Industrial Storage Bins in Bengaluru: Alkon Bins, Component Organisers and ESD Storage for Peenya, Bommasandra, Electronic City and Whitefield
Bengaluru manufactures in a way that few other Indian cities do. Alongside conventional engineering, there is aerospace and defence work, machine tools, electronics design and assembly, medical devices, instrumentation and a huge ecosystem of small precision shops serving them. The industrial areas at Peenya, one of the largest in Asia by number of units, at Bommasandra and Jigani on the Hosur side, at Electronic City, Whitefield and the Hosur Road corridor, and at Nelamangala and Tumkur Road, hold thousands of small and medium units whose products are made of small, precise, often expensive parts. For these users the storage problem is not volume, it is accuracy: the right part, in the right bin, counted correctly, kept clean and protected from static and damage. Shreeram Metafusion Engineers Pvt. Ltd. supplies the ALKON range of industrial plastic bins, component organisers, Panda shelving, Roo tilt bins, ESD safe products and trolleys from Shop-1, Gagangiri CHS, Sector 17, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, and has been an authorised stockist of ALKON Plastics Pvt. Ltd. for over thirty years. This page is written for Bengaluru engineers, stores managers and purchase teams, and explains how the range suits precision manufacturing and electronics work.
Precision work is a storage problem
In a high-precision shop, the part that matters is often the smallest one. A seal that costs a few rupees, a retaining ring, a micro-switch, a specially machined pin: each can hold up a build worth lakhs if it is missing, and each can cause a failure if the wrong variant is fitted. The storage of such parts has to meet three tests that bulk storage does not. It must be exact: every part in its own labelled place, easy to identify and impossible to confuse with its neighbour. It must be clean: free of dust, oil, moisture and contamination that could affect a precision fit. And it must be controlled: counted, traceable and, where necessary, locked.
Bengaluru's industries lean on these tests more than most. Aerospace and defence suppliers work to rigorous quality systems, and a store that cannot show control is a risk. Electronics assembly demands static protection. Medical device makers need traceability and cleanliness. Instrument makers handle expensive, delicate parts. Machine-tool builders handle a huge number of small, precise components. For each, the storage system is part of the quality system.
The bins, drawers and shelving described in this page are tools for that. They do not replace the quality procedures, which each unit defines for itself, but they give the procedures a physical form that is orderly, visible and easy to audit.
The Bengaluru industrial map
Bengaluru's industry is spread across the city and its outskirts, and the main clusters have their own character.
Peenya, in the north-west, is one of the largest industrial estates in Asia, with a dense population of small and medium engineering, machining, electronics, plastics, packaging and fabrication units. The typical Peenya unit is a few dozen people, a handful of machines and a store that grew with the business. The needs are for bench storage, tool cribs, spares stores and small-parts organisation.
Bommasandra and Jigani, to the south-east on the Hosur side, are newer estates with larger units in automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals, food and engineering. The needs include line-side supply, stores shelving and warehouse storage.
Electronic City, Whitefield and the Hosur Road corridor are home to electronics, IT hardware, telecom and design-and-assembly operations, along with a great deal of testing and repair. Static control, component storage and dense bench storage are the main needs.
Nelamangala, Tumkur Road and Doddaballapur, to the north and north-west, hold engineering, aerospace-linked and general manufacturing units, along with warehouses.
The aerospace and defence supply chain, concentrated in the north and east of the city, adds a layer of units that work to demanding quality and traceability standards, and whose stores must be controlled and documented.
Component organisers: the small parts answer
For a very large share of Bengaluru's small-parts storage, the component organiser is the right tool. It is a cabinet of small drawers, each holding a different part, in a form that fits on a bench, a shelf or a wall.
ALKON's component organisers are made with a body and frame of high impact polypropylene and drawers and partitions of transparent polypropylene, so that the contents of every drawer can be seen at a glance. The catalogue lists the ACO 18, ACO 39 and ACO 60 at 457 mm high, 424 mm wide and 164 mm deep, the ACO 12 at 245 by 293 by 164 mm, the ACO 22 at 245 by 555 by 164 mm, combinations such as the ACO 9B9D, with nine bins and nine drawers, and the ACO 12PTL, with twelve pockets and a transparent lid. Each drawer comes with its own removable horizontal partition, which doubles the number of compartments.
A simple, low-cost model, the ACO 25, has clear see-through drawers and a body of high impact polystyrene, and suits homes, workshops and factories. For static-sensitive parts, the conductive component organiser has 25 small drawers made from conductive polystyrene, measuring 397 by 238 by 160 mm, with drawers of 155 by 71 by 35 mm.
Organisers mount in many ways. They stand on a bench, hang on a wall mount stand, sit on a single or double sided base unit stand, mount on Tuff stands and trolleys, ride on a rotary stand or fit into an ACO sliding unit. Our component organisers page and our page on Roo tilt bin sliding units describe the options.
Dense storage in a small bay
Many Bengaluru units have little room. A shop in Peenya may be a few hundred square feet, with machines packed tight and a store in a corner or on a mezzanine. For such a place, the question is how to hold hundreds of part numbers in a footprint measured in tenths of a square metre.
The answers are in the dense arrangements described in our article on choosing between sliding, rotary and fixed storage. The Roo tilt bin sliding unit RTB SU 950, at 950 mm wide and 650 mm deep, doubles the number of bin faces by hiding half behind the other half, with two LED lights built in. The ACO sliding unit ACOSU 950 does the same for component organisers. A rotary stand, such as the RTBRS 425 at 520 by 470 mm in plan, or the ACORS 425 for organisers, turns to bring each face to the user. And a freestanding double-sided stand carries six panels of bins on a footprint of about 0.64 square metres.
Plan loads carefully. The sliding units allow 30 kg on each sliding panel for the 950 versions, and the rotary stands 80 to 150 kg in total. Small precision parts are usually light, so the limits are seldom a concern, but steel parts in bulk can add up.
Electronics: static, boards and benches
Electronic City, Whitefield and the surrounding corridors host a large electronics sector, from design houses with prototype labs to contract assemblers to repair and test centres. Static control is a shared concern.
The ALKON ESD range covers the bench and the stores. Conductive Supra bins hang on a louvre panel at the bench. A conductive component organiser holds small devices. Adjustable PCB carriers, in conductive black or non-conductive grey, carry up to 31 boards each, with aluminium guides in three lengths. Fixed carriers suit standard sizes. The AWS 12060 workstation has an ESD mat with grounding cord, a spike protector, levelling screws, an 18 W LED light, a louvre panel, a tool tray and a modular drawer system with lock. A conductive modular system and ESD Panda shelf bins on shelving carry the stores.
Our guide to setting up an ESD workbench walks through the layout, the grounding, the daily routine and the audit. For a prototype lab, where parts are few and varied, a small kit of conductive bins and an organiser at each bench may be all that is needed. For a contract assembler, a fuller system with carriers, workstations and stores shelving is typical.
Aerospace, defence and medical suppliers
The aerospace, defence and medical device suppliers of Bengaluru work under demanding quality systems, with requirements for identification, traceability, cleanliness and control. Their stores are audited, often by customers with exacting standards.
Storage helps in several ways. Fixed locations with printed labels give identification. One part per compartment prevents mix-up. Closed storage, such as drawers, lockable Panda shelving doors and modular systems with central locking, gives control and cleanliness. Counting routines, with logs, give traceability of quantity. And a tidy, consistent layout shows an auditor that the unit is in control.
The detail of what is required, such as batch traceability, quarantine areas and shelf-life control, is set by each unit's quality system and by its customers, and storage products are only a part of the answer. Where a unit needs a quarantine area, a locked cabinet or a separate shelf with a clear label provides a physical home. Where it needs to track batches, bins with one batch each and labels with the batch number serve. Our article on cycle counting with storage bins describes a count routine, and our article on bin labelling and colour coding describes labels that carry the information needed.
Be conservative about claims. Bins and shelves are supporting equipment, and a unit should confirm with its own quality team and its customers that a particular storage arrangement meets the requirements of its programme.
Tool cribs and cabinets in machine shops
Bengaluru has a strong machine-tool and precision machining tradition, and its shops hold large stocks of cutting tools, inserts, gauges, fixtures and spares. The tool crib is the centre of such a shop, and a good one saves hours.
Drawer containers, in six sizes made from high impact polystyrene and fitting standard tool cabinet drawers, divide drawers into labelled compartments. The ALKON tool tray, a multi-purpose tray for screwdrivers, files, pliers and spanners, screws to a wall or bench or hangs on a louvre panel. Louvre panels carry shadow boards and bins for consumables. Trolleys carry a set of tools to a machine. Fitted trays protect measuring instruments, and a register tracks their calibration.
Our article on tool room and tool crib organisation sets out the zones, the issue control and the routines, and the products named above are the physical parts.
For cutting tools and inserts, which are small and expensive, closed storage with a lock and a stock count is wise. A modular drawer system with central locking, or a locked cabinet with drawer containers, keeps them safe and counted.
Stores for the long tail of spares
Every unit, whatever it makes, has a stores with a long tail of spares: bearings, belts, seals, filters, fuses, lamps, switches and fasteners. In Bengaluru's units, with their many machines of different makes, the tail is long indeed.
Panda shelving with shelf bins gives a regular grid for the stores. The Panda shelf bins, such as the 301 at 315 x 100 x 60 mm outside and the 305 at 315 x 300 x 135 mm, sit on shelves in depths of 300 to 600 mm, and the catalogue lists the standard units with their bin counts. Pigeon hole shelves hold items in their own packets, and lockable doors secure valuable stock.
A routine of counting a few locations a day keeps the records accurate, and printed labels with part codes and machine names make finding parts quick. Our article on organising a maintenance spares store sets out the method, and our page on Panda pigeon hole shelving and doors describes the compartment option.
Start-ups, prototype labs and contract manufacturers
Bengaluru has a large number of hardware start-ups, prototype labs and contract manufacturers, and their storage needs change fast. A start-up may begin with a bench and a shelf, then move to a small production room, then to a unit with several lines. A storage system that grew with it would save a great deal of waste, and the modularity of the ALKON range allows exactly that.
At the prototype stage, the need is for flexibility. A few component organisers, a set of Supra and Hippo bins on a louvre panel and a drawer container set for the tool cabinet hold a surprising amount, and can be rearranged freely. There is little point in fixed locations when the part list changes every month, but labels still matter, because a prototype build that cannot find a part is a build that waits.
At the pilot production stage, the need is for repeatability. Parts have settled, kits can be defined and a small production line needs a supply of the same parts every day. Totes with partitions carry kits, a trolley carries the loop, and bins with fixed quantities hold the common parts. The two-bin signal from our two-bin kanban article suits a small line well.
At volume, the need is for a system: standard bins, labelled locations, a stores with shelving, a count routine and a replenisher. By then, the start-up has the experience to choose well, and the bins it began with continue to serve, because they belong to the same family.
Contract manufacturers face a different problem, which is many customers and many kits on the same floor. A clear colour code for each customer, a separate zone or trolley for each job and a rule that nothing from one job enters another prevent the mix-ups that contract work invites. Labels that carry the customer and job number, as well as the part code, are essential.
Reading the dimensions of small bins
Small-parts storage is a matter of fitting a part into a space, and the catalogue's dimensions make that a calculation. A quick tour of the smaller bins shows what is available, using the figures published in the catalogue.
To pick a size, measure the longest dimension of the part and compare it with the inside length, the widest with the inside width and the tallest with the inside height, leaving a little clearance for a finger or a gloved hand. A part 100 mm long fits the Supra SB 1 with room to spare but not the Rhino Tuff ARTB-05, whose inside length is 95 mm.
Think also about quantity. A bin that fits one part fits many, but how many depends on the part's shape. A few trial bins filled with the real part show the capacity directly, and a mark on the bin at the fill level makes it a standard. Our guide to choosing the right storage bin size covers the method in full.
- Roo tilt bin RTB 1: 50 x 73 x 92 mm outside, inner carton of 6.
- Rhino Tuff bin ARTB-05: 109 x 104 x 49 mm outside, 95 x 89 x 43 mm inside, 60 to a carton.
- Hippo bin 612/T tiny: 100 x 110 x 53 mm outside, 80 x 90 x 43 mm inside, 60 to a carton.
- Koala pick bin AKP-01: 130 x 105 x 60 mm outside, 105 x 90 x 55 mm inside.
- Supra SB 1: 125 x 100 x 60 mm outside, 117 x 80 x 52 mm inside, 60 to a carton.
- Supra SB 2: 170 x 100 x 85 mm outside, 157 x 80 x 75 mm inside, 60 to a carton.
- Bull bin 5: 168 x 102 x 74 mm outside, 145 x 86 x 66 mm inside, 60 to a carton.
- Hippo bin 612/S small: 150 x 110 x 75 mm outside, 130 x 90 x 68 mm inside, 60 to a carton.
Small rooms, mezzanines and awkward spaces
Many Bengaluru units are in older buildings, with low ceilings, mezzanines, awkward corners and narrow stairs. Storage has to fit what is there, not what is ideal, and a few notes may help.
Measure before choosing. Check not just the floor area but the ceiling height, the door and stair widths and the path from the delivery point to the room. A unit that cannot be carried up the stairs is a unit that cannot be used. Most ALKON items are supplied for assembly on site, and components such as louvre panels, stands and shelving parts are far easier to carry than assembled cabinets.
Use the walls. A louvre panel on a wall takes no floor, and bins hang on it from the floor to head height. The universal rail AUR-1 mounts on walls, benches and stands, and gives a flexible alternative for bins of different sizes.
Use corners. A rotary stand or a double-sided stand in a corner is a good use of an otherwise dead space, and a sliding unit against a short wall holds a lot in a small footprint.
Watch the floor load on a mezzanine. A mezzanine floor has a rated load, and a loaded shelving unit may exceed it. Check with whoever built the mezzanine, and spread the load.
Consider lighting. A back corner without good light turns a well-organised store into a puzzle. Add lighting where needed, or choose units with built-in lights, such as the sliding units, which have two LED lights.
Packaging, kitting and dispatch
Many Bengaluru units pack and ship small, valuable products, from electronic modules to medical devices to instruments. The packing area has its own storage needs: cartons, foam, labels, manuals, accessories and the finished products themselves.
A kit tote holds the accessories for each order, with partitions to keep items apart. The AK-421 tote, 400 x 255 x 100 mm outside, with its large label holder, carries a kit from the stores to the packing bench. Bins on a panel at the bench hold small accessories, such as cables, adaptors and screws, in labelled places, and a pigeon hole shelf holds manuals and leaflets without decanting.
Cleanliness matters for electronic and medical products. Wipe surfaces, keep packaging materials covered and avoid cardboard dust near products. Plastic bins and totes produce no fibres, and are easy to wipe.
For static-sensitive products, packing must follow the ESD programme: conductive or shielding bags, conductive totes and a grounded bench. Our ESD workbench guide covers the routine.
A last check before dispatch, a count of the kit against the order and a scan of the label, catches errors that would otherwise reach the customer. A tote with partitions makes the count quick, since each compartment holds one item.
Questions we hear from Bengaluru buyers
Can the bins be used with barcode or QR labels? Yes. The label holder on each bin accepts a printed label, and a label can carry a barcode or QR code along with the part code and name. Print labels at a size that the scanner can read at the distance used.
How do I label a drawer in a component organiser? Each drawer front has space for a label. Use a short printed label with the part code and value, and keep a list of the contents inside the cabinet or in a file.
Can organisers be locked? The organisers themselves are open-drawer cabinets, so for control, keep them in a locked cupboard, or use a modular system with central locking, or Panda shelving with lockable doors.
How should I store reels and tapes? Reels of components may sit on shelves or in totes, with labels on the edge, and static-sensitive reels should stay in their shielding bags. Panda pigeon hole shelves, with fixed partitions, give each reel its own compartment.
What is the best way to start counting? Pick a bay, label it, and count it blind against the record, as described in our cycle counting article. Do a small area every day, and keep a log.
Can you supply in small quantities? Standard packing is by the carton, with quantities listed on each product page. Our team can advise on sample quantities for a trial.
Choosing a standard for a Bengaluru unit
A short procedure gives a unit a standard that will last.
Our guide to choosing the right storage bin size and our article on 5S storage bins on the shop floor give more detail.
- Walk the unit and list the storage areas: bench, tool crib, stores, line, test and dispatch.
- List the parts in each, and measure the smallest and largest in each family.
- Choose the container for each: component organiser drawers for the smallest parts, Supra, Hippo and Roo bins for small and medium parts, Panda shelf bins for the stores, totes for carrying.
- For static-sensitive work, choose conductive bins, organisers and carriers, and follow the ESD programme.
- Choose the mounting: bench, wall stand, panel, sliding unit, rotary stand or shelving.
- Write the label format and location codes, including a field for batch where needed.
- Plan the count routine and the log.
- Trial one area, review and extend.
A worked example: a Peenya machining shop
The following example is invented, with round numbers. A machining shop in Peenya, with twenty people and fifteen machines, makes precision components for several customers. Its stores is a room of about four metres by five, and it holds about six hundred items: fasteners, inserts, gauges, fixtures, packaging and spares.
The owner decides to tidy the stores before a customer audit. A single RTB SU 1375 sliding unit goes against the long wall, loaded with Roo tilt bins in the four sizes for fasteners and small fittings, with the heaviest items on the fixed back panels. A Panda shelving unit with shelf bins holds the spares, and a second unit with pigeon hole shelves holds packaged items such as seals and filters. A tool cabinet in the machine area gets drawer containers, and each machine gets a small panel with Supra bins for its common consumables.
Cutting inserts and gauges go in a locked modular system, counted weekly. Every bin and compartment has a label with a code and a name, and each location is on a list. A short count each morning covers a few locations, with a log. The owner spends a few weekends on the work, and the shop's pick time drops sharply, since people no longer search for parts.
The numbers are invented, but the story is a common one in Peenya: a modest investment, a tidy store, a record and an audit passed with ease.
Heat, dust and the Bengaluru climate
Bengaluru's climate is mild compared with other industrial cities, with moderate temperatures through the year, a monsoon with moderate humidity and cool winter nights. For storage, this is kind: polypropylene bins stay well within their stated service range of -10 to +70 degrees Celsius, and powder-coated steel is rarely troubled.
Dust is a more important issue in many Peenya and Jigani units, from machining, grinding and road traffic. The routines in our other city pages apply: site bins away from the dustiest operations, wipe them regularly and use closed storage, such as drawers, doors and enclosed units, for parts that must stay clean.
Static control is helped by the moderate humidity in the monsoon and hurt by the dry months, and air-conditioned clean areas can be very dry. An ESD bench needs its checks done with care throughout the year.
A second worked example: an electronics repair and test centre
The second invented example is a repair and test centre near Electronic City, serving several equipment makers. It handles around forty boards a day, from simple modules to complex assemblies, and carries a stock of about two thousand component types for repairs, along with test fixtures and cables.
The centre manager installs six AWS 12060 workstations, each with its mat, cord, spike protector, light, louvre panel and lockable drawer unit. Each panel carries conductive Supra bins for the commonly used parts, and each bench has a conductive component organiser for ICs and small semiconductors. Two ACO sliding units, each with several organisers, hold the wider range of passive components in a corner, labelled by value and type. Boards queue in adjustable conductive PCB carriers, with the guides set for the common board sizes, and a few grey carriers hold non-sensitive housings and cables on a separate shelf.
Test fixtures and cables hang on a Tuff stand with louvre panels, with a shadow outline for each, so a missing fixture is visible at once. A trolley carries a kit of tools and parts to the test area. A daily routine covers wrist strap and mat checks, a weekly audit covers the bench, and a monthly count covers the component stock.
The centre's customers, who audit its process, note the controlled environment, the labelling and the records. Turnaround improves, because technicians no longer wait for parts, and repeat repairs fall, because static damage is better controlled. The figures are invented, but the pattern, a grounded bench, organised components, visible tools and a routine, is the one that repair centres follow.
What Bengaluru buyers value
The reasons that Bengaluru buyers give for choosing a standard storage range tend to be about precision and control. They want to know that a bin or drawer will be the same next year, that accessories will fit and that dimensions are as published. They want a supplier who understands that the smallest part may be the most important. And they want a system that can be shown to an auditor with confidence.
ALKON's range, with component organisers, conductive products, tilt bins and sliding and rotary units alongside the general bins, is wide enough to cover those needs from a single source, and Shreeram Metafusion's long experience with the range lets us advise on which product suits which job. We would rather help a unit choose a small, well-judged set of products than sell it a large one that does not fit.
Keeping the standard alive
A storage standard in a precision unit has to survive staff changes, new products and customer audits, and a few habits help it do so. Write the standard on a single sheet: the bin families and sizes, the label format, the location code and the count routine. Keep it in the store and in the quality file, and refer to it in the induction of new staff.
Review it when something changes. A new product line, a new customer requirement or a new machine usually brings new parts, and the standard should say where they go. Keep a small stock of spare bins, drawers, partitions and labels, so a damaged item is replaced the same day, and reorder by article number, since the catalogue stays the same from year to year.
Audit yourself before a customer does. A short monthly walk, picking ten parts at random and finding each, checking labels and counting a few bins, finds the small drifts before they become findings. A unit that does this routinely finds that customer audits become a formality.
How we serve Bengaluru customers
Shreeram Metafusion supplies from Vashi, Navi Mumbai. Send an enquiry through the contact page or by phone, with a parts list, bin sizes or a description of the problem, and we will suggest products from the catalogue, confirm quantities and terms and arrange dispatch to your unit.
We can help with sizing, layout and labelling, and the product pages on this website list the dimensions, packing and accessories for every item. As an authorised stockist of ALKON Plastics Pvt. Ltd. for over thirty years, we aim to give Bengaluru customers a clear, practical answer, whether they run a ten-person shop or a large plant.
A checklist for a Bengaluru storage project
- List the areas and the parts, and note which are static-sensitive, valuable or controlled.
- Choose component organisers and small bins for the smallest parts, and Panda shelving for the stores.
- Use conductive items and an ESD workbench for static-sensitive work, following the unit's ESD programme.
- Use closed storage and locks for controlled or valuable items.
- Use sliding units, rotary stands or double-sided stands where floor is scarce, and check the loads.
- Label every bin and location, and set up a count routine and log.
- Trial one area, and extend what works.
Frequently asked questions
Do you supply storage bins to Bengaluru from Vashi?
Yes. Shreeram Metafusion supplies the ALKON catalogue from Vashi, Navi Mumbai, to customers across India, including units in Bengaluru, Peenya, Bommasandra, Jigani, Electronic City, Whitefield and Hosur Road. Send an enquiry through the contact page with your parts list or bin sizes, and we will confirm products, quantities and terms for dispatch.
What suits a small electronics or precision parts store?
Component organisers, which are cabinets of small transparent drawers in sizes such as the ACO 12, ACO 18, ACO 39 and ACO 60, plus Supra and Hippo bins on louvre panels, drawer containers for tool cabinets and, for static-sensitive parts, the conductive component organiser with 25 drawers. For very dense storage, the Roo tilt bin sliding units and rotary stands. See our component organisers page for the sizes.
How do I store static-sensitive components and boards?
Use conductive bins, a conductive component organiser, conductive PCB carriers and ESD workstations as part of a grounded system, and follow your ESD control programme. Conductive items are black and non-conductive are grey. See our ESD safe storage products page and our guide to setting up an ESD workbench.
Can drawers and bins keep small precision parts clean?
Closed storage keeps parts cleaner than open bins. Component organiser drawers, drawer containers inside cabinets, Panda shelving with lockable doors and enclosed sliding units all help. For critical parts, keep them in their own packets or bags inside the drawer or bin, and wipe surfaces on a schedule.
What should an aerospace or defence supplier consider?
Traceability and control. Use fixed locations, printed labels, one part per compartment and a count routine with a log, and keep controlled items behind lockable doors or in a locked modular system. Our cycle counting article describes a routine that suits audited stores. The bins and shelving are supporting equipment; your quality system defines the requirements.
Can you help plan storage for a new unit in Bengaluru?
Yes. Send the room dimensions, a parts list and how the parts are used, and we will suggest bins, drawers, panels, shelving or trolleys from the catalogue and a labelling scheme. Planning before you buy is much cheaper than rescuing a store afterwards.
What bin sizes are good for very small parts?
The Supra SB 1, at 125 x 100 x 60 mm outside, the Hippo 612/T tiny at 100 x 110 x 53 mm, the Rhino Tuff ARTB-05 at 109 x 104 x 49 mm and the Roo RTB 1 at 50 x 73 x 92 mm cover small parts, with component organiser drawers and drawer containers for the smallest. Match the inside dimensions to the part.
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