Category: Facilities Management

Let’s face it; construction projects are expensive, confusing, and difficult to properly budget and keep on schedule. Because a such projects are always changing, any construction project will need people with real-world knowledge about working with different types of teams to meet the project’s goals. Below are some tips to get you started.

Details, Details, Details

Getting all the information in order is the foundation for a successful construction project. With proper background you can predict possible risks, foresee problems, and plan efficiently.

Create milestones that you can actually track over the construction timeline. Make sure everyone involved with the building work knows local, state, and federal building and material codes.

Communication is Key

Good communication is important in any construction project. It can vastly improve teamwork and group cohesion and create a baseline for streamlined collaboration across the board.

Contingency Plans

There are a lot of things that can slow down a building project. Carefully go over your timeline and predict which potential risks could get you off schedule. Crafting contingency plans that can easily be executed will go a long way in mitigating and resolving setbacks before they rear their ugly heads.

With the high workload and stress involved with any construction project, good planning and measurable goals will keep you on track. Hiring experienced contractors, staying aware of all aspects of your project, and keeping a watchful eye on meeting milestone deadlines will help get you to project planning success.

When the weather warms, it’s time to start your summer facility maintenance tasks. Getting a head start on facility cleaning is a smart and proactive move in protecting and beautifying your facility. A clean, well-maintained facility increases the health and happiness of the people in it. Take a look at these areas to help you review your maintenance program for the coming year.

HVAC Maintenance

In the summer heat, your HVAC system does its hardest work. This can cause your HVAC system to fail, especially if the right precautions aren’t taken. To make sure your system is ready to handle summer, follow these simple steps:

• Check HVAC condenser and evaporator coils to ensure they are clean
• Do a full system inspection and check the refrigerant system for leaks
• Change the filter (A simple monthly filter change can reduce your energy bill by 15%!)
• Inspect and clear the drain ducts and pans

Maintain Unused Spaces

Summer can mean reduced occupancy and empty spaces in your facility. Make sure to check underused areas for leaks, mold, infestations, and any other problems. It can be easy for a problem to go unnoticed in areas where people don’t go for weeks or months.

This is also the perfect opportunity to move furniture, clean carpets, floors and any other items that are difficult when the area is full of workers.

The right facility services partner can take care of all these tasks and more—efficiently and cost effectively. Contact MaintenX today to see how we can help you with your summer facility management and maintenance!

Facility Maintenance is a process of managing and maintaining the facilities of a business or other organization. ‘Facilities’ can include things like a building, physical resources at the site, and any mechanical or electrical utilities that need maintenance to ensure the health and happiness of the people who work within the organization.

Facility maintenance should be a big part of your organization’s structure and planning for the future, but it’s frequently a low priority for many firms. Why is facility maintenance so important? Let’s explore.

Smooth Sailing

Facilities maintenance teams exist to make sure all the facilities in an organization:

• are compliant with health and safety codes and regulations
• are accessible by those with disabilities
• are equipped with fire prevention methods and emergency exit plans
• have effective waste disposal and control of hazardous substances
• have ample and well-maintained parking space.

Preventative Maintenance

Regular mechanical and electrical repairs along with property maintenance are also part of the services a well-staffed facilities team can provide. If an organization wishes to keep its competitive advantage and its employees working at peak performance, it must first have a maintenance team, and second, involve them in its decision making process.

Benefits of Facility Maintenance:

• Creates cost-effective working processes
• Streamlines working processes by using IT systems and applications
• Facilitates management of buildings, people, and assets
• Increases the overall efficiency of an organization
• Maintains compliance with local, state, and federal health and safety codes

Want to know more about how facility maintenance? Contact MaintenX today!

Facility Management is not the easiest of professions, not only because of how much a FM needs to know, but also because of the frequent lack of available data. As we bring value to our companies, we must also share the information and skills we have learned with our fellow FMs, as well as those looking to make Facility Management their profession in the future. Here are some tips we’ve picked up along the way.

Analytical Skills

Facility Managers deal with many kinds of information and often have to analyze this information to make decisions. People in this field are also responsible for reviewing company procedures and guidelines and analyzing them to find ways to improve business and facility efficiency.

Communication Skills

Communicating effectively and efficiently is a valuable skill to have in many sectors, but in Facility Management it is a critical one. Facility managers must often talk with their employees and contractors to make sure everything is completed on time and in an efficient and effective manner. They must be able to clearly explain their role and get along with their coworkers, employees, and contractors.

Facility management is a very important feature of every business. When someone is in charge of managing the safety and maintenance of the building and equipment of a business, safety and well-being for all increases substantially, while the number of repairs, costs and injuries go down. To learn more about facility maintenance, call MaintenX at (855) 751- 0075.

Predictive maintenance techniques and practices are designed specifically to define the state of equipment to calculate when maintenance should be done. This approach is different from preventative maintenance because tasks are performed only when needed.

The benefit of predictive maintenance is that it allows for simple scheduling of corrective maintenance, while preventing equipment failure. The idea is “the right information at the right time”. Other advantages include prolonged equipment life, increased safety, fewer accidents, and optimized equipment operation.

Uses of Predictive Maintenance

There are many uses for predictive maintenance in a wide variety of industries, including:

– Locating potential overloads in electrical panels

– Recording increased temperatures within electrical panels to prevent component failures

– Detecting drops in temperatures that could indicate a pressure leak

Today, advantages of predictive maintenance are accepted in many industries, including:

– Increased component operational life and availability

– Allows for preemptive corrective actions

– Results in decrease in equipment and/or process downtime

– Lowers costs for parts and labor

– Provides better product quality

– Improves worker and environmental safety

– Raises worker morale

– Increases energy savings

Disadvantages

– Increases investment in diagnostic equipment

– Increases investment in staff training

– Money-savings potential is readily seen by management

Though predictive maintenance is an enticing idea for many companies, its implementation isn’t always successful. The main reason for this is usually a general lack of planning and/or management support, which is important to any successful program.

Want to get help for your maintenance programs? Learn about the solution that will make your life easier at MaintenX!

Public facilities are designated for functions related to the health and well-being of the people in a specific area.

So, public services and facilities have a big impact on the quality of life residents and others enjoy while using them. Quality public services are key elements for a sustainable community mad can reduce crime while increasing general community safety.

Facility Maintenance maintains public facilities like:

– parks

– recreational facilities

– swimming pools

– office buildings

– warehouses

– libraries

– park irrigation systems

– lighted trail systems

– parking lots

– bridges

– tunnels

– stairways

– overpasses

The work groups which form a public maintenance force are comprised of carpenters, electricians, and plumbers who perform maintenance work, such as graffiti removal, on public properties.

Facility Maintenance handles repair requests and performs scheduled preventative maintenance. The range of building maintenance includes:

– lock and keys

– door and window replacement and repair

– structural framing and repair

– drywall repair

– painting

– plumbing

– heating and cooling

– lighting

– emergency generator operation

– electrical problems

– etc.

Public Facilities is usually managed by a Facility Management team usually led by a Facility Manager or a Director of Facility Management. For large institutions, usually, there is an additional team which works directly with the client and their representatives.

Who uses Public Facilities?

Many public institutions take advantage of Public Facilities’ services, like:

– Schools

– Hospitals

– Roads

– Railways

– Libraries

– Post Offices

– Courthouses

– Parks

– Government Administrative Offices

– Prisons

– Local

Public Facilities Management has a broad scope and is very important to the health and safety of communities.

Different businesses have different facility needs. You may have an office, many offices, a floor, or ten floors within a single building. Some buildings may be found in an urban setting or freestanding in a suburban or rural area.

No matter how you cut it, the facility is the physical place where your business activities are conducted, and it needs to be maintained so your business will run smoothly. So make a facilities management plan that meets the needs and demands of your specific building and business, and designate someone qualified to implement that plan. Enter the Facilities Manager.

Facilities Manager Responsibilities

Facility Managers have a lot on their plate. Their duties include:

– Monitoring the efficiency of an organization

– Ensuring that the business receives maximum value for its facility-related expenditures

– Procuring real estate, leasing (or facility construction, renovation, and relocation)

– Monitoring all aspects of the facility maintenance so that the business can operate at highest capacity.

– Tracking and responding to environmental, health, safety and security regulations.

– Anticipating future facility needs in areas as diverse as lighting, new space for expanded assembly lines, – and automation.

– Educating the workforce about standards and procedures.

Cost Savings:

Cost—short and long-term—is one of the biggest factors in any company’s decision-making process. The largest cost a company will face, apart from labor, is occupancy, so it makes sense that someone should manage those costs professionally to prevent money from slipping through the cracks.

Do you need a facility manager?

The decision to hire a facility manager is determined by the stage of growth and productivity of your staff and overall business. But it is something you should seriously consider. It can end up saving you and your company a lot of money while increasing efficiency.

Facility Management encompasses numerous strategies to ensure the functionality of a building by integrating people, process, and technology.

Professional Facility Management as a business function has the objective of coordinating facilities and the services offered or needed within a public and private organization.

Facility Managers are busy people, and sometimes that gets in the way of other necessary actions. They can sometimes neglect the fundamentals while chasing a new trend.

Usually a Facility Manager’s role can be split into two areas: ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ services. The hard  services are about the actual structure of a building and its systems like:

– Building fabric maintenance

– HVAC repair and maintenance

– Ensuring proper operations and efficiency

– Safeguarding workers

– Meeting safety and building codes and government regulations

– Decoration & furniture refurbishment

– Elevator and escalator maintenance

– Fire safety system maintenance

– Plumbing & drainage maintenance

– Minor project management

– Overseeing remodeling projects

Soft services include:

– Cleaning

– Recycling

– Security

– Pest control

– Grounds maintenance

– Waste disposal

– Internal plants

In addition, a FM must be in charge of tracking and responding to environmental, health, safety and security regulations, anticipating future facility needs in areas as diverse as fluorescent lights, new space for expanded assembly lines, automation, and wiring for new computer networks.

Facility Management is a critical part of any organization’s day-to-day operations, assisting in its core business by providing a safe and effective environment in which to operate.

Facility Management encompasses methods and practices of building management and infrastructure management. It integrates people, places, processes, and various technologies to keep the physical side of a company running smoothly, allowing it to focus on its business.

The Facility Management services market has entered a high maturity phase, owing to an increasing awareness with end-users, though the market will continue to grow fairly steadily. High infrastructure development has led to increased demand for more specialized vendors who have the skill to operate in both technical and non-technical functions within a given business.  

There is a growing recognition that facility management contributes to the health and well-being of the employees, customers, and clients who work within their buildings, thus increasing efficiency, happiness, productivity, and profitability—key aspects of any business’s bottom line.

Ever-changing work styles have significantly affected both employee behavior and the vacancy rate of buildings, which affects how buildings operate. Facility Management continues to face the many challenges that come from open office environments, increasingly open work schedules and hours of operation, and shifting occupancy rates.

These trends, however, don’t stand alone as influencers of Facility Management, but they have strong connections to it. The most successful Facility Managers will be those who can proactively meet the challenges of current trends while not getting lost in the process.