Managing The Built Environment

Is the 2009 H1N1 pandemic scare good for us? Definitely.

The bad thing is that people became sick or died because of the flu, yet there are a few good things that came from this recent scare.

First, to put in in perspective, according to the Center for Disease Control, 36,000 people die in the US annually from influenza, mostly resulting from secondary problems of pneumonia and respiratory illnesses you can get when you are weak from the flu.  For another comparison, Just under 40,000 people die from automobile accidents every year in the United Stated.

So what are the good things?

Continue reading »

It 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 to use and usually web based with systems available for small to large portfolios.

It’s critical for effective Facility Management for a variety of reasons. Continue reading »

There is a simple mistake many Facility Managers (or their procurement departments) make when writing the Request For Proposal (RFP) questions for FM services. I’ve seen it time and time again, having written my share of proposal responses both for past employers and for some consulting clients, assessed procurement practices, procured FM services and helped FM clients with their evaluation process for their own procurement initiatives. As you can see, I have lots of experience with RFP questions, both good and bad.

They don’t ask the right questions. Continue reading »

I continue to talk to senior FM managers who have computerized maintenance management systems such as CAFM or CMMS installed - often installed before they arrived on the job - and they know they aren’t being used the way they are supposed to be used, if at all.

Their organizations are sold on the systems and the software consultant or vendor gets it up and running, but that’s it. Continue reading »

In the Facility and Property Management profession, I see an important ingredient  missing from many organizations - good information.

That’s information you can use to make decisions and improvements both with internally delivered services and with your suppliers.

An excellent example of the value of information, even if not directly related, is Wal-Mart. Their retail success is something that even Facility Managers can learn from. Continue reading »

FM is a complex, issues based role. I’ve learned along the way that nobody in the industry knows it all, and the best way to be successful is to leverage the knowledge and great ideas of others, including your staff, colleagues and suppliers.

Recently, I delivered a 3 day workshop on Strategic Facilities Management in Dubai. The location was spectacular, naturally, and the audience was diverse, interesting and most importantly, keenly interested in enhancing their skills and knowedge in the profession, which is quickly emerging in the Middle East.

While the 3 day workshop had many individual modules, the last session was on developing FM skills. This  included an example from my past, dating over 15 years ago from a teamwork exercise while working in the Facility Management department of a major company.

It was so compelling about the the value of teamwork, I still had the exercise booklet. Continue reading »

Some time ago, I encountered a great case study about a proxy for office productivity. A colleague had an interesting example that points to the link between the office layout, furniture, finishes and productivity. No he doesn’t have a magic formula to measuring productivity - this example uses ‘employee satisfaction’ as a proxy.  Continue reading »