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Borroughs Automotive Shelving
American-made steel shelving, high-density parts drawers and service workstations for dealership parts rooms, fleet garages and repair shops — designed, supplied and installed by MH-USA.
400 lb
Per high-density drawer
3’3″–19’3″
17 standard post heights
12″–36″
Seven shelf depths
Lifetime
Limited manufacturer warranty
Storage built for the way a parts department actually works
A dealership parts room and a service drive fail in the same two ways: small parts get lost in oversized shelf openings, and technicians walk too far for the hardware they use every hour. Borroughs Corporation has been building steel storage in Kalamazoo, Michigan since 1948 for exactly that problem, and the automotive product family is the part of the line that MH-USA installs most often across the Mountain West.
Three product groups do most of the work. Box Edge Plus® clip-type shelving carries boxed and bulk inventory. High-density drawers drop into those same shelf openings so fasteners, sensors, clips and trim hardware live in divided, labeled drawers instead of on an open shelf. Automotive workstations and tech benches put tools, lift controls, hose reels and waste receivers at the bay rather than across the shop.
Because all three share the same post system, powder-coat palette and accessory set, a parts room, a body shop and a service bay can be specified as one package — and re-configured later without replacing the frames. That is the practical argument for Borroughs over generic imported shelving: the shelving you buy this year still accepts the drawer bank you add in three years. Smaller facilities can start much simpler: our guide to storage for independent repair shops and body shops lays out a back room in four zones.
Box Edge Plus® parts room shelving
Box Edge Plus is Borroughs’ clip-type industrial shelving: shelf front and rear edges are formed into a closed, welded box, corners are lapped and welded, and shelves sit on wide-bearing brackets that install and adjust without tools, nuts or bolts. The clean front edge matters in a parts room — boxes slide on and off without catching, and shelves can be moved without disturbing the units beside them.
| Specification | Borroughs Box Edge Plus® |
|---|---|
| Post styles | Beaded post (wider clear opening), angle post (free-standing runs), high-rise post (multi-level systems) |
| Post heights | 17 standard heights, 3’3" to 19’3" in one-foot increments; taller with standard splicers |
| Nominal widths | 24", 36", 42", 48" |
| Nominal depths | 12", 15", 18", 24", 30", 32", 36" |
| Shelf gauges | P0 (24 ga), P1 (22 ga), P2 (20 ga), P3 (18 ga) — select by required load |
| Shelf adjustment | 1-1/2" centers |
| Clear opening | Nominal width minus 1" between beaded posts; minus 2" between angle posts |
| Capacity basis | ANSI MH28.1-1997 and SMA industrial steel shelving specification, uniformly loaded, tested for capacity and deflection |
| Anchoring | Recommended whenever height-to-depth ratio exceeds 4 |
| Configurations | Open or closed units, open/closed backs, perforated end panels, fixed and adjustable dividers, bins and bin fronts, doors, counters, multi-level and high-bay |
Choosing a gauge, not just a size
Shelf gauge is the decision most parts managers skip. Heavy boxed parts, brake rotors and batteries belong on 18 or 20 gauge shelves; light trim, filters and packaged hardware are fine on 22 or 24 gauge. Mixing gauges within one run is normal and usually cheaper than over-specifying the whole room.
High-density drawers inside the shelving
The single biggest density gain in an automotive parts room comes from converting shelf openings to drawers. A 36" × 24" shelf opening that held four or five loose boxes will hold dozens of divided compartments once a drawer bank is installed in it — and every compartment can carry a bin location label so the DMS bin number matches what a counter person sees.
Borroughs high-density drawers are built into the Box Edge Plus posts, so no separate cabinet frame is required. Drawers fully extend on a roller-bearing suspension, each carries up to 400 lb evenly distributed, and galvanized steel partitions and dividers are factory installed to your layout.
| Drawer detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Drawer front heights | 3", 4-1/2", 6", 7-1/2", 9", 10-1/2", 12", plus roll-out shelf |
| Usable interior heights | 2-1/16" to 11-1/16" depending on drawer front height |
| Drawer footprints | 36" × 18", 36" × 24", 48" × 18", 48" × 24" (3.0 to 6.0 sq ft of drawer floor) |
| Sizes offered | 28 drawer sizes total |
| Capacity | Up to 400 lb per drawer, evenly distributed |
| Suspension | Roller bearing, full extension for access to the whole drawer |
| Interiors | Factory-installed galvanized steel partitions and dividers; re-configurable |
| Rule of thumb | Total height of drawer fronts must not exceed the height of the mounting upright panels |
Two planning notes from installs we have done. First, set drawer width and depth from the aisle you have: a 24"-deep drawer fully extended plus a person needs real clearance, and a 48"-wide drawer in a narrow aisle will get opened halfway forever. Second, put the fast-moving hardware between roughly 30" and 60" above the floor and use the high shelves above the drawer bank for boxed bulk — that is the golden zone that removes the most walking and bending from a day.
Security is straightforward: Borroughs locks use a removable core that can be swapped without replacing hardware, and cabinets can be keyed alike or individually depending on whether you are protecting a shared bay or a controlled parts cage.
Not sure how many drawers your parts room needs?
Send us a parts inventory export or a floor sketch and we will lay out the shelving, drawer banks and aisles for you.
A real dealership install: Young Ford, Brigham City, Utah
MH-USA supplied and installed a Borroughs Box Edge Plus parts room for Young Ford in Brigham City, Utah. The room combines full-height shelving runs with continuous banks of high-density drawers at working height, adjustable shelf dividers to keep boxed stock upright, and back panels where parts would otherwise push through to the next aisle.
Drawer banks at working heightDrawers occupy the reach zone; shelving above holds boxed bulk stock, with adjustable dividers keeping small boxes upright.
Divided shelving above, drawers belowEvery aisle repeats the same pattern, so counter staff learn one logic for the whole room.Why this layout works
Shelving and drawers share the same posts, so the mix of drawer height to shelf height can change as the parts profile changes — the frames stay. That is the difference between a parts room you re-organize and one you replace.
Boltless, bulk and bin storage for the rest of the building
Not everything in an automotive facility belongs on clip shelving. Borroughs’ Rivet-Span® boltless shelving uses posts and beams with steel or particle-board decking for bulk boxes, oversized body panels and archival records — it assembles fast, opens on all four sides and suits back rooms, mezzanine levels and record storage. B-Span® wide-span handles longer, bulkier loads, and Flexi-Bins® add plastic bin drawers with backstops that stop a bin from being pulled all the way out on the floor.
Where volume outgrows shelving entirely, pallet rack and a mezzanine take over. MH-USA quotes those in the same package, so a dealership expansion does not turn into three separate projects.
- Rivet-Span® boltless shelving for bulk, oversized and archival storage
- B-Span® wide-span for long and bulky items
- Flexi-Bins® for loose automotive small parts
- Aisle-Saver® mobile carriages when floor space, not shelf space, is the constraint
- High-rise and multi-tier systems where ceiling height is available
Related pages: Borroughs shelving overview, industrial shelving, boltless shelving, parts room shelving, pallet rack and mezzanines.
Borroughs automotive service workstations
On the shop floor, Borroughs builds a modular workstation system rather than a fixed bench. Components mix and match along a bay wall: drawer cabinets, lift control cabinets, reel cabinets, shelf cabinets, cart and trash garages, an oil receiver garage, work surfaces, riser frames and upper cabinets. Storage placement is deliberately arranged to cut technician footsteps during a service job.
Details that matter day to day: tool drawer slides give 110% extension so the back of the drawer is reachable, auto-safety clips lock the suspension to the drawer to prevent accidental release, drawers ship with a black polyester mesh liner, and upper cabinet doors tip up and slide in on rack-and-pinion slides with soft-close dampers so a technician can open them one-handed.
| Workstation detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Working height — stainless steel legs | 41-5/8", each leg vertically adjustable for leveling; optional 14-gauge stainless kick plates |
| Working height — fork truck base | 38-5/8", with a snap-in cover; the economical alternative to adjustable legs |
| Upper cabinets | 18" deep × 19" high, tip-up slide-in doors on rack-and-pinion slides, soft close, riser- or wall-mounted |
| Locks | Removable core, keyed alike or individually |
| Options | Computer support arm kit, undercounter task lighting kit, electrical and data ports (standard on tapered tops) |
| Finish | 7 standard powder coat colors (Pebble, Industrial Gray, Black, Blue, White, Mist Gray, Red), 49 two-color combinations, custom color matching |
Tech benches and shop equipment
Around the bays, Borroughs offers more than 200 sizes and styles of shop and tech benches. Open-leg tech benches adjust from 28" to 36" on 1" centers, and stainless steel tops are available on any series.
| Bench | Sizes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 100 / 120 / 130 / 160 / 170 / 180 Series tech benches | 48" × 28", 60" × 28", 72" × 28" | Open-leg, height adjustable 28"–36" on 1" centers; add an "SS" suffix for a stainless top |
| 300 Series wall-mounted tech bench | 48" × 28", 60" × 28", 72" × 28" | Frees the floor beneath the bench for carts and waste containers |
| Transmission tear-down bench | 48" × 28" top | Top angles to a drain, removable plastic bin standard, adjustable leg height, two rigid and two locking casters |
| Tier drawer accessory | 15-1/4" × 20" × 7-1/4" | Fits any open-leg tech bench |
Layout and design before anything is built
Borroughs designs in Configura®, its proprietary configuration software. AutoCAD drawings import and export, components are placed and changed on screen, pricing updates in real time as the design changes, and the output includes photo-realistic 3D renderings of the finished room from any angle and in your chosen colors.
In practice that means a complete dealership — parts room shelving, drawer banks, service bay workstations and file storage — can be reviewed and approved before a single part is manufactured. MH-USA handles the survey, the layout, the quote and the installation.
Site survey
We measure the room, note columns, doors, lighting, sprinkler heads and the aisles your equipment actually needs.
Inventory profile
Parts counts, box sizes and movement velocity decide the split between shelves, drawers and bulk storage.
Configura layout
A dimensioned plan and 3D rendering in your colors, with real-time pricing as options change.
Quote and lead time
One quote covering product, freight and installation, with current manufacturing lead time stated up front.
Installation
Our crews install, level, anchor and label the system so the room is usable the day we leave.
Limited lifetime warranty
Borroughs extends a limited lifetime warranty to the original purchaser against manufacturing defects in material and workmanship on products bought from Borroughs or an authorized Borroughs dealer. It excludes misuse, negligence, accident, shipping/storage/installation damage, misapplication, and unauthorized modification or repair, and indirect or consequential damages. Warranty claims must be made in writing with a copy of the purchase record.
Borroughs automotive shelving FAQ
What is Borroughs automotive shelving?
How much weight will a Borroughs high-density drawer hold?
What shelf sizes are available for a dealership parts room?
Are Borroughs shelf capacities tested to a standard?
Do parts room shelves need to be anchored?
What colors does Borroughs offer?
Can Borroughs lay out my whole service department first?
What warranty comes with Borroughs products?
Where we deliver and install
MH-USA is based in Salt Lake City and installs Borroughs automotive shelving across the Mountain West. City pages with local detail: Salt Lake City, UT · Boise, ID · Denver, CO · Las Vegas, NV · Ogden, UT · Provo, UT · Phoenix, AZ · Albuquerque, NM. Outside those metros, call (800) 326-4403 — we quote and install nationwide through the Borroughs dealer network.
Plan your parts room or service bay with MH-USA
Free layout, 3D rendering and quote on Borroughs automotive shelving, high-density drawers and workstations.