How Do You Order Custom Desk Screens for an Office Project?

Quick Answer

Custom desk screens are ordered through five written decisions: the screen height, the length of each bay, the material, the colour and the desk-top mounting method. In the published range, the CHG-068-1 Galaxy Series desk screen and the CHG-068-2 Galaxy Series desk screen are aluminium alloy screens, 0.305 m high and 1 m wide, produced at a standard 1 m length with custom lengths available, in BMW Gray or custom colours, mounted on the desk top for offices, libraries and meeting rooms. A written specification is what keeps every quotation describing the same screen.

Key Takeaways

• A desk screen is part of the furniture drawing: its height, length and mounting change the workstation layout, not only the accessories list.
• The published Galaxy screens are aluminium alloy, 0.305 m (H) × 1 m (W), standard length 1 m with custom lengths available, in BMW Gray and custom colours, desk-top mounted.
• Screens are furniture components: the ISO technical committee for furniture covers performance, safety and dimensional requirements together with requirements for specific components such as hardware.
• Where the screen line must also carry power, the CH-022 oblong elliptical screen wiring channel adds 2500W power with USB and Type-C charging along the same line.
• Comparing desk screen suppliers on one written specification — height, length, material, colour, mounting — is what makes three quotations comparable.

Why Do Desk Screens Belong on the Furniture Drawing, Not the Accessories List?

A desk screen is the element that turns a row of desks into a set of defined workstations: it sets where sight lines stop, how much of the desktop stays private, and where cables and power can run along the desk line. Because it does that job at a fixed position on every desk, the screen is specified together with the desk programme — the same way worktops and pedestals are — rather than picked later from an accessories list. The office partition hardware range groups desk screens, screen tracks, clamps and wiring channels in one family precisely because, in a project, they are specified and ordered together.

The screen decision also interacts with the taller elements above and beside the desk. Where a project needs hanging partition panels instead of a low desk screen, the same logic applies at panel level, which is covered in how to choose panel hanging brackets; the CH4502-4501 panel hanging bracket carries panels rather than sitting on the worktop. Writing down early which positions take desk screens and which take hanging panels prevents the two product families from being quoted against each other.

What Should You Confirm Before Ordering Custom Desk Screens?

Confirm five points — height, length, material, colour and mounting — because each one moves a different part of the project: the sight-line plan, the desk widths, the finish, the brand appearance and the installation method.

Dimensions decide the sight line and the bay layout. The published Galaxy screens are 0.305 m high and 1 m wide, with a standard length of 1 m and custom lengths available, so the screen line can follow the actual desk widths of the project instead of forcing the desks to match a catalogue size. Screen length per bay should be taken from the desk drawing, and the number of screens should be counted from the layout rather than estimated, because a screen ordered 50 mm short on every bay shows as a gap on every desk.

Material and colour decide the finished appearance. The Galaxy screens are made of aluminium alloy, in BMW Gray with custom colours available, so a brand colour can be produced through the OEM programme instead of being painted after delivery. A custom colour adds a colour-approval step that a standard colour does not have, so it should be listed on its own line of the order with the sample or colour standard it will be judged against.

Mounting decides what the installer actually receives. The published Galaxy screens use a desk-top mount, so the order should state that the screens arrive with their fixing method and that the desktop material and thickness at the mounting position are known. Clamps used elsewhere in the same screen family, such as the CH1221 aluminium screen clamp, are separate order lines — folding “the screen” and “the fixing” into one casual sentence is how one of the two ends up missing on site.

How Do You Compare Desk Screen Suppliers on Equal Terms?

Compare suppliers on one written specification instead of on photographs. Send every supplier the same five-line screen specification — height, length per bay, material, colour, mounting — and ask each quotation to state what the screen is supplied with and what it is built against. Screens are furniture: the ISO technical committee for furniture, ISO/TC 136, defines its scope as covering performance, safety and dimensional requirements for furniture together with requirements for specific components such as hardware, and the test methods behind them. Asking a screen supplier which requirements and test methods the product family is designed against is a normal buyer question, and the answer belongs in the quotation.

Ask what the quotation includes before comparing prices. A screen order has at least four costable lines — screens, fixings, colour approval and packing — and two quotations can differ by the fixing line alone. Request the packing quantity per carton and the carton dimensions for the chosen screen model in writing, because desk screens are long, light parts whose freight is driven by carton length and volume rather than by weight.

For buyers building a whole workspace programme around the screens, the project-level view — who supplies what, and how hardware lines are consolidated — is set out in commercial furniture hardware for projects.

Which Mistakes Raise Cost and Risk in a Desk Screen Order?

Desk screen mistakes are cheap to prevent on paper and expensive to correct on site.

• Ordering screen lengths before the desk widths are frozen, so every screen in the batch needs rework or shims.
• Approving a custom colour verbally, so the delivered colour differs from the desk finish and no document records who approved what.
• Leaving the fixing line out of the order because “the screens come with everything”, without naming the mount and the desktop build-up it suits.
• Forgetting what runs along the screen line: where power and charging are wanted at the screen, the CH-022 oblong elliptical screen wiring channel carries up to 2500W with USB and Type-C charging in an aerospace aluminium alloy body with a PC fire-retardant material, and it changes the screen specification rather than the accessories list.
• Comparing quotations that were never given the same specification, so the cheapest price simply describes the smallest screen.

All five are closed by the same document: a one-page screen specification attached to the RFQ.

Buyer Checklist

• Mark the screen position on every desk type in the layout, and record the height and the length of each bay.
• Confirm material and standard colour — aluminium alloy, BMW Gray in the published Galaxy series — and flag any custom colour as a separate approval line.
• State the mounting method (desk-top mount) and the desktop material and thickness at the fixing position.
• Decide whether the screen line carries power or charging, and add a wiring channel line such as the CH-022 if it does.
• Ask every supplier to quote against the same written specification, including fixings and packing quantity per carton.
• Approve a physical sample of colour and finish before the batch is released to mass production.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions furniture manufacturers, distributors and project buyers ask most often when custom desk screens are specified for an office project.

Conclusion

Ordering custom desk screens is a five-line written decision — height, length, material, colour, mounting — taken from the desk drawing before prices are compared. Fix those five lines, add the wiring channel if the screen line carries power, and every quotation that returns describes the same screen. Buyers preparing an office project can send the screen specification to Natlo Hardware for a quotation.

Sources

• ISO/TC 136 Furniture — committee scope covering furniture performance, safety and dimensional requirements, requirements for specific components such as hardware, and test methods (International Organization for Standardization): https://www.iso.org/committee/52448.html
• EN 1023-2:2000, Office furniture — Screens — Part 2: Mechanical safety requirements (CEN; AFNOR catalogue listing): https://boutique.afnor.org/en-gb/standard/fa036790/17635