Capital funding is always an issue in facilities, with Facility managers constantly fighting for replacement and renewal funding for their buildings, competing for funds needed elsewhere within the company. I’ve seen many FM’s struggle at this, yet I have seen it being done by others with great success. I worked with a charity to set…
DetailsI see a trend when talking with senior facility and property professionals about their processes and systems. The trend is a lack of visibility into crucial aspects of their costs and activities.
I’m not a big fan of the ‘rule of thumb’ for anything except to point you in the right direction. It’s more important to understand the underlying reasons for the rule so when you break it, you do it right. One of those rules of thumbs is recapitalization or capital renewal. The figure of 1-2%…
DetailsThe introduction of space planning strategies such as open plan workspace, modular cubicles, reduction of enclosed offices and hotelling were designed to save costs, both on the space and the inevitable churn. In an effort to sell these concepts to the corporations and their workers, they came with the promise of improved productivity. This productivity…
DetailsI recently visited a facility for a meeting and my experience demonstrated why you need a good capital plan and adequate funding. At the facility, I had to park in their multi-level above ground parking facility, which was really the only choice unless you wanted a long walk. It was so busy, I ended up…
DetailsI’ll be delivering a short seminar on Managing Performance at the upcoming International Maintenance Excellence Conference on September 9, 2009. The title is “Do you want Better Results? Don’t Just Measure Performance, Manage It!”
DetailsFailure isn’t an option when managing critical facilities. Preventing failure is one of your primary responsibilities, which you ensure with a robust design, plenty of backup systems and extremely well managed operations. This applies to obvious facilities such as data centers, but also to facilities such as manufacturing, hospitals and other high reliability operations. Managing…
DetailsWebinar originally held live March 28, 2012. Duration: 30 Minutes. Lifecycle costing analysis is a decision making tool Facility Managers should use, but seldom do. It’s actually a lot easier to do than many think. Forget about the long, tedious, technical and financial explanations and examples you’ve seen in textbooks. This webinar will show you…
DetailsI recently had a chance to visit a building I used to manage as part of a portfolio a while ago. I’ve moved away from the area but a client meeting brought me back to the city. It’s a 1 Million sq.ft. building opened in 1972 as a corporate office for Bell Canada. Combined with…
DetailsIt isn’t your mother’s CMMS. These days, CMMS isn’t simply a computerized maintenance management system meant to replace a paper based planning and work order system. Modern systems include both preventive and corrective / demand based maintenance and requests received from occupants on a variety of maintenance and service issues. They are flexible, adaptable, easy…
DetailsIn my Webinar on Information Based Decisions (see the link below), I spoke about getting and using information for your benefit. While you need an FM system and should work towards getting approval and implementing one, if you already have one, the question is whether you use it for information, not just process management. Whether…
DetailsThe best way for Facility Managers to get ahead is to keep on top of the latest issues, solutions, technologies and processes. The internet has made it much easier to access information, with the availability of content from magazines, online portals and blogs. But finding good resources isn’t always easy, since the internet can be…
DetailsA while back, when I was managing a large telecommunications portfolio, I got a call from a very irate customer – a senior manager in the company. It seems there was a large puddle of dried paint on the walkway leading to the front door of the building he worked in. That’s bad enough. But…
DetailsManaging facilities often includes managing the physical assets. But getting into a system is often daunting, particularly for smaller portfolios. Unfortunately, without a way to manage the assets, you won’t have the information you need to make decisions about repair vs replace or information to justify your budget requirements. You are also much more likely…
DetailsThere are certain realities with implementing an IWMS / CAFM / CMMS system. I find that the right process is critical to success and is often overlooked. Here is what I recommend in a nutshell:
