If your company relies on its vehicles to deliver orders, transport equipment, or run a mobile business, keeping your work van organized is crucial. When a company car is cluttered, unorganized, or challenging to navigate, companies face several severe and immediate consequences.
For example, workers are at an increased risk of injury when they load and unload equipment from unorganized work vans. Work productivity is also more likely to lag since employees need to spend precious time digging through cluttered supplies.
A messy work van also affects interactions with customers. When customers see cluttered vehicles, they perceive these companies as unprofessional. Customers also experience greater frustration when unorganized cars cause workers to fall behind in their daily schedules. Businesses can avoid these negative experiences by ensuring that vans are clean and tidy. To learn how to organize a work van and everything you need to know about decluttering your equipment, continue reading our guide below.
Remove Everything
Before you can begin to organize your equipment, you first must untangle and declutter the supplies and tools currently in your work van. Start by removing everything from the rear of your vehicle until the back section and front seats are completely clear.
You should even deconstruct shelving and other additions so that you can reorganize the space entirely. Once you have cleared the back and base of your vehicle, you can begin to categorize your supplies and equipment.
Categorize Supplies and Equipment
When companies do not have separate spaces for their supplies and equipment, vans are more likely to become cluttered faster. Rather than keeping all supplies and equipment together in the back of vans, separate everything into distinct categories.
How to Categorize Supplies
Depending on an equipment’s function, workers should categorize these tools based on their tasks. For example, employees should keep nails and bolts together, whereas they might separate drills and caulk into separate containers.
Once you’ve sifted through and separated each tool outside your work van, you can begin to outline how these new categories will fit into your vehicle.
Develop a New Floor Plan
Now that your supplies and equipment are all organized, it’s time to create a new floor plan for your work van. When you brainstorm a floor plan, you can develop designated spaces for your equipment and optimize the room of your car. These outlines will proactively consider the best places to keep supplies to enhance productivity and make equipment easier to access.
What to Consider When Outlining Your Vehicle’s Floor Plan
Your van’s equipment and supplies should always be safely accessible. For example, when designing a floor plan, you shouldn’t place larger machinery against boxes and shelves with frequently used materials. Instead, these bigger tools should be in their own designated area that is easy to access and manageable to unload.
Clear walkways are also pivotal. The floor space of your work van should be clear of any clutter that could cause tripping or injuries to workers.
Pro Tip: Add a Ladder Rack
Not sure where to place large, bulky equipment? Ladder racks are an excellent addition to any work vehicle. These racks allow workers to load and unload heavy tools from the roof of the van.
Allocating larger supplies to ladder racks will clear more space in the back of your vehicle and make the creation of your floor plan even more straightforward. Other van accessories can also create a smooth and efficient workflow.
Utilize Van Accessories
Van accessories are some of the most crucial elements to include inside a work van. They create spaces to store smaller supplies, boxes, and tools. These additions also optimize the space of company cars so that all materials are readily accessible.
For example, van shelving creates racks to place different types of tools and equipment. You can separate supplies into boxes and place boxes on van shelving for safe storage. Since these accessories utilize vertical space, you can store larger supplies inside vans with these additions.
Other accessories, such as wall hooks and wall partitions, are instrumental for creating more space to hang equipment and keep van floors clear of any materials or supplies.
Accessories to Enhance Organization
- Shelving
- Modules
- Drawers
- Wall partitions
- Wall hooks
Design Labels and Color Systems
Now that your work van has designated spaces and accessories to store equipment, it’s time to make navigating your work van simple. Consider creating labels to place on van shelves, drawers, and hooks to help employees find work materials faster. While your vehicle’s floor plan helps make finding tools simple, adding labels for employees can help guarantee enhanced productivity.
Pro Tip: Using Color Coordination to Organize Work Vans
When you have several different job sites to visit in a day, staying on schedule is critical. While adding labels to your organized equipment will help productivity, color-coordinating supplies can make finding materials even faster.
Create labels with specific colors to indicate task functions for equipment. For example, you might label metalwork machinery with green tags, while construction supplies might be blue. Regardless of the colors or category system you use, this coordination will make finding tools quick so that you can stay on schedule.
Although decluttering and organizing your work van may require time and additional accessories, these investments will be instrumental in increasing your business’s productivity and efficiency. Once you’ve organized your work vans, employees will be able to navigate their vehicles safely and search for equipment without hassle.
Customers are also more likely to perceive your company as more professional and trustworthy. If your business struggles to maintain its vehicles, review our guide on how to organize a work van and everything you need to know about decluttering your equipment. Your company’s workflow will benefit significantly from following these guidelines.
If your company needs new van accessories, we also offer some of the highest-quality, American-made van shelving for sale.
We also provide a wide range of ladder racks, modules, and other accessories to help make your business more productive and efficient. To browse through our van accessories, check out our American Truck Equipment website for more information.
