Custom Control Room Consoles
vs Pre-Configured Desks: Why Custom Wins
When designing a 24/7 control room or command center, one of the most important decisions you’ll face is whether to choose custom control room consoles or rely on pre-configured desks. While off-the-shelf options may suit basic office environments, mission-critical operations demand more.
In this article, we compare the two approaches head-to-head, highlighting why custom consoles deliver better ergonomics, longer-lasting durability, and the adaptability needed to meet your team’s exact operational workflows. If you’re considering how to future-proof your space and improve operator performance, this guide is for you.
Are control room desks the same as consoles?
Not quite. While the term “control room desk” is commonly used online, it usually refers to generic furniture not built for the rigors of 24/7 mission-critical environments. Tresco Consoles are purpose-built ergonomic workstations designed to support operators and advanced technology systems. Learn more about why custom consoles outperform off-the-shelf desks.
Control Room Desks vs. Consoles
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What is the difference between a control room desk and a console?
A control room desk is typically a general-purpose workstation, while a control room console is engineered specifically for mission-critical environments. Consoles support 24/7 use, ergonomic adjustments, cable management, technology integration, and operator-focused design, features that standard desks often lack.
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Can I use a regular desk in a control room?
While technically possible, it’s not recommended. Traditional desks don’t support the hardware, ergonomics, or workflows required in high-demand control environments like SOCs, transmission control centers, or industrial facilities.
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Why does Tresco use the term ‘console’ instead of ‘desk’?
“Console” better reflects the technical, ergonomic, and operational requirements of mission-critical spaces. At Tresco, we design purpose-built solutions that go beyond furniture, our consoles are tools that support the performance and well-being of control room operators.
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Will our consoles appear in searches for control room desks?
Yes. Many people use the term “control room desk” to search for what we call consoles. That’s why we include the term in our content to guide users toward better-performing, long-lasting solutions.
Adaptability to Specific Requirements
One of the most significant advantages of custom control room consoles is their adaptability to specific requirements. Every organization has unique needs, and a one-size-fits-all approach rarely suffices in the complex world of command centers. Custom consoles can be tailored to the precise dimensions of the control room, ensuring optimal use of space and a seamless fit with existing equipment and infrastructure.
Custom consoles can be designed to accommodate the specific workflows and operational processes of an organization. This can include features such as custom single or dual worksurface shapes and layouts, integrated cable management systems, adjustable monitor arms, ergonomic seating solutions and more.
A proper requirement-gathering process must take place to ensure the needs of all stakeholders involved in the control room are taken into account, and considered when designing a custom console solution for your organization, developing layouts, features, and finishes all considering the control room design principles laid out in ISO 11064 to properly produce custom control room consoles that systemically enhance efficiency and streamline workflows.
Custom Consoles vs Pre-configured Desks
On the left you have one of our state-of-the-art control room consoles, and on the right you can see a set of pre-configured office furniture, both solutions were designed with different goals in mind. Desks like the one on the right are versatile pieces of furniture that can cater to the needs of a wide range of users, such as those in traditional office settings, home offices, and cubicles.
It’s important to note that the requirements of a control room can differ significantly from those of a typical office environment. This is especially true given that control rooms are used intensively around the clock.
The specific needs of various industries that rely on control room operations, such as Oil and Gas refineries or Electric Utilities, are quite distinct. These industries have strategically designed operations and procedures that cater to their specific infrastructure management and monitoring processes.
Custom Control Room Consoles
- Engineered for mission-critical environments.
- Designed for 24 – 7 use 365 days of the year.
- Made with robust materials to withstand its intended purpose.
- Designed following critical ergonomic principles to foster focus and avoid musculoskeletal strains on intensive operations.
- Packed with features to ensure your operation never stops, push-button controls, sit-stand functionalities, multiple monitor arrangements, and more.
- Enhanced to optimize productivity and boost collaboration through multiple configurable monitors
- Equipment and cable management are neatly stored underneath the console for security and a clean and modern look.
Pre-Configured Desks
- Targeted at standard office environments, home offices and cubicles.
- Designed for 8 hours of sustained use, 5 days of the week.
- Designed with a broad audience in mind therefore ergonomics, build materials and features are compromised to cater to such a wide range of needs.
- Made to standard measurements which you’ll need to trickle with to make them fit in your desired room.
- Limited connectivity or protection for the stored equipment
Fine-Tuned Console Features
Another key advantage of custom control room consoles is the ability to fine-tune features to maximize productivity and operator focus. Standard consoles often come with fixed configurations and limited customization options. In contrast, our tailor made consoles can be designed with a focus on ergonomics, ensuring that operators can work comfortably for extended periods without fatigue or strain.
Additionally, custom consoles can incorporate advanced features such as integrated lighting systems, adjustable monitor heights, and built-in power outlets. These features can be fine-tuned to meet the specific needs of the organization, enhancing operator focus and reducing distractions.
Tailored consoles can be designed to accommodate future upgrades and expansions. This can include features such as modular components, which can be easily added or removed as needed. This allows teams to future-proof the console, maximizing ROI, and ensuring their investment continues to deliver value over time.
Our top-of-the-line command center solutions are designed to meet the exact needs of your operational workflow, providing a blank canvas for your operational leaders to customize every feature of their workstation. They have complete control over their console’s height, monitor count, size, shape, storage options, buttons, control switches, alarms, and creature comforts like kick space heaters and HVAC systems. Moreover, we offer a wide range of additional features that can be tailored to your specific needs, ensuring an enhanced monitoring and controlling experience for your operators and optimized utilization of your resources, both assets, and personnel.
The result is a solution that is truly optimized for the operators in your control center. With the freedom to personalize finishing materials, colors and features to your operation’s specific requirements.
Interior Bay Lighting
Cable Management
Task Lighting
A/C Supplied Air Box
Pros and Cons of Custom Consoles
Pros
- Optimized for Operators: Tresco’s consoles are tailored to the specific needs of the operators in the control center, ensuring that they have the tools and features they need to perform their tasks efficiently.
- Sales Process: Sales representatives are free to learn your requirements and propose a solution that will best suit your control room; there is no backlog of manufactured products that a salesperson would need to push you into.
- Customization: Tresco’s control room consoles offer a lot more freedom to customize and personalize them with features, sizes, finish materials and colors of your choice.
Cons
- Weight: Consoles are made from robust sturdy materials to ensure they can sustain the test of time and constant use, this means they tend to be heavy and are designed to stay within their intended place in the control room.
- Infrastructure Requirements: made-to-order configurations require custom designs, highly skilled personnel, manufacturing programs, software, and sophisticated production equipment capable to adapt to every client’s requirements, all available at Tresco.
- Requirements gathering process: It’s a critical step in control room operations, due to their complex nature. It is essential that all relevant stakeholders, including sales representatives, engineers, designers, and project managers, have extensive experience in understanding the operational needs. They must be able to design a feature list that accurately optimizes workflow and maximizes the return on investment of the consoles to be built. At Tresco, we are proud to have a team of experienced, competitive, and approachable professionals who can help drive your project forward.
Pros and Cons of Pre-Configured Desks
Pros
- Simpler Manufacturing: Pre-configured desks are not designed to cater to the specific requirements of a custom control room environment. As a result, they may have simpler production and assembly lines, with less sophisticated equipment and software requirements.
- Less Skilled Designers: Less skilled designers are required to program the manufacturing equipment, which may reduce manufacturing costs.
- Packaging and Shipping: Having consistently sized and shaped end products allows the manufacturer to optimize the packaging and shipping for the product, reducing the shipping and packaging cost per unit.
Cons
- Less Optimized Solution: You will likely receive a less optimized solution for the operator/equipment that the workstations are supposed to be designed to support. In the end, your process has to adapt to the included features and designs of these desks when in reality it should be the other way around.
- Quality Reduction: Competition with other vendors with a similar business model keeps constant pressure on pre-configured console and desk manufacturers to continuously reduce their manufacturing costs to stay competitive, which may lead to a reduction in product quality over time.
- Sales Influence: Sales representatives will be trying to influence you into taking specific desk configurations and features based on their company’s manufacturing quotas.
- Customization: Less ability to customize/personalize workstations with features, sizes, shapes, finish materials and colors of your choice.
In conclusion, custom control room consoles offer a range of benefits over pre-configured desks. Their adaptability to specific requirements and fine-tuning of features can significantly enhance productivity and operator focus. Aligning the workstation with the organization’s operational needs will improve efficiency, streamline workflows, and future-proof the command center. Only custom control room consoles can achieve that.
