Johnson Financial Group

Johnson Financial Group uses mobile to improve file storage

situation:

Johnson Financial Group, a consolidated group of holdings under Johnson International, which is S.C. Johnson family owned, recently consolidated offices into a beautiful new headquarters complex located on
the Lake Michigan shoreline in Racine, Wisconsin. The financial group, which includes Johnson Bank, Johnson Insurance, Johnson Asset Management and Johnson Trust, was previously scattered in several buildings throughout Racine and the new headquarters provided a location to centralize all of its operations.

The consolidation of records, the overall growth of the company and acquisitions of other banks have all contributed to the need for reevaluation of the company’s storage needs. Security, accessibility and cost of space were all issues that needed to be addressed.

solution:

“When we were given the task to consolidate seven buildings into one, we wanted to be as efficient as possible,” explained Jean Garbo, vice president of facilities. “The mobile systems have done that for us."

File rooms for both financial services and human resources were planned with specially designed Spacesaver mobile systems and custom workstations.

“The unique thing about the mobile system is that several departments are able to share the file area with no problem,” Garbo said. The system was designed to accommodate all of the different sized files,
including credit, insurance, trust and asset files — both legal and letter. Several moving aisles were placed into the system to accommodate multiple users at one time.

The specially designed workstations provide convenient storage for filing supplies, reference binders, and computer equipment used for researching and verifying customer file information. Counter-height work
surfaces allow for easy viewing of files and materials.

The local sales person worked with all of the departments and end users to understand their needs, as well as the architect to solve the floor load and facility design issues. In order to accommodate the raised computer floor, the mobile system rails were placed directly onto the sub-floor and raised to the height of the computer floor.

“The service has been responsive and wonderful,” explained Garbo. “The local person gathered all of the information and solved all of the problems and designed the right product.”

Johnson first found out about Spacesaver when they acquired another bank and one of the branches had been very satisfied using a Spacesaver mobile system for file storage. In fact, a small portion of the
mobile system used in the headquarters for financial records had been moved from the branch and expanded to fit the current storage needs.

Johnson companies have been so satisfied with Spacesaver’s product quality and the local service that they have standardized on all of their file rooms. “To maintain our customers’ privacy, we are standardizing on locked file rooms with limited card-only access. The Spacesaver systems allow us to store efficiently within those rooms,” she said.

“As we build or acquire new bank branches we are using a powered mobile system in each location,” said Garbo. “The systems save valuable space and they are easy to operate.”