Category: Article

“Facilitopia” – A Brighter Vision for the Facility Industry

“Facilitopia” – A Brighter Vision for the Facility Industry

I am honored and excited to be this year’s keynote at NFMT in Baltimore, where I will be speaking about a topic near and dear to me – Facilities!  This passion for the industry is the impetus behind my utopian vision for facilties, that I have lovingly coined “Facilitopia”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I […]

More Than Glorified Janitors – Selling the Value of the Facility Team

More Than Glorified Janitors – Selling the Value of the Facility Team

Please do not take offense by the title of this article; I am not saying anything negative about janitors.  In fact, my intent is for us, as facility professionals, to realize the value of every team member in the facility department – from custodial and landscaping to journeymen and management – and market that value […]

Getting an A-Grade at the C-Level

Getting an A-Grade at the C-Level

As facility professionals, we are pretty good at reacting in an emergency, dealing with difficult people, figuring out how to get a square peg into a round hole, doing more with less, and many other challenges that fly at us daily.  However, the one key area where programs fail or struggle time and time again […]

Maintenance Management Systems: Managing the Business of Facilities

Maintenance Management Systems: Managing the Business of Facilities

A robust, easy-to-use maintenance management system that grows with the facility program is a necessity for any facility department. Here’s how to get it right. Maintenance management systems come under many names. Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), computer-aided facility management (CAFM) systems, integrated work management systems (IWMS), and even enterprise asset planning and resource management […]

Mobile Technology Offers Efficiency for FMs

Mobile Technology Offers Efficiency for FMs

Possibly more so than any other technology, going mobile has made facility staff’s job easier and more efficient. Here are the benefits of mobile facility technology. Possibly the most significant advance, in terms of its impact on facility staff, is the shift from paper and pagers to handheld tablets and smartphones. The power that facility […]

Understand the BAS’s Role in Facilities Management

Understand the BAS’s Role in Facilities Management

The facility management industry has seen significant gains occurring in technology in the past few decades. One example is the migration from work orders tracked on a dry erase board to online service request submissions that auto-assign to appropriate craft or contractors while providing fluid feedback to the customer. Or consider the intricate pneumatic control […]

Low-Hanging Green Fruit – Cost-Effective Ways O&M Can Save Energy

Low-Hanging Green Fruit – Cost-Effective Ways O&M Can Save Energy

For the past decade or two, the latest and greatest advances in design methodologies and sustainable products have garnered much of the attention and headlines.  However, with my stint in the energy arena, I was continually perplexed by the millions of dollars expended on technologically-advanced energy conservation projects, while ripe, low-hanging green fruit dangled untouched […]

Emergency Preparedness – A Plan for Failure…

Emergency Preparedness – A Plan for Failure…

While much of our corporate focus is on catastrophic events that grab headlines, such as active shooters and major storms, not much attention is given to the incidents that affect facilities on a routine basis.  Not to minimize the tragedies that result from such events, as we should all remain vigilant in preparation and prevention, […]

FAQs of CMMS

FAQs of CMMS

As discussed in the November/December 2017 issue, Make It Click, FM technology has grown by leaps and bounds the past few decades.  Maintenance management systems, such as Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Integrated Work Management System (IWMS), are no exception.  However, when it comes to these applications, many facility professionals are unsure whether or […]

Getting an A-Grade at the C-Level

Getting an A-Grade at the C-Level

The most prominent struggle for facility organizations is soliciting the resources needed to advance the FM program and to improve aging buildings.  To assist with this endeavor, FM360 created the pneumonic “C-SUITE” to help facility managers sell their value and to earn an A-Grade at the C-Level. C – Collect Data The first step in […]