posture, distance to a monitor, use of the mouse, and other frequent behaviors in an office setting in order to design both comfortable and ergonomic furniture. In a published report titled Office Seating Behaviors: An Investigation of Posture, Task, and Job Type2, the findings determined that “seated posture is one of the strongest components in the equation that determines exposure to risk of musculoskeletal injury in the office.” Not only should a person be comfortable in his or her chair, but he or she should be able to access the tools necessary to complete the job. The researchers called the findings “intuitive,” and “not surprising,” determining that “the chair and/or workstation should differ between job types to accommodate the difference in seating behaviors.” Seat your employee correctly and comfortably, place the needed tools systematically within that employee’s wingspan, and you’ll likely notice a healthier, more productive employee.

Returning to the idea of sustainability, does the furniture withstand the daily flow of business? The selection of seating, desks, storage—considering function, appeal, and durability—determines both the physical comfort and attitude of your employees, the flow of information, and even the identity of your company. According to David Straker, consultant, publisher, and author of ChangingMinds.org, “design creates the culture of your organization,” which “impacts the identity, operation, and therefore, growth of a company.”

5. Adapt for the Future

Finally, the current design of an office space must embrace one last characteristic: flexibility. Today, your business works one way. Tomorrow, you may form a team for a new project that requires additional meeting space. A year from now, technology may demand a change in your configuration. You may employ more or fewer staff. The design you select, and the furniture you choose should be adaptable to daily changes in operation and future changes down the road.

Environmental psychology is proving to be a relevant and—in a competitive marketplace—necessary component to retaining good employees and encouraging productivity and health in the workplace. “SupplySource lives in this world,” says Furst, calling the company’s designers and sales staff “students of what we do.” This is an industry movement that has garnered a tremendous amount of thought, and he asks, “Why not? How we work and live is the core.” Considering the research and study dedicated to the psychology of space, it makes sense to engage in a successful process to ensure health and well-being in the workplace and propel your business into a profitable tomorrow.

When you think about your workspace, think about us. We have been helping businesses with their furnishing needs for over 25 years. Whether you’re interested in a single chair or long-term contract relationship, SupplySource values your business. We strive to exceed your expectations.

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The main focus of interior wall colors were red and sky blue. Red shades provoked cognitive performance as far as accuracy and attention to detail. Blue shades, particularly sky blue, allowed greater thinking outside of the box and creativity.

Space played a large role in the study as it affected cognitive performance as well as health of the worker. Confined spaces with low ceilings promote accuracy, focus and attention to detail but are somewhat stressful on the worker. Open spaces with high ceilings provide a relaxing and open feeling which allows the worker to feel unrestricted promoting imaginative and creative thinking as well as a providing a less stressful environment.

Lighting of the workplace also played a role in the performance of the test subjects’ cognitive processes and productivity. Natural light is important for health and energy costs but too much can be a distraction for people who must pay attention to detail. In contrast, people who must be creative and think outside of the box should have lots of natural lighting. In this case lots of windows would be essential.

In conclusion, depending on what type of work is to be done, the environment as a whole will play a huge role in the productivity of the workers. Red walls, confined work space and low natural lighting works best for productivity in jobs requiring accuracy, focus and attention to detail. Sky blue walls, open work spaces and lots of natural light works best for productivity in jobs requiring creativity and thinking outside of the box.

The article – Building a Thinking Room

Client:

Auto & Home Insurance Agency/PennDOT Photo License Booth; Philadelphia County, Philadelphia, PA

Workplace Issues:
Combining private insurance agency and PA licensing services in one convenient location
Need for both visibility and privacy

Project Scope:
License photo booth; insurance workstations; 2,000 square feet

The Story:
A symbiotic relationship is typically found in nature—think clownfish and sea anemone or oxpecker and rhinoceros. Two separate species engage in a cooperative relationship for each species’ survival, or at least for great benefit. And though the Imperial Agency and a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo license booth aren’t deep sea dwellers or animals living on the African savannah, they definitely benefit from being near one another.

In April 2010, PennDOT put out a Request for Proposal to locate a photo licensing booth within an agency that could manage customers’ driver, vehicle, and licensing needs, thereby offering a convenient and complete menu of services for Pennsylvania motorists. The insurance company would cover the renovation and provide space in exchange for PennDOT driving customers directly to its door. Gary Orvieto, owner of Imperial Agency, was awarded the bid.

Laws of nature prevail in a symbiotic relationship; the oxpecker simply knows to eat pesky tics off the hides of roaming rhinoceros, but there were bigger “bugs” to work out when adding state agency services to an independent business. Although PennDOT employs standard guidelines for this kind of project, each space is unique. The photo licensing side requires high visibility and accessibility to the public. A small waiting area and partitioned booth are necessary for customers updating their licenses. PennDOT also requires a break area for employees and a secure storage area for sensitive documents. The Imperial Agency requires a flow of customers and a quiet, comfortable location to interact.

Orvieto approached SupplySource, Inc.—almost from sheer luck; he noticed a SupplySource logo on a set of example PennDOT plan sheets—and connected with Daryl Pilon, sales representative. Together they laid out the plan: Orvieto would remain in his current space on one side of a U-shaped strip mall while he renovated and then moved into the License Center which occupied space across the parking lot, and whose lease was coming to an end. Customers were already familiar with the License Center, and Orvieto would downgrade in square footage, saving money. His biggest challenge, as Pilon interpreted, was “space efficiency.”

Rather than making simple furniture recommendations, Pilon helped devise a layout that would serve both Imperial’s and PennDOT’s needs. “To accomplish this,” says Pilon, “we placed the photo booth in the back of the building.” Using modular systems, they were able to “maximize the narrow space with a linear sequence of workspaces, partitions, and overhead storage. A greeter is positioned near the door, welcoming customers and directing them based on their needs. Between the greeter on one end and a photo booth at the other are a system of four stand-up kiosks and two desks, where insurance representatives handle customers, and a private break area and security closet. By directing flow past the insurance employees to a comfortable, private photo booth, we created an efficient layout for a profitable outcome,” explains Pilon.

Two other driving needs in the project for Orvieto were affordability and time management: he had a committed date to move from his existing space to the new location. The workstations & systems—highly durable and multi-functional—were chosen in fabrics and laminate that matched existing color schemes. Pilon worked directly with the electrician to ensure the data connections were compatible with the furniture layout and he marked the floor himself, to scale, to show the carpet manufacturer exactly where to lay the Interface brand carpet. These details, paired with affordable Eurotech MT3000 office seating and stackable S5000 models, and the project came together in time to capture Orvieto’s desired look and style.

Orvieto, who has combined his insurance products with PennDOT licensing booths in the past at other locations, had never used a specialized company like SupplySource, Inc. to handle the furniture and design aspect. After his experience with Pilon, he was surprised that the project result was more cost effective and efficient than in situations where he’d done it on his own. “I have a small place, but I was treated by Daryl and SupplySource as an equal to their biggest customers,” said Orvieto. “It was a challenging, narrow space, and it was done very well.”

The Mayfair Shopping Mall in Philadelphia now plays host to a very successful symbiotic relationship. PennDOT’s licensing camera flashes between 500-600 times a week, and those same customers can manage their insurance, title transfers, auto tags, and notary service through the Imperial Agency, sharing a convenient, thoughtfully arranged and furnished space.

Applications:
Booth for photo license customers
Kiosk and desk space for insurance business
Lunch/break area for employees

Year Completed:
2010

From Datum Filing’s Website: http://datumfiling.com/blog/

When McNees, Wallace & Nurick (Harrisburg, PA) expanded their record storage, they put Datum’s Ez2 Rotary File to the test by setting up a side-by-side comparison versus their current rotary files for the legal secretaries to review.   The secretaries noticed immediately that Datum’s integrated pull-out-reference shelf eliminated the folder snag they were experiencing with their current filing system and that it was easier to access their records because they didn’t have to utilize a foot pedal to operate the revolving cabinet.

In addition to providing rotary files, Datum, in conjunction with their authorized reseller SupplySource, was able to coordinate a turn-key solution for McNees.  Here is what Brenda Landis, Operations Coordinator, had to say about her storage project and working with Datum.  “From conception to design to production and installation, Datum was there every step of the way. The product was perfect for our application and they made it a simple and seamless process. We were up and running in no time. ”

Click here to download the full case study.

Saint Mary’s Health Care believed electronic inventory management in the OR was the way to go. In practice though, the hospital found it to be too expensive and prone to inaccuracy. D

isenchanted, it replaced its electronic system with Co/Struc lockers from Herman Miller Healthcare. The compact, mobile lockers have helped the hospital cut time and money from inventory management.

We have heard from sales and dealers that case studies should focus on business issues, design solutions, and results rather than solely on products. With that in mind, we are seeking case studies that meet the criteria in the attached document.

It used to be that a conference room’s purpose was solely for face-to-face collaboration. With the advent of webinars and teleconferencing systems, it seems that these large rooms are continually being updated with new technology and, of course, more and more wires.

The conference room at our Williamsport office recently underwent an upgrade to enable web conferencing between our six regional offices. Upgrades included a PolyCom teleconferencing phone with external microphones, a ceiling-mounted projector, and a laptop for presentations (these items are all commonly found in most modern conference rooms). With these three items, the space underneath the laptop became a tangled mess of wires and power cords and could be viewed as a safety hazard.

To help tame the mess we blended wire management products from both HumanScale and Mockett. The products used were the Mockett Wire Spine and doughnut combination (to bring the video and data cables up from the floor to the laptop), HumanScale’s Neat Links (to lift the surge protector and other cables off the floor), and a Mockett Threshold Wire Manager (to ensure that the cables would not be crushed by conference room chair casters). This blending of inexpensive product helped to tame the mess and required very little installation or room re-configuration.

For more information on how we can help tame wire mess, manage technology, re-configure your conference room, or anything else, contact us today. We offer contract pricing and volume discounts to those that qualify.

(p.) 1.800.633.8753

(e.) info@supplysourceinc.com

On the go and looking for ideas on how other Health Centers are handling their facility furnishings? Check out the latest case study from Herman Miller showcasing the Pella Regional Health Center in Pella, Iowa. Also, if you prefer the convenience of audio podcasts, the case study has been transcribed into an audio format so you can listen on the go on your iPod, mp3 player, or other compatible device.

Case Study (pdf)

Audio Download