Open Front Plastic Storage Bins
Open front stackable storage bins are a popular storage solution across various different industries and settings, ranging from industrial warehouses to retail spaces, medical facilities, and beyond. The way these bins are designed, with an open front and rear hanging lip, allows for vertical stacking on floors, countertops, workbenches, shelves or desks while also providing the option to be wall mounted and hung on louvered panels, rails or rack units. These bins have optional accessories such as covers, dividers, labels and windows, giving them even more versatility and making open front stackable bins a popular option in commercial settings.
Benefits of Open Front Stacking Bins
Open front stackable storage bins offer numerous benefits, including space optimization, enhanced organization, easy accessibility, and versatility.
Space Optimization: By allowing vertical stacking, these bins help maximize the use of vertical space, often an underutilized storage area. This can be especially beneficial in environments with limited floor or shelf space.
Enhanced Organization: The use of dividers and labels helps to create a highly organized system that can be easily understood and utilized by anyone needing to access the bin's contents. This can lead to increased efficiency and productivity.
Easy Accessibility: The open front design allows for easy access to the bin's contents, even when they're stacked. This eliminates the need to unstack bins to access items, saving time and effort. For situations where further visibility is required, we offer clear open front bins (stacking and non-stacking). Using clear open front bins allows you to easily locate specific parts or items from any angle, whereas with colored bins, you need to be looking at the front to see what's inside.
Versatility: Open front stackable bins can be used in a wide range of environments and for a variety of purposes. Their design and available accessories make them adaptable to nearly any organized storage need.
Essential Accessories
Covers, dividers, windows and labels enhance the functionality and versatility of open front stackable bins.
Lids or covers protect the contents from dust and other potential contaminants, which can be particularly important in healthcare settings or in industries where items could be damaged by exposure to airborne particles.
Dividers allow for the bin's interior to be split into sections, providing additional organization. For instance, in a retail setting, a bin could be divided to hold different sizes or colors of the same product. In a healthcare setting, different types of medical supplies could be kept separate but within the same bin for efficiency.
Labels provide clear identification of the bin's contents, increasing the speed of item retrieval. This can be especially helpful in environments where time is of the essence, such as in a medical facility, or where a high level of organization is required, such as in a retail warehouse.
How Our Clients Use Open Front Stacking Bins - Real Life Examples
The team at Industrial 4 Less has been working with companies for nearly 20 years to help put the proper storage solutions in place. Some of the clients we've worked with have utilized open front stacking bins for the following applications:
Warehouses, Fulfillment & Distribution Centers
Small Parts, Products & Labels: Our clients have used open front stacking bins to store small items that have high volume fulfillment, such as perfume or cosmetic products/bottles. Ensuring these boxes are labeled and stored correctly cuts down the time to ship and reduces picking errors.
Equipment & Tools: We have clients that store their handheld barcode scanners in these bins, labeled by device type or charge status. This helps keep track of valuable warehouse equipment that often goes missing. Ensuring fully charged devices are readily available is critical to warehouse and distribution operations.
Louvered Rails, Racks and Panels: Most of our warehousing clients use these bins on some kind of racking or rail system intended for picking, packing or distribution. Click here to view those complete package solutions.
Grocery Retailers, Supermarkets & Convenience Stores/Shops
Small Packets: We work with some large national grocery retailers and a common challenge they all have is storing, organizing and displaying tiny packets like spices, condiments and seasonings. These items frequently get lost in the shuffle and lead to inventory mismatches and product loss. Our clients have used open front stacking bins in the back of house for organizing inventory since the open front facilitates quick stock assessments and refills, making inventory management smoother. In the front of house, these bins help display the items for customers to grab as they walk by or check-out.
Sample Products: In-store promotion or sample stands often use open front stacking bins to display and distribute food samples as well as serving materials like paper plates, plastic cutlery, cups, toothpicks etc.
Snacks & Travel-sized Items: Our convenience store customers have used these bins to create grab-and-go sections in their shops, reducing lines and allowing customers to check-out faster.
Hardware Shops, Auto-Parts Retailers, Specialty Supply Shops
Small Parts: Our open front stacking bins are a hit with our parts shop customers, helping them categorizing items based on unique identifiers such as year, make, model, part type etc.
Pipes & Faucets: We've worked with dozens of small business plumbers across the country to help them use open front stacking bins to store different sized pipes, faucets, knobs and other materials so jobs can be completed more quickly and with less trips back to their client's location. Specific plumbing tasks demand specialized tools. Storing them methodically ensures effective and prompt plumbing services.
Nails, Screws and Brackets: In hardware retail shops, using our open front bins, hardware shops can ensure each part has its own designated and clearly labeled space, optimizing both storage and sales.
Supplies: Contractors require various types of supplies, tools, wires, depending on the task at hand. Using our bins, our contractor clients have organized their supplies in a systematic way so that they can quickly grab whatever they need for the specific site their about to visit.
Fuses & Small Parts: Essential electrical components like fuses, connectors, and switches are now systematically stored, preventing delays during repairs or installations and helping our clients maintain their reputation.
Service Vans: We've helped clients outfit their service vans to organize and transport rolls of different types of wires, Spools of grounding wire, Cable ties or zip ties, various types of switches and outlets, fuses, circuit breakers, and relays, junction boxes and enclosures, light fixtures and bulbs and many more critical supplies.
Auto Repair, Body Shops & Tire Repair Centers
Small Auto Parts: Many of our repair shop customers are in the auto-repair business and use open front stacking bins to organize nuts, bolts, screws, washers, fuses, relays, bulbs, bearings, seals, gaskets, brake pads, spark plugs, filters (air, oil, fuel). These small components can vary by vehicle type. With open front stacking bins, repair shops now systematically segregate parts by size, make, or model.
Lug Nuts, Valve Stems & Weights: Tire centers ensure that these essential tire components are always at hand, reducing service time.
Hospitals, Doctors Offices, EMTs, Pharmacies & Medical Supply Stores
Bandages, Gauze Pads: We've worked with countless healthcare providers to help them implement an effective storage and inventory management program. These open front stacking bins often are the starting point for all healthcare providers. Small items like bandages, pads, cotton balls, tongue depressors etc come in different sizes and types. Our healthcare clients are using open front bins to categorize and quickly retrieve them based on specific patient requirements.
Syringes & Vaccinations: These bins are being used to store syringes and vials of vaccinations. Even in the freezer, these bins maintain their rigidity making them the perfect solution.
Small items and tools: Medical supply items like tweezers, scissors, and even medications are often sorted and stored in open front stacking bins.
Bandages & Antiseptics: Quick accessibility can be a matter of life and death. We've helped EMT's and various first responders configure their vans and workspaces with open front stacking bins to store time sensitive materials in an easy to access way.
Marijuana Dispensaries
Marijuana Products: Open front stacking bins are in every dispensary, and we're happy to work some of the largest dispensary brands in the country to help them store, sort and organize their marijuana products. Products such as pre-rolled flower, pre-packaged flower, packaged edibles like gummies or chocolates and vape cartridges or refill oils.
Accessories: These open front bins with easy access to the contents are very useful for marijuana accessories with our dispensary clients. Some of the accessories stored in these bins include rolling papers and filters, grinders of various sizes and designs, pipes, tinctures, vape pens and chargers.
Packaging and Storing: In such a highly regulated industry (no pun intended), making sure you have an effective way to store and organize items is critical. Our bins are used in the back of house for holding and sorting empty prescription bottles or containers, resealable bags for various product sizes, labels for strain information, THC/CBD content, etc. and tamper-evident and child-resistant containers.
Clothing Manufacturers, Furniture Makers & Welders
Fabric Swatches: With the myriad fabric types and colors involved in clothing and furniture manufacturing, our bins ensure that all stakeholders can easily access and compare swatches so decisions can be made and manufacturing processes don't get held up.
Threads: Segregating threads based on type, strength, or color is made simple, aiding in the detailed craftsmanship required for sportswear.
Screws & Nails: We work with a handful of custom furniture manufacturers and they have used these bins to segregate screws, nails, and other fixings based on size, type, or application.
Small Fittings: From brackets to knobs, every item is stored methodically so that our clients can deliver their custom furniture on time. Using these bins helped to make sure that no components are ever missing or short.
Welding Rods: Different metals and welding tasks require specific rods. By using open front stackable bins, welders have been known to separate and store them based on material, thickness, or purpose.
Masks: Safety first! Masks can be easily stored and retrieved, ensuring welders always have protection within reach.
Small Tools: Be it chipping hammers, wire brushes, or electrode holders, these bins ensure that every tool is properly stored and easily located when needed, enhancing efficiency. For clothing and furniture manufacturers, sewing needles and cutting scissors, can be organized for quick retrieval, streamlining the assembly process.
Pet Stores
Pet Toys & Food Samples: By categorizing items based on pet types, stores can offer an improved shopping experience.
Grooming Tools: Segregating grooming tools ensures that pet care sessions are executed proficiently.
Quick-Serve Restaurants
Food Ingredients: You'll find our open front stacking bins being used at some of your favorites fast-food and quick serve restaurant locations across the country. They are using these bins to store packaged condiments like ketchup, mustard, and mayo packets as well as freezer storage of burger patties, chicken pieces, or fish fillets.
Serving & Packaging: Making essential items quick and easy to grab for both staff and customers is important to any quick serve restaurant. Some of the most common items stored in these bins are napkins and tissues, disposable cutlery (forks, knives, spoons, and stirrers), straws (paper, plastic, or reusable), drink lids and cup sleeves.
Gardening, Plant Cultivation, Greenhouse & Farming Operations
Seeds: Different crops and seasons demand different seeds. To aid in the propagation of a diverse range of plants, our clients use open front stackable bins to systematically store seeds based on type, season, or growth requirement.
Gardening Tools: From pruning shears to hand trowels, our stacking bins offer an organized system, allowing farmers to grab what they need quickly.
Small Pots for Plant Cultivation: Sorting pots based on size or material becomes effortless with our stacking bins, aiding in efficient plant cultivation.
Fertilizers: Given their varying types and applications, fertilizers are often stored in these bins for ease of access and use, aligning with planting schedules.
Craft Shops
Beads: Sorting and storing different types, sizes, and colors of beads can be a meticulous task. Our stacking bins are used in craft shops across the country to ensure that every different type of bead has its own designated spot, making it easier for crafters to locate and purchase them.
Threads: Color coordination becomes simpler. Whether it's embroidery thread, sewing thread, or specialty threads, each can have a distinct bin and can even be color coordinated so that the threads match the color of the bins.
Tools & Supplies: From needles and thimbles to small crafting tools, everything gets its own organized space. Keeping supplies visible and within arms reach has been a huge help for our clients who run craft shops.
Wineries
Corks: Essential for sealing the wine, corks of varying sizes are held in these bins throughout some of our winery client's facilities on the west coast of the USA.
Small Tools for Wine Bottling & Packaging: From bottle sealers to label applicators, all tools are always in the proper place when needed, streamlining the bottling and packaging process for the winery workers.
Gift Boutiques
Small Trinkets: Delicate and often ornate, trinkets can be securely housed in our bins, ensuring they remain pristine.
Cards & Wrapping Supplies: Keeping a range of cards and wrapping materials organized ensures seamless gift assembly and enhanced customer experience.
Before and After Using Open Front Stackable Bins
Local Auto Body Shop in Miami, FL.- Usage: These bins are integral for housing everything from tiny bolts to larger components.
- Storage: They are often placed on large shelving units or in parts drawers for easy accessibility.
- Before: Previously, wooden crates or cardboard boxes were used which did not offer easy visibility or quick access.
- Efficiency Boost: Assembly and vehicle servicing have become swifter as components are instantly identifiable and reachable, reducing the time looking for parts.
PCB Manufacturer in San Jose, CA.
- Usage: Bins facilitate the organization of components for electronics, machinery parts, and toys.
- Storage: Found on assembly lines, near workstations, or on mobile trolleys.
- Before: Traditional storage was bulkier and more closed off, like drawers or cabinets.
- Efficiency Boost: Smooth assembly line operations, reduced production halts, and fewer errors due to quick component availability.
- Usage: Ideal for holding fresh produce or smaller items like spices.
- Storage: Positioned at eye-level for customers or under display counters for staff.
- Before: Produce was often presented in baskets or open shelving which didn’t optimize space.
- Efficiency Boost: Restocking becomes systematic, reducing wastage and improving inventory turnover.
- Usage: Sorting and storing different medications and consumablesl like bandages and band-aids.
- Storage: Often kept behind counters or on shelving units for pharmacists.
- Before: Medications were stored in drawers or cabinets, making visual identification harder.
- Efficiency Boost: Speedy dispensing of medicines, fewer errors, and better patient service.
- Usage: Storing patient care items or lab samples.
- Storage: Positioned in care rooms, near nursing stations, or labs.
- Before: Used cabinets, closets, or traditional trays which limited quick access.
- Efficiency Boost: Enhanced patient care due to quicker access to critical supplies and improved sample management.
- Usage: Organizing lab equipment, stationery, and books.
- Storage: Used in labs, libraries, or faculty rooms.
- Before: Traditional shelves, cabinets, or pigeon holes which often led to clutter.
- Efficiency Boost: Enhanced academic delivery due to streamlined access to teaching aids and optimized research processes in labs.