Great Lakes Case & Cabinet: Custom Solutions For The Military

The following content originally appeared in the Military Solutions brochure from Great Lakes. 
For nearly three decades, Great Lakes Case & Cabinet has served and supported military and government efforts through the delivery of American made, high quality racks, wall mount and free-standing enclosures, technical furniture systems and custom configurations for applications and installations throughout the world. 

Great Lakes standard products are specially designed to be compliant with the privacy rule requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).OSHPD (Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development) OPA numbers are available for our most popular racks, enclosures and wall mounts. These products were independently reviewed, submitted to OSHPD and determined to be in compliance with the 2010 California Building Code. For more information and copies of OPA certificates, please visit http://werackyourworld.com/resources/OPA/.

Great Lakes understands the unique requirements which are often part of government and military applications. Whether product must be pre-configured, inventoried and “forward stored” in advance of need for an international “roll-out”, or manufactured and delivered “just-in-time” to a federal contractor for integration on an extremely sophisticated deployment schedule, Great Lakes has proven to be a capable and dependable partner. 

Great Lakes has also created a variety of customized workstations and technical furniture systems within our ADvANTAGe® technical furniture and Sentry™ console lines for laboratory, command and security environments.

In addition to the configuration of our standard products to meet highly specialized needs, Great Lakes offers some of the most sophisticated manufacturing capabilities in North America, allowing us to design custom products in a variety of materials for unique military and government requirements. even in the case of highly specialized enclosures which must be prepared for performance in extremely hazardous conditions, no task is too difficult to meet the needs of our customers. Custom products can be engineered and manufactured within a standard lead time of six weeks or within ten working days, when using our “Fast Track” Design and Engineering Service.

Situational Examples:

Great Lakes was asked to design customized NeMA4X compliant enclosures for the protection of equipment on the flight line of new multipurpose fighter jets. Twenty nine (29) enclosures were manufactured and shipped to a U.S. Air Force Base, where one enclosure was installed in each aircraft hanger. Made of stainless steel to prevent rust and t hen powder coated for added protection, the enclosures are able to withstand the harsh environmental effects of coastal heat and rain. Fan shrouds add extra protection to the fans while pressure latches seal individual compartments of the enclosure. 

A government agency required a completely customized enclosure - from the inside out! Based on the eS Server enclosure, the custom enclosure platform included vertical cable troughs, adjustable depth horizontal troughs, cable management fingers, junction boxes, and unique PDU brackets. The horizontal cable troughs were also designed to protect equipment from potentially damaging electromagnetic and radio frequency interference. The agency requested the enclosure doors to be red and purple; the doors would be color-coded to represent specific purposes for the types of equipment mounted in each enclosure. The enclosures were shipped to a secure facility for on-site configuration.

Great Lakes has designed a variety of command/console systems for several military and government agencies. In this application, the console was designed to hold equipment and video monitors on adjustable arms. We worked with the customer to meet their specific depth requirements to ensure that the number of workstations required could be safely accommodated in the space available. We designed the workstation and monitor arms to meet their height requirements, so that the operators could see their monitors and a large display screen on the wall while seated. We also designed a highly customized mounting structure with a secure cover for the installation of some highly specific government-furnished equipment.

Several overseas military installations used open racks in various unsecure locations to mount IT equipment. A few years after the initial installation, the mission parameters at the facilities changed and the installation required additional security to protect and restrict access to the equipment. The military did not have the luxury to replace racks with enclosures and could not afford down time and interruption in the network, so Great Lakes was asked to provide a solution. A unique wrap-around system was created to enclose the various open floor and wall racks, creating a security shroud. The shroud was then attached to the wall and or floor. The shrouds offer the type of security and restricted access found in traditional, freestanding enclosures while providing a cost-effective and easy installation process. The shrouds were shipped flat and assembled on-site.