Category: Facilities Management

Facility managers are accountable for a wide variety of duties, all of which require crucial skills and measured judgment. That why you want to ensure you hire the right manager to handle this daunting task. Below are some credentials to look for when hiring a FM.

Technological Vision

Facility managers have a lot of tasks—and sometimes disasters–thrown at them all day, every day. Many of these challenges demand inventive, resourceful answers. If you want to sustain and build an innovative workplace, you’ll want to look for a FM who can think on their feet, as well as outside the box.

Certifications

Facility Management Certifications are quality, respected designations that can help you find the right FM candidate. They:

• Confirm a candidate has the necessary core competencies
• Show his or her drive to improve and grow as a facility manager
• Show competency for managing many types of spaces and industry sectors

A good facility manager also needs to structure your space to facilitate worker productivity. This might mean removing physical barriers and re-arranging office furniture, or even finding ways to admit more natural light.

Although you might not have realized it, the responsibilities of a facilities manager are vital to your company’s success. Make sure that whoever you put in this position is a meticulous and flexible employee.

Want to know more about the proper credentials for your next facility manager? Call MaintenX today!

Are you handling your inventory efficiently? Most companies have a lot of areas to improve on. By following inventory management best practices, you can achieve an accurate and effective inventory year after year. Here’s how.

Create Inventory KPIs

Inventory KPIs measure your performance in a specific area over a defined interval of time. They add deductive reasoning to your goals so that you can better meet them.

KPIs to focus on:

• Inventory storage costs
• Inventory write-offs
• Rate of inventory turnover

Inventory Software

Conducting inventory management by hand can be a time-consuming task. Making use of inventory software is a smarter inventory management method. It can also profoundly increase efficiency and productivity.

With inventory software, you can:

• Track and trace stock levels
• Quickly look up product details
• Make edits that automatically sync across systems and devices

Automated Inventory

Maintaining accurate counts of inventory while reducing the time spent moving and counting items around the warehouse will save you headaches. Inventory automation can play a vital role in this endeavor.

A smartphone or handheld device can scan barcoded inventory items as they move in and out of inventory, eliminating the need for paper records.

Investing in the new wave of inventory management solutions can ensure that your business has the power to succeed by showing your inventory as well as the openings to reduce cost and improve inventory management processes.

Your workforce is your most treasured asset, so you want to make sure your employees do their best work. But many business owners don’t have the right tools immediately at their disposal to make the best decisions about the what’s, where’s, who’s, and when’s of an expansive and ever-changing workplace. That’s why many businesses are using workplace analytics to get the edge on the competition.

But what is workplace analytics?

Microsoft’s Answer to Common Business Problems

Workplace Analytics is a program that uses data from everyday work you and your staff do in Office 365 to identify the various patterns and trends that impact your company’s productivity, as well as your workforce’s efficiency.

Maximize Workforce Value

Use data from everyday work in Office 365 (emails, meetings, collaboration, communications trends, etc.) to see what challenges your company faces, time spent on focused work, high after-hours workload, and more. Combine these insights with customizable survey results to discover relationships between work patterns and team strength indicators to get a better picture of what works—and what doesn’t—in your organization.

Powerful Analytics Information

Everyone’s different. That’s why employees function at their best in different situations and at different times. One person may be at peak performance during the day shift, but then their productivity drops dramatically when they work at night.

In agile, cooperative work environments, work times can be calibrated to fit individual needs and strengths.

Workforce analytics allows you to see past a “problem employee” that isn’t working well in a group or at a certain time, and then pair them with a team that better suits their personality, strengths, and collaborative skills.

By making a work environment that adapts to the needs of the individual worker AND the company as a whole, your business can work smarter and more productively.

Utility vehicles hold a special position in a company’s fleet: they can work on rough terrain, transport people, and work, both inside a facility and out in the world.

You want the best for your business, but you also want a price you can afford. Here’s a look at what to consider when purchasing your next utility vehicle.

Get the Right Vehicle for The Job at Hand

Think about engine size; more power is sometimes unnecessary. If you don’t need a lot of horse power, then a smaller—and possibly cheaper—vehicle might work better for you.

Remember that horsepower equals more fuel consumption which means higher expenses for your business. Don’t get more than you need.

Look at the Customization Options

With all the options available in today’s utility vehicle marketplace, you can personalize your vehicle or fleet of vehicles to your business’s exact needs. Whether you need puncture-resistant tires, an overhauled drivetrain, customized door fittings, or an amplified long-range CB radio or satellite imaging compatibility, your solution is out there.

Safety First

Most available models of commercial utility vehicles come equipped with a roll-over protection system (ROPS). Be sure to ask about other safety features each utility vehicle offers.

When it comes to commercial utility vehicles, you’ve got a lot of options. That’s why you should take time to consider them all before adding one to your fleet.

Construction documents are essential to any building project. Because of their significance in the building process, it is very important that each project has stringent, organized document procedures.

We’ll go through some helpful ideas to keep your construction portfolio in tip-top shape.

Accessibility

Easy access to information ensures that all staff know the schedule and stay informed. The easiest method to do this is to use software like Google Drive that allows groups to view and edit all relevant documents remotely. This makes the construction process go a lot more smoothly.

Keep Staff in the Loop

Most existing document managing software will routinely alert you when pertinent changes are made to your documents.

Storage

Using one system across the board is the easiest option for file storage. If you do decide to go the digital route, you must make sure that ALL documents are stored in the same place. If you have some physical documents and some digital ones, it can become a nightmare down the road.

Document control isn’t something to take lightly, but a little bit of preparation goes a long way. If you do your homework and look at all available options, you’ll find the solution that works best for your project. This way, everything will be in one place and accessible to everyone who needs to be in the know.

Efficiency is vital in any facility. If everything isn’t in good working order, it can mean a big loss for your company over time. That’s why it’s important to have a comprehensive facility audit checklist, and to perform audits regularly.

Below are some tips for creating the perfect checklist for your facility’s next audit.

What’s Involved?

To ensure a comprehensive facility audit, you must plan strategically. A combination of both short-term and long-term planning is your best bet.

A good facility audit checklist is comprehensive. It will usually include the following:

• Land and permanent structures
• Buildings
• Facility systems
• Equipment
• Roads
• Parking facilities
• Fences
• Utility systems
• Trees, landscaping structures, lawns, etc.

Energy Usage

Energy use and utility costs are huge expenses for most facilities. That’s why it’s a good idea to include this metric in your facility audit regimen. Track this information over time and then respond accordingly to help curb costs.

Some ways to limit energy usage include:

• Installing motion-sensor lighting
• Installing energy efficient light bulbs like LEDs
• Turning off power strips at the end of the workday or when not in use
• Upgrading older appliances and general office equipment as needed

Securing your Security

The last thing you want is a break-in at your facility because you forgot to put this item on your checklist. A simple security system inspection doesn’t take much time and can thwart a would-be thief or arsonist.

Almost all systems, equipment, and assets within a facility need regular inspection and maintenance in order to work efficiently and consistently. That’s why a comprehensive audit plan is so important.

Want to know more about facility audits? Call the experts at MaintenX today!

Many business owners are beginning to take advantage of data to give them important insights into their operational decisions. Using analytics can improve service delivery while providing for more effective resource distribution. To get this helpful information, data analysis often uses multiple sets of data, of variable sizes and contexts. Below we will highlight some of the important facets of data analytics and how it can help your facilities work smarter.

Importance of Data Analytics

Considering the ever-increasing complexity of systems in today’s facilities, regular maintenance is crucial. Some of the main challenges facing facility managers are:

• Ineffective energy metrics
• Incongruent systems
• Lack of reliable energy management systems
• Inability to track system performance

These challenges can damage a facility’s operational efficiency. But using data metrics can foresee problems that traditional maintenance methods miss.

How it Works

Data analytics is the answer to many problems facilities face. Decision-making is simpler when utilizing data collected through such metrics as:

• Internal or customer surveys
• Smart meters
• IT networks
• Occupant behavior

Detecting Future Equipment or System Failure

Data analytics can forecast systems in need of maintenance before a problem even arises. With the help of integrated systems within a facility, disaster can be averted, and costly repairs and downtime can be avoided altogether.

Managing Facility Performance

By utilizing the power of data, many complex and intricate systems can be viewed in a simple, transparent way. For example, any facility manager will tell you that energy usage is not a constant, easily trackable metric.

But facilities that utilize smart sensors and/or smart meters can give you access to data while automatically suggesting solutions. These smart sensor systems allow facilities to shift non-essential power to non-peak hours, saving money while keeping your facility at peak efficiency.

Want to know more about how data can help your facility work more efficiently? Call MaintenX today!

As a business owner or facility manager, it’s vital to do regular facility and safety audits to ensure a comfortable and healthy environment for staff along with code compliance. Although it may seem daunting, it isn’t difficult to do a successful facilities audit, but it does take a bit of preparation.

Below are a few helpful tips to make sure your facilities audit goes off without a hitch.

Know What Needs Inspecting

When you’re conducting a facility audit, you must first have your inventory checklist with all pertinent equipment and systems. Every facility is different, but the list usually includes things like:

• HVAC system
• Electrical system
• Septic and plumbing
• Doors and windows
• Structural integrity
• Outdoor structures, including parking lots, sidewalks, trees, and fences
• Roof and building exterior

Keeping a regular record of the health of all of these systems and structures will help you to determine the life cycles of each part of your facility. By providing you with the necessary information, an audit should be relatively easy to compete.

HVAC System

Your HVAC system does a lot of hard work year-round. That’s why a professional should carefully inspect your HVAC system to determine its quality and effectiveness and whether it requires any repairs to pass inspection. If you’ve kept up your regular maintenance, this part should be a breeze.

Want to know more about facility audits? Contact the professionals at MaintenX today!