UNDERSTANDING FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT AS A
TOOL FOR ENHANCEMENT OF
PRODUCTIVITY AND COST
REDUCTION IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR
ORGANISATIONS
The importance of facilities management
to effective operation of public and private sector is now widely accepted
globally hence the dedication of today as the world Facilities Management day -to
create awareness of the contribution of the Facilities Management services to national
economies.
There is a considerable lack of
consensus regarding the origin of Facilities Management. Some authorities traced the origin of
Facilities Management to an era of scientific management and the subsequent explosion
in office administration in early 1900s.
The main catalyst in the 1960s towards Facilities Management was the
introduction of computers in the workplace.
The energy crisis in the 1970s brought home the importance of cost-in-use
and the need to better manage costs associated with premises that support the
organisation’s business.
Facilities Management as a term may have
been coined in 1964 by one of the originators of the concept, Ross Perot. He used the term ‘computer facilities
management’ to describe the maintenance of his client’s computer system.
Herman Miller, an office furniture
manufacturer brought together a group of knowledge property users and advisers
in about 1979, who understood the importance of space planning and value of
space, and who could consequently understand the relevance of the permutations
which could be contrived from his new furniture systems. Very quickly this group established itself as
the Facilities Management Institute (FMI) and it is the Facilities Management Institute
that is generally credited with the coming of the term ‘Facilities Management’.
The Facilities Management Institute,
then was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1979 as an offshoot of parent
company Herman Miller Inc. The aim was
to establish and advance Facilities Management as a new management science and
professional activity. Facilities Management
Institute laid the groundwork for organisational recognition of the importance
of facilities in corporate strategic planning.
A year later, in 1980, the National
Facilities Management Association (NFMA) came into existence, born of the need
to create independence from Herman Miller’s Facilities Management Institute. National Facilities Management Association
very quickly evolved into the International Facility Management Association
(IFMA). The author and Mr. Adeoye of Mobil
(Nigeria) were among the first Nigerians to be listed in International Facility
Management Association directory of 1996 as professional facilities managers.
By 1993, the British Institute of
Facilities Management (BIFM) was formed through the merger of the Association
of Facilities Managers (AFM) and the Institute of Facilities Management (IFM).Facilities
Management later spread to other parts of Europe, far East and Nigeria in mid
1990s via International Facility Management Association.
The term ‘Facilities Management’ is
often applied to a whole range of activities from janitorial services to
equipment maintenance. College of Estate
Management defines: ‘Facilities Management as the active management,
integration and coordination of an organisation’s business support services,
together with associated human resources; and its buildings, including their
system plants IT equipment, filing and furniture and to assist the organisation
achieve its strategic objectives’.
Facilities Management can encompass
operational, tactical and strategic levels. Operational issues concern day to
day management of facilities and focus on maintenance and repair, security,
building services, etc.Tactical issues concern customisation and planning, and
focus on understanding the needs of the organisation in terms of facility
support and implementation solutions that add value. It embodies management of processes and
coordination of efforts to deliver facilities which reflect the organisation’s
needs.The strategic issues attempt to predict organisational direction and
provide integrated solutions. Facilities
Management is defined here as a high-level management activity, in concert with
the strategic planning of the organisation, and with access to or participation
in key decision-making processes. By
establishing a correlation between key business drivers and space drivers, the
facility manager’s function becomes strategic with the ability to provide
influential predictions about future costs and their potential impact on
profitability.
Facilities Management has an important
business support roles which contribute to aspects of business such as risk
management, productivity, recruitment and retention, maximising the value of
capital investment in assets, managing the cost of facilities and addressing
corporate responsibilities issues such as environmental sustainability and
climate change. Thus, it is in the best
interest of organisations, both public and private, to embrace facilities
management as important business support function that provides facilities
solutions to satisfy business needs.
The core competencies of facilities
management identified by British Institute of Facilities Management include the
following:
·
Business
Strategy
·
Risk
Management
·
People
Management
·
Negotiating
·
Management
of FM processes
·
Financial
Management
·
Support
Services Management
·
Information
Technology
·
Relevant
Legislation
·
Space
Management
·
Environmental
Issues
·
Interfacing
with Specialists
·
Facilities
Strategy
·
Org.
Behaviour/Structure
·
Communicating
·
Procurement
·
Quality
Management
·
Property
Portfolio mgt.
·
Managing
Building Services
·
Managing
building maintenance
·
Research,
survey & Analysis
·
Property
& Assets Registers
·
Insights
into Building Design
·
Project
Management
However, the above 24 core competencies
can be distilled into the following six categories:
·
Understanding
the business/organisation
·
Managing
people
·
Managing
premises
·
Managing
services
·
Managing
the working environment
·
Management
resources.
The International Facility Management
Association classification of Facilities Management roles and responsibilities
is shown below:
Maintenance
Operations
·
Furniture
maintenance
·
Finishes
maintenance
·
Preventive
maintenance
·
Breakdown
maintenance
·
Exterior
maintenance
·
Custodial/housekeeping
·
Landscape
maintenance
Administrative
Services
·
Corporate
artwork
·
Mail
services
·
Shipping/receiving
·
Records
retention
·
Security
·
Telecommunication
·
Copy
services
Space
Management
·
Space
inventory
·
Space
policies
·
Space
allocation
·
Forecasting
needs
·
Furniture
purchase
·
Furniture
specifications
·
Furniture
inventory
·
Interior
plans
·
Furniture
moves
·
Major
redesign
·
Trash/solid
waste
·
Hazardous
materials
Architectural/Engineering
Services
·
Code
compliance
·
Construction
management
·
Building
systems
·
Architectural
design
Real
Estate
·
Building
leases
·
Site
selection
·
Acquisition/disposal
·
Building
purchases
·
Property
appraisals
·
Subleasing
Facility
Planning
·
Operating
plans
·
Emergency
plans
·
Strategic
plans
·
Energy
planning
Financial
Planning
·
Operational
budgets
·
Capital
budgets
·
Major
financing
Health
and Safety
·
Ergonomics
·
Energy
management
·
Indoor
air quality
·
Recycling
program
·
Emissions
According to International Facility Management
Association, the scope of Facilities Management covers real estate, planning,
budgeting space management interior planning and installations, architecture,
engineering services, building maintenance and operation.
Based on our experience, the core of
facilities management can be considered as the management of three key related
aspect of organisation facilities – asset (the business of managing assets) the
workspace (the business of space) and support services (the business of
managing services) Fundamental changes in FM market have resulted in shifts in
the management approach and focus. The
facilities asset management focus has changed from being maintenance driven to
portfolio life-cycle management; the workplace management from provision of
services to enabling the workplace; facilities service management from managing
transactions to managing relationship.
Facilities management can enhance
productivity through provision of appropriate workspace, technology and
physical environment. Facilities
Managers may be used to drive workplace wellness initiatives which seeks to
increase employee health, safety and well-being through prevention, recognition
and assistance.Workplace wellness programmes reduces workplace related stress,
accidents, absenteeism and health care cost.
Other benefits include enhancement of performance and productivity,
improved attitudes and self-awareness and better customer service.
The business environment of both public
and private sector dictates the changes in the size and configuration of
facilities portfolio based on the dynamics of demand and supply, the prevailing
economic conditions which influence the supply of capital for investment and
sustainability of operating cost.
Over the past thirty-five years
Facilities Management has become one of the fastest growing professional
disciplines as a result of the impact of IT on building and organisations and
the way they work, accelerating rate of change in global competition and more
knowledge and demanding users. The
global financial crises in recent times has also forced most organisations to
optimise their scarce resources to meet business objectives.
Since the establishment of International
Facility Management Association (IFMA) and British Institute of Facility
Management (BIFM), the global Facilities Management market has grown. In the U.K, Facilities Management sector is
seen as one of the largest contributors to the economy with market size of GBP
110.1billion and projected to hit £172.2billion in 2017. Facilities Management market in U.S.A is valued
at USD413.1billion, the Middle East Facilities Management market is valued more
than $9billion and the Nigeria Facilities Management market is valued less than
$1bllion. By value, the outsourced Facilities Management continues to dominate
the sector with more than 65% of the market value. In Australia, Facilities Management is one of
the fastest growing and diversifying industries. The annual national investment of Facilities
Management contributes more than 4% to GDP and there are more than 404,000
people working in Facilities Management service industries in Australia.
The Nigerian public sector is a major
owner and user of facilities as a platform for the delivery of services to the
community. Health, education, judiciary,
defence and petroleum sectors alone account for significant portion of the
public sector portfolio. Governments at
various levels spend trillions of Naira in maintenance and operation of their
facilities and in most cases handled by in-house Facilities Management staff
that lack the competencies and capacity to provide sound facilities solutions. Because of these glaring short comings, there
is need for governments to optimise utilisation of their facilities and improve
their management in pursuit of organisational cost efficiencies and in response
to the challenges of constraints on capital funding opportunities to meet the
growth in service demand and job creation.
Outsourcing has been an acceptable way
of providing cost effective services for organisations, therefore outsourcing
of public sector Facilities Management services to competent Facilities
Management companies will reduce operating and maintenance cost of these
assets, enhance the quality of the work environment and the productivity of
employees. The proposed outsourcing will
lead to no job loss rather there will be enhanced capacity building. For example, the existing senior in-house
Facilities Management employees will be retained to play the role of the client
intelligent functions with the sponsorship.
The Intelligent Client Functions (ICF) is the key to successful
facilities management. The scope of
intelligent client functions include:
·
Understanding
and specifying service performance requirements;
·
Risk
management;
·
Managing
implementation of contracting out;
·
Agreeing
on monitoring standards;
·
Managing
service providers;
·
Benchmarking
the performance of contracted out services;
·
Surveying
internal and external customers for satisfactions with services;
·
Providing
relevant management reports to customers;
·
Reviewing
service level/requirements to ensure they still meet customers’ needs.
The junior in-house Facilities
Management employees will be absorbed by the outsourcing firms and retrained.
For the proposed outsourcing to be
successful and achieve its key objectives of reducing cost and contributing to
the core business efficiency, selecting the right Facilities Management outsourcing
provides for organisation (public or private) is very important process. The following factors should be considered:
·
Facilities
Management solution providers must register and rated by the Bureau for Public
Procurement;
·
Only
Facilities Management solution providers with single source capacity (i.e. they
can deliver all the different elements of facilities management solutions
(Total Facilities Management approach) should be considered;
·
Only
Facilities Management companies with industry specific knowledge, experience
and process orientation should tender for Facilities Management outsourcing
jobs.
The function of Facilities Management is
to add value and minimise operating cost.
Therefore both public and private sector organisations should outsource
their Facilities Management services to competent and professional Facilities
Management solution providers. This
allows the client organisations to retain strategic control over facilities
management and budgeting; have leaner structures, reduce operating cost and
improve productivity through workplace wellness.
By Malik
Egbunike: FNIVS,
FIoD, CBIFM
Principal Consultant, Ora Egbunike and Associates
