Category : panel extenders

You need to make changes to your office and you need to make them fast.

That’s usually the position our clients find themselves in when they contact us about our panel extender quick-ship program. The reasons for these quick changes are manifold: company transition, growth or seizing a can’t-miss opportunity to move into a new workspace with basic desks and/or cubicle walls.

In many situations, you aren’t as concerned about style as you are about function – the panels need to go up fast and the more neutral the color and form, the better.

The scenarios we mentioned here are pretty universal and our quick-ship program reflects that kind of one-size-fits-all situation.

Basically, the OBEX quick-ship can be broken down into three different parts: the panels themselves, shipping and warranty.

Quick-Ship Panel Extenders

While our normal line-up features dozens of different color and material for cubicle walls, privacy panels, panel extenders and modesty panels, our quick-ship program provides one, simple solution: aluminum-framed translucent polycarbonate panels.

We consider this single option a very utilitarian choice – they get the job done without any added frills. But don’t underestimate their design. Design not featuring flashy colors or materials, they manage to stay modern and blend in with just about any office environment.

Looks aside, polycarbonate is an effective way to reduce sound, too. The material is used all around the world as a popular sound deadener in offices as well as a barrier between transportation thoroughfares (roads, tracks) and neighborhoods.

Here’s a quick list of the available sizes (HxW):

• 12×24
• 12×48
• 12×72
• 18×24
• 18×48
• 18×72

These quick-ship panels come in three different install styles: freestanding, desk and panel. The panels you get from this program cover nearly any desk/cubicle situation.

Quick-Ship Shipping

What makes our quick-ship program unique is that your panels will ship within 48 hours of your order and you’ll get a 5% discount on the total order.

Our goal isn’t to gouge you because you’re in a jam; it’s to provide a straightforward solution to get you up and running as quickly as possible.

Our quick-ship shipping comes with a few things you should know. First, the maximum quantity you can order is 25 units.

Second, our quick-ship program requires cash on delivery for the first two orders you make. After that, you can work with OBEX to come up with credit terms to finance future purchases.

Because of the nature of our quick-ship program, once an order has been acknowledged and confirmed, it is final. Returns aren’t normally accepted, but if we do agree to it, there are re-stocking charges involved in the return.

Quick-Ship Warranty

OBEX’s 10-year warranty also applies to our quick-ship panel extenders and covers our products against defects.

Basically, if there’s a defect in your panel extenders that isn’t due to normal wear and tear and you’re the original owner of the extenders then you can file a claim with us. We’ll inspect the panels to verify that the product is defective and will decide if we’ll repair it or replace it.

Aside from normal wear-and-tear situations, other situations that wouldn’t be covered under our warranty would be those random situations in which, say, somebody at the holiday party gets too friendly with the open bar and then accidentally kicks a hole in a modesty panel.

Working With Us: The Leading Office Extender Provider in Southern California

This post has focused on our quick-ship program but OBEX certainly provides more than quick fixes for your company.

If you’ve got more time to make a decision about your privacy solutions, consider taking a look at our acoustical panels. They are, in our opinion, the superior choice for maximizing sound privacy in the workplace.

You see, a panel’s ability to deaden sound is based on two popular ratings: noise reduction coefficient (NRC) and sound transmission class. Our panels reduce sound by more than 50%.

In addition to their ability to deaden sound and provide a more tranquil workspace, OBEX panels are easy to install. In most situations, one individual can put a panel on a desk in less than five minutes. All hardware and the necessary Allen wrench is provided in the panel kits we send you.

Our panel extender installation guide gives you an excellent idea of what the install process is like. If you have questions, we’re happy to answer them. Give us a call at (888)571-8658 or contact us through our website.

Earlier this year we wrote a post about the myth of open office productivity.

As we pointed out, there are several studies that show open offices tend to make employees more distracted and reduce overall productivity.

For our current and future clients, these findings bring up an important question: How do you transition an office from an open concept to cubicles?

The answer to this question may seem formidable but it’s a lot simpler than you think. Open offices utilize desks and those desks can be transitioned from open to private via several different types of extensions, all of which can be installed within minutes to avoid costly labor shutdowns.

Desk & Table Mount Privacy Panels

If your current open office layout includes desks that have absolutely no separation between workspaces, then OBEX desk and table mount privacy panels are the most effective solution for reducing noise pollution and increasing privacy for your employees.

These privacy panels are integrated onto your existing desks with very little effort. Each panel comes with everything needed to install them. The panel clamps fit desk thicknesses between 0.75 inches and 2.75 inches.

Offices with high noise levels are a good fit for acoustical tiles, which come in 25 different styles. These panels are industry-rated to reduce more than 50% of the noise traveling into a workspace.

These panels hit all the key factors in the transition from an open office to a cubicle system: low cost, easy installation and effective sound reduction.

This photo shows you an acoustical tile privacy panel installation:

Desk Split Screens

These types of panels are a great choice if you have a lot of desks in a room and want to provide private work spaces that also serve as modesty screens.

The big advantage over desk and table mount panels is that these panels extend below the desk surface.

Like the desk/table privacy panels, you have multiple options for colors and material, including noise-reducing acoustical panels.

Free-Standing Privacy Panels

The final option we’ll mention here is our free-standing privacy panels. Unlike the previous two choices we mentioned, our free-standing privacy panels don’t bolt down onto a table.

What we like about these is that they come in the same sizes as other panels (24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 60, 66 and 72 inches), offering you mobile privacy for just about any situation.

Another perk to this option is that they’ll come in handy if you have a long-term plan for office reorganization, but want an immediate change from open to cubicles.

These panels meet that short-term need and, when it comes time to reorganize your desks and sections, you simply lift the panels off the old desk and place them on the new ones.

An Overview of What Makes Panel Extenders and Privacy Screens an Excellent Open Office Transition Choice

Making a move from an open-office layout to cubicles doesn’t have to be the fiasco you’re probably envisioning.

Our panel extenders are meant to be an elegant and simple solution to increasing privacy in an office where there’s really no time to shut down operations for rerouting cables, moving desks and installing dozens of heavy, clunky cubicles.

As we mentioned earlier, our panel extenders can be installed in a matter of minutes without disrupting your productivity. Think about it like this: We can install one noise-reducing panel extender in the amount of time it takes for an employee to go to the break room and brew a pot of coffee.

Consider this, too: Our panels come with a 10-year non-transferrable warranty that covers defects in materials and craftsmanship when incurred during normal use.

Our website has an extensive gallery of various types of panel installations that we think will help you visualize how our panels would look in your office.

Our gallery is a good way to view the various style and function combinations we have, too, as our frames and panels employ multiple materials.

Call us at 888-351-4197 or contact us through our website if you would like to learn more about what we have to offer.

One of the questions we often get is how cubicle shields and divider panels are different and if one is better than the other.

Our initial response is that they’re different and which one you choose should be based on your office’s needs, what you’re trying to accomplish in your workspace and what your budget is.

But, there are more intricacies involved than just those general ideas. Exploring each of those topics – needs, goals and budget – will help you get a sense of whether a cubicle shield or a divider panel is best.

Cubicle Shield vs. Divider Panels: Your Office Space’s Needs

Take a minute to think about how your office is running right now and what each team member needs. Do you run a call center where space is limited and moderate sound reduction is needed? Are your employees handling sensitive information that requires premium noise reduction between cubicles?

We find that many offices are designed with space in mind but, in some cases, visual and auditory privacy is either forgotten or neglected. This is a mistake we often see and it’s easily remedied with cubicle shields or divider panels.

In situations where you need sound privacy and you have desks with existing low walls around them, cubicle shields are a good choice because you can easily attach them to the existing walls to add height around the cubicle and deaden sound.

If your office has more of an open feel and there aren’t walls around each employee’s tables, then a desk-mounted divider panel can provide a huge privacy boost and, as we’ve pointed out before, increased privacy leads to increased productivity.

Cubicle Shield vs. Divider Panels: What Do You Want to Accomplish With Your Workspace?

Many of our clients want to create a workspace with increased productivity and privacy. These topics go hand-in-hand because, as we mentioned in the previous section, studies are clear that privacy is a human need and that workers thrive when they feel like they have a certain level of autonomy.

We also know that traditional workplaces have a desire to modernize and, in this era of office design, open concepts are easily the most popular trend.

A lot of businesses hear the phrase “open floor plan” and automatically think of bean-bag chairs and free-form work areas with standing desks and community tables.

We believe that an open concept can be achieved with cubicle shields and divider panels because both are designed to offer enough auditory and visual privacy without disrupting workplace community.

Cubicle shields and divider panels provide a functional, effective middle ground between head-high cubicle walls and wall-less open workspaces.

Cubicle Shields vs. Divider Panels: The Cost Factor

One of the things that’s most appealing about cubicle shields and divider panels is that they’re affordable and effective.

Prices tend to vary most when you’re deciding between panels that provide visual privacy and ones that provide audio privacy.

Our fabric-covered sound-reducing panels are different than our other shields and dividers because they contain STC- and NRC-rated materials that absorb sound and prevent it from moving from one cubicle to another.

While the performance of our cubicle shields and dividers is among the best, our price points remain reasonable, making both options a good choice for your office.

Wrapping It Up: An Overview of Cubicle Shields and Divider Panels

Your office’s cubicles are an important part of how productive your team will be. The thought you put into your shields and dividers will either mesh or clash with your employees’ needs and your own vision for how you want your workplace to function.

Head to our Contact Us page to send us an email or give us a call. We’re happy to talk with you about what you want out of your office and how our products can provide a simple, cost-effective solution.

Adding privacy to your office doesn’t have to be an ordeal.

In many cases, companies default to cubicle overhauls that require a lot of moving parts: rewiring cables, moving employees to temporary workstations and an install crew that comes in after hours to do the installation.

Our desk and table mount privacy panels give you a seamless solution that reduces work interruptions and, in many cases, can be installed by your team with only minor inconveniences.

In theory, this sounds great, but you should take a moment to think about all the aspects of an installation, no matter how easy it may seem.

Are the new mounts adjustable and will they damage existing furniture? How easy are adjustments? What size options are there? Are there color options? What’s the warranty?

We’ll cover each of these topics in the next few minutes.

Simple, Fluid Privacy Panel Installation

Our mounts work with desks between ¾-of-an-inch thick to 2.5 inches thick, which means there’s a good chance we can find a solution for your existing furniture.

The clamps we use to secure our privacy panels are designed well and don’t damage your furniture. It takes about five minutes to install them with an Allen wrench we provide.

Our mounts also feature channels that can work side-to-side or front-to-back.

Versatile Panel Sizes and Colors

Our panels for desks and tables come in three different heights and eight different widths. We can also create custom sizes for you.

We also offer 12 different frame colors so you can stick with the office color-palate or add variation.

If you want to cut down on sound transfer between workspaces, acoustical panels are a good choice. They come in 20 different types of fabrics. And, just like our ability to customize panel sizes, we can also customize panel colors.

Sound Transmission Class

This last concept is an indication of how effective our panels are. A product’s STC rating is a measurement of how much sound is lost when it passes through a wall or a panel.

A reduction of 10 decibels is actually heard as a 50% reduction in noise levels.

Our acoustical tile panels have an STC rating of 26, which means your employees will note a significant reduction in ambient noise as soon as your panels are installed.

A First-Hand Look at a Panel Installation

As we mentioned earlier, our panels are a simple, elegant solution for increasing the privacy of your office’s workspaces.

Our website includes a series of videos that show just how easy installation is. Here is one of those videos:

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This video highlights the greatest advantage to using OBEX to increase your office’s audio and visual privacy. It’s a fantastic alternative to tearing down and rebuilding a cubicle, which costs hundreds of dollars in labor costs.

And that cost doesn’t factor in the down time for rerouting cables and moving computers, cables and keyboards.

All of this creates stress and reduced productivity. It’s labor-intensive, it’s disruptive and there aren’t many companies who can do installations during normal working hours.

Some Final Thoughts About Table and Desk Privacy Panels

If you’re new to privacy panels, the solutions may seem unbelievably simple – and they are.

We’ve put a lot of time into finding solutions for our clients that help them keep the ship running smoothly as we install their panels.

The result is a line of desk and table privacy panels with a wide range of sizes, colors and customizable options that easily integrate our products into your office’s existing design themes.

If you have any questions about our panels, customizations or the installation process contact us by email or give us a call at (888)323-6986.

One thing we hear over and over again is that our panel extenders are so easy to install.

Companies who feel intimidated by a complete overhaul of their cubicles cower at the thought of throwing the office into upheaval. Extenders, on the other hand, help you avoid the chaos and provide privacy in about as long as it takes you to walk across the office to get a cup of coffee.

So, you can see why “easy” is a word that often comes up in discussions about our panel extenders. But ease of use is only part of the equation. Even low-quality solutions can be easy to set up. The key is to find a sensible, smooth solution that will last.

Over the next few minutes, we’re going to walk you through how to install our panel extenders and what it is about their construction that makes them work so well.

The Installation Process: One Tool Does It All

If you want to know how simple a project will be, tally up how many tools you need and how many pieces of hardware are involved.

Our panel extenders come with three things: universal adjustable brackets, the panels themselves and an Allen wrench. Whether you’re doing a panel-mount or desk-mount installation, the hardware and tools are the same.

Once you have your extenders in hand, installing them takes about 5 minutes. And that’s a true 5 minutes, whether you’re a handyman or you’ve never laid a finger on a wrench in your life.

To show you what we mean, we’ll walk you through the process via photos:

This photo is a great shot of our adjustable brackets. Our brackets come in two sizes: standard and large. The standards fit panels from 1.5-inches to 3-inches thick, while the large brackets fit panels ranging in width from 3 inches to 3.75 inches.

Once these brackets are fixed to the existing panel, drop in the new panel tile and use the Allen wrench to tighten up the brackets and anchor the panel into place.

 

Our desk-mount panels are installed the same way, except the brackets are fixed to the ends of the desk. And that’s it; that’s how you install our panel extenders.

 

 

 

How they Work: The Magic Behind Blocking Out the Noise

Once your panel extenders are in place, you’re going to notice a difference in how much sound is able to penetrate your workspace.

The reason why our panel tiles are so effective at blocking noise from reaching your desk is because they’re made out of a pair of quality materials specifically designed to deaden sound waves.

Each panel is made of an outer fabric cover and an inner sheet of fiberboard. For our outer fabric we’ve chosen a fireproof, recycled product that provides the first barrier of defense.

Once sound passes through the fabric layer, it encounters a thick layer of fiberboard. We use a type of fiberboard called Soundboard, known for its ability to deaden sound without adding too much bulk.

Soundboard, as well as other materials, are rated on two different scales to determine how good they are at blocking sound. Those two scales are called the Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) and Sound Transmission Class (STC).

Noise Reduction Coefficient

The NRC scale goes from 0 to 1 and judges how well a material can absorb sound. Sound is divided into its own categories called frequencies. The frequencies we’re most concerned about are mid-range frequencies, which is the range in which you’ll find the human voice.

Our panels have an NRC rating of 0.35, which represents a significant reduction in noise, including mid-range frequencies.

Sound Transmission Class

STC ratings are scores that represent how many decibels are lost when a sound passes through the material. An STC rating of 20 means the material blocks out 20 decibels. To give you a reference point, the human ear perceives a loss of 10 decibels as a 50% reduction in hearing ability.

The panel extenders we offer have an STC rating of 26; that’s a pretty big drop in noise.

Overall, our acoustical tile panels are 50% better at deadening noise than non-acoustic extenders, and while they’ll cost you a little more than a basic plastic panel, you’ll get more than your money’s worth with a quiet, calm workspace that increases productivity and privacy.

A few months ago we talked about the differences between a more traditional office environment and the open spaces emphasized in today’s startup world.

At the end of that post, we made this observation:

“Different things work for different people. This is why the debate about whether Open Office Plans Vs. Cubicles, Which is Better?, will continue to rage on in the office world and studies will continue to show conflicting data on the subject.”

As you can see, we don’t really take sides in this debate; it’s all about what works best for your team and your vision. This is one reason why our Gallery is full of different styles of dividers, extenders and partitions that provide the stylistic and functional touches to work in just about any office.

We want to take a closer look at some of those items today to help you understand what’s possible in the space you’re designing. Choosing the right combination of products can complement the environment you want to create in your workspace and meeting rooms.

Our Gallery features four different types of panels: cubicle panel extenders, desk-mounted privacy panels, split-screen panels and desk-mounted modest panels. Today we’re going to tackle two of these categories.

Cubicle Panel Extenders

One of the things we like to emphasize is that panels reduce noise and distractions, giving employees added privacy. The end result is employees are more productive. And we all know productivity boosts morale.

Our panel extenders are a good option for offices looking to add a little extra privacy to their cubicles without the hassle of having to redo the walls on every single desk. As the name indicates, these panels are extensions to existing partitions between desks.

Adding them to each workstation is a simple task and the end result is well worth it.

But the idea of adding extra privacy to each workspace in your office may seem a little draconian to some workers who prefer a more relational and open work environment. We get that, because we’ve learned companies are living organisms that change and adapt as time and generations come and go.

So, part of our product line includes clear extenders that do an effective job of creating privacy and sound reduction while at the same time maintaining an open workplace. We think this is a great choice for companies that want to create a sense of open space while simultaneously protecting the privacy and production of their employees.

If your workforce tends to be more old-school, we’ve got plenty of solid extenders that augment the autonomy of individual workspaces. If you want a middle ground between clear and solid, our opaque extenders are an excellent choice, too.

Desk Mounted Extenders

The purpose of extenders remains the same here – to reduce sound and increase privacy. But what you’ll notice in our Gallery is that our desk extenders provide all kinds of options for open and closed office areas.

What you’ll notice is that these extenders attach directly to your desks rather than to existing partitions. This is a key distinction, because as the photos in our Gallery show, desk extenders give you a lot more open space under the desk.

This setup creates a sense of unity and interconnectedness in your office, factors that are important to employees who value an open workspace.

Desk-mounted extenders also give you two options for your desks: side mounts and rear mounts. Take a look at the photos on the left to get a sense of what we mean.

                                     

On the one hand, you’ve got desks lined up front to back, so rear-mounted extenders provide the privacy you’re looking for.

On the other hand, you can choose side-mounted extenders for desks that are lined up side-by-side. As you can see, our extenders aren’t meant to isolate but to integrate a series of side-by-side desks.

In our own research of burgeoning office trends, we’ve found that this type of setup is great for companies who have small, tight-knit departments. Employees have their own defined space, but the extenders are low enough to where they can easily collaborate with team members next to them.

Deciding Which Option is Best for Your Office

Which extender is right for you depends on your particular situation. Head over to our Contact Us page and let us know what your plans are for the future and how your furniture and extenders play a role in that. In the meantime, stop by our Gallery to get a sense of what your office could look like with our help!

Here at OBEX, we provide excellent products in this area, which help executives reshape their cubicles and desks without shuffling things around. We know how much offices often need restructuring in order to accommodate growth or when new employees are added to the payroll. We’ve experienced this firsthand as we’ve grown our own company.

Our cubicle extenders have a design with ease of use in mind, as well as easy installation. With simple placement on existing cubicles using an Allen wrench and screws, you can install our extenders in a matter of minutes. By doing this, you can divide up an existing cubicle into separate quarters without being obstructive or giving any feeling of claustrophobia.

Saving You Time, and Providing Comfort

When you need maximize all the time you can get out of a work day, you don’t want an office space redesign for new employees you need in your staff. By using our cubicle extenders, you save time and money. Office restructuring usually takes an entire day, which means a huge financial money loss just for moving desks around.

Using our extenders, they’re ready to use out of the box. At the same time, they provide privacy, yet leave enough room so employees can see light from nearby windows. While this depends on the layout of your office, you have plenty of customization for height and width on our extenders.

Contact us here at OBEX to find out more about our extenders and similar products. Don’t let an office restructure get in the way, while still providing perfect working quarters for the new hires.

When Robert Propst developed the concept of the cubicle, he had specific ideas for the perfect office space:

“Conceived as an alternative to open workrooms that lacked privacy or personality, its modular elements could be customized to accommodate employees’ changing needs. “Action Office,” as the cubicle and its components were officially called, was the invention of Robert Propst, a brilliant artist/inventor.”

You can reclaim the freedom and productivity dreamed by the inventor of the cubicle with all the benefits of 21st century style with the help of OBEX. Redesigning and customizing your office does not have to be a costly endeavor with tons of new furniture. Here are ways to keep your office looking professional and functioning well for each employee:

1. Desk and table mounts: Turn any desk or table into a cubicle easily and efficiently with pieces that mount directly on your existing furniture. We offer different sizes, so you can create the space you need, whether you need the extra height to clip a lamp to increase desktop space or need an extra sound barrier to reduce noise levels for phone calls.
2. Cubicle panel mounts: If you already have some cubicle dividers, you can customize your office space with panel mounts. You can get the extra height you need, as well as add to the decor. We offer a variety of styles and colors, so you will be able to create the perfect functional and fashionable office space.

If you are ready to reinvent your office space, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

The benefits of improving employee creativity often speak for themselves. However, you are constantly on the look out to see what else can be done to keep the momentum going. One way is by purchasing office panel extenders to fit on top of your existing cubicles, so distractions can be better controlled when employees really need to focus. Although they are still sharing the same office, when each worker feels as if they have their own personal space, this can provide a sense of motivation and keep them doing their best work. Let’s see the ways these extenders can give them that added creative spark. Studies show:

• First: that perceived control can moderate stress reactions (Glass & Singer, 1972). This means that even if every employee in that office space is under pressure and inundated with work, these panel extenders give them control over their own cubicle, that one space they feel is their personal zone. This provides more focus on what they need to do in order to get the work done. Sure, they may look across and see how their co-workers are faring and can communicate when needed but, researchers find that the ability to control one’s own environment has a significant impact on personal satisfaction. And, a more satisfied employee can block out the stresses of others and focus on their own creativity.
• Second: these panels can even help during cold and flu season! As most employers know, this is the time of year when offices are half empty or full of people who are ill. 1-in-4 U.S. employees go to work sick and with this open-work space, colds can get passed around quickly. How can someone possibly be at their creative best when they feel bad or are so sick they have to miss several days of work? Cubicles do provide some protection because employees can isolate themselves better but, these panel extenders offer an added barrier that helps to safeguard them and keep the germs out.
• Third: creativity can be blocked because of one simple thing: noise. The psychologist Nick Perham, published a study on Applied Cognitive Psychology, and found that office noise and confusion impairs workers’ ability to recall information and, can even have an effect on doing basic math. This is why libraries are so quiet; so people can think. In cubicles there is a measure of privacy but, continuous ringing of phones, loud conversations and other distractions can actually undermine employee motivation. It all comes back to control. Part of the reason office noise reduces motivation is because workers know the noise is going to be there but, feel as if there is just nothing they can do about it. This can be frustrating and unproductive if that’s all they’re really focused on. By providing office panel extenders for their cubicles, this gives them back part of that control because some of those distracting nois es will be muted.

A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology says that office distractions will make employees stressed and feel as if they are not working at their best. Add to this, a feeling of powerlessness in not having any personal space and, the fear of catching a cold or getting the flu; this can prevent them from being creative and is not a good way in bringing out their best. Providing your workers with office panel extenders for their cubicles is the best solution in giving them a sense of privacy and, help them stay productive and imaginative. To talk about this, please contact us today for more information.