Two Laboratory Bench Runs with Drawer Storage and Wall Cabinets: Nissha Medical Technologies, Buffalo, New York
Nissha Medical Technologies needed real storage density built into its Buffalo, New York laboratory rather than added around it. Labs USA supplied a sixteen foot and an eleven foot bench run in painted steel casework with eight drawer banks, hinged wall cabinets and one inch black phenolic resin tops, installed on site.
The Situation
Nissha Medical Technologies develops and manufactures medical device components and sensor products, and its Buffalo, New York facility needed a laboratory area built out with proper bench infrastructure. The requirement was not a single bench. It was two connected runs, sixteen feet and eleven feet, that together had to carry work surface, drawer storage, enclosed wall storage and a cleanable finish in a space with fixed walls and fixed dimensions.
Storage is where laboratory build outs most often go wrong. Rooms get furnished with tables because tables are quick, and then storage arrives later as free standing cabinets, plastic bins and rolling carts. Within a year the floor is crowded, small parts and consumables live in unlabeled containers, and the space that was supposed to be work surface is occupied by things that should be in a drawer.
Medical device work makes that worse in a specific way. Component and sensor assembly involves large numbers of small, similar looking parts, fixtures and hand tools, and traceability depends on knowing which part came from which lot. That requires many small compartments close to the point of use, not deep cupboards.
The room also had the ordinary constraint that every retrofit has: the run had to fit walls that already existed, to the inch. Casework that is nominally correct but two inches long does not go in, and gaps between cabinets and walls become cleaning traps and lost storage.
The Solution
Labs USA specified a full painted steel casework layout across the two runs. The sixteen foot bench received two forty seven inch wide two drawer and two door base units and two forty seven inch wide eight drawer base units. The eleven foot bench received a thirty five inch wide two drawer and two door base unit and two more forty seven inch eight drawer units, with a thirty five inch and two forty seven inch hinged two door wall units above it. Both runs were topped in one inch thick black phenolic resin in a crystal matte finish with a four inch applied curb, and every run was closed out with side base fillers.
Four eight drawer base units in a room this size is a deliberate density decision. Graduated drawer heights let fixtures, hand tools, consumables and small components each get their own compartment at the station where they are used, which is what keeps a bench top clear. Deep door cabinets hold the same volume but turn retrieval into a search, and in traceable assembly work a search is where mix ups happen.
The wall cabinets over the shorter run answer a different problem. Enclosed overhead storage keeps labeled stock and documentation out of the air and off the bench without consuming floor area, and hinged doors, unlike open shelving, keep dust off what is stored. Placing them over the eleven foot run rather than the full length was a use decision: that bench was the one that needed stock at hand.
Side base fillers appear on both runs and they are not trim. Where a cabinet run ends against a wall or a column, the gap left behind is exactly the place where liquid, debris and small parts collect and where a mop cannot reach. Filling it with a matching panel closes the run as a cleanable line instead of leaving an inch and a half of dead space.
The tops were specified as one inch solid phenolic resin with a four inch applied curb, bonded with a matched black epoxy adhesive. Solid phenolic is chemical resistant through its full thickness, which matters in a room where cleaning agents, adhesives and process chemicals are in daily use. The applied curb closes the wall line in the same material, and the interior finish across the casework is a consistent light champagne so drawer contents remain visible. The same approach runs through the Labs USA laboratory casework and laboratory furniture lines.
Features
Advantage
What makes this project worth writing up is the sequence, not the product list. Shop drawings were issued for the room and then revised twice before anything was fabricated, and the customer approved the final revision before production was released. That is the step that separates casework that fits from casework that nearly fits.
Two revisions is normal and healthy. Field dimensions rarely match the architectural set, and the questions that come up in review are always the same ones: which end of the run takes the filler, where the drawer bank should sit relative to the doorway, whether the wall cabinets clear an existing service line. Answering those on paper costs a week. Answering them after delivery costs a return, a re-fabrication and an empty room.
Installation was added to the project after the material order was placed, which turned out to be the right call. A sixteen foot and an eleven foot run have to be leveled as continuous lines, not as individual boxes, because the tops span multiple cabinets and any variation shows up as a rocking top or an open seam. Installers set the run to a common line, shim to the floor and bond the tops and curbs in place, which is what makes a bonded phenolic seam actually watertight.
Specifying drawer density up front also protects the room over time. The default build out of a device assembly lab is benches plus whatever storage gets purchased later, and that later storage always ends up on the floor. Putting four eight drawer banks under the work surface on day one means the room has somewhere to put things before the habit of piling on the bench sets in.
Benefits
- Twenty seven feet of bench across two runs with storage built in rather than added later
- Four eight drawer banks for small part, fixture and tool organization at the point of use
- Enclosed overhead storage that does not consume floor area
- Chemical resistant phenolic surfaces that tolerate daily cleaning and process chemicals
- A cleanable wall line and closed cabinet ends with no dead gaps
- Drawings approved before fabrication, so the run fit the room on the first delivery
- Professional installation with runs leveled as continuous lines and tops bonded on site
Hinged wall units over the shorter bench run add enclosed storage above the work surface without taking floor space. Representative photo.
Return on Investment
The return on this build out is easiest to see in floor area. Storage that lives under and above the bench does not occupy the room, and in a device assembly lab the floor is where carts, fixtures and people need to move. Buying that storage as part of the casework rather than as later cabinets and shelving units is the difference between a room that stays workable and a room that gets tighter every quarter.
The drawing approval cycle is the second saving, and it is a large one even though it never appears on an invoice. Casework that arrives at the wrong dimension cannot be trimmed on site the way millwork can. It goes back, gets re-fabricated on a fresh lead time, and the room waits. Two rounds of drawing review cost a week and removed that risk.
Surface life dominates the long term. One inch solid phenolic resin has no core for chemicals or water to reach, so cleaning agents, adhesives and process chemicals produce wear rather than failure. The alternative, laminate over particleboard, typically fails at the edges and seams within a couple of years and has to be replaced around occupied stations.
Installation pays for itself in the seams. Tops that span several cabinets need the run leveled as a line before the curb and seam adhesive goes down. Done properly once, the joints stay closed. Done by a maintenance crew working from a pallet, the usual result is an open seam at a cabinet gap that becomes a water path in the first month.
Project Process
Room and requirement review
Established two bench runs at sixteen and eleven feet, the storage mix required and where enclosed overhead storage was needed.
Casework layout
Selected base unit widths and drawer configurations so the runs filled the walls without dead space, with side base fillers at the ends.
Shop drawings
Issued dimensioned casework drawings for review, then revised them twice as field conditions and cabinet placement were confirmed.
Approval before production
Held the order until the final drawing revision was approved, so nothing was fabricated against a superseded layout.
Production and freight
Built the casework, tops and fillers to order and shipped the material on a scheduled delivery to the Buffalo facility.
Installation
Added installation to the project so the runs were set and leveled as continuous lines and the tops and curbs were bonded in place on site.
Laboratory Casework in Buffalo and Western New York
Buffalo and the western New York corridor carry a distinctive industrial mix: medical device and sensor manufacturing, advanced materials, food processing, environmental testing and a substantial university and hospital research base. Many of these laboratories are inside older masonry industrial buildings that have been repurposed, which is why so many casework projects in this region are retrofits into existing walls rather than fit outs of new shells.
Retrofits reward measuring twice. Older buildings rarely have square rooms or plumb walls, service lines run where they were installed decades ago, and floors are seldom level over a twenty seven foot run. That is the practical reason the drawing review cycle on this project mattered: the casework had to be dimensioned to the room as it exists, not as it was drawn.
Western New York also has a climate consideration that affects surface choice. Buildings here swing between humid summers and long heating seasons, and that annual moisture cycle is what opens seams in wood cored work surfaces and in caulked wall joints. Solid phenolic resin tops with bonded curbs do not move with the season.
Labs USA supplies laboratory casework, tables, shelving, fume hoods and extraction equipment throughout New York State, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and the New York City metro. Call (801) 855-8560 to review a room, or browse the laboratory casework hub for cabinet configurations.
Shop Related Drawer Storage and Workbench Components Online
These standard products provide related drawer storage and a dry-use workbench conversion option. They are not the custom laboratory casework or wall cabinets supplied in this project. Request a quote for matching lab bench runs, work surfaces and installation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why put eight drawer banks in a laboratory instead of door cabinets?
Because retrieval time and traceability matter more than raw volume. Graduated drawers give small parts, fixtures, hand tools and consumables their own compartments at the station where they are used. A deep door cabinet holds the same volume but turns every retrieval into a search, which is where mix ups happen in assembly and testing work.
How long does laboratory casework take to build?
Built to order steel casework with phenolic tops normally quotes at about eight to ten weeks after drawings are approved. The approval step is part of the schedule, so allow time for a drawing review cycle when planning a room in service date.
Why do casework drawings get revised before production?
Because field dimensions almost never match the architectural set exactly. Review is where cabinet placement, filler locations, wall cabinet heights and clearances around existing services get resolved. Fixing those on paper costs days; discovering them after delivery costs a re-fabrication and an idle room.
What do side base fillers do?
They close the gap where a cabinet run meets a wall or column. That gap is where liquid, debris and small parts collect and where cleaning cannot reach. A matching filler panel turns the end of the run into a cleanable line and removes dead space.
Should laboratory casework be professionally installed?
For multi cabinet runs with bonded tops, yes. The run has to be leveled as a continuous line before the tops go on, because a single top spans several cabinets. Installers shim to the floor, set the line and bond the tops and curbs, which is what keeps seams closed long term.
Can wall cabinets be added over an existing bench later?
Usually yes, provided the wall construction can carry the load and the cabinet height clears existing services and the work happening at the bench. It is simpler to specify them with the run so widths align with the base cabinets below, which is how this project was configured.
Building out a laboratory with casework and storage?
Labs USA specifies steel laboratory casework, drawer and wall storage, phenolic and epoxy work surfaces and installation for medical device, manufacturing and research laboratories nationwide. Send us a room and we will draw the run.
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