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Building Maintenance Management andTechnology

The development of technology has presentedbuilding maintenance professionals with newchoices for addressing facilities management.

But before purchasing new technologies or EAM/

CMMS software, there are several factors facilitymanagers really need to consider in order map outhow they are going to address their issues. One ofthese issues, the question of hidden costs, came up ata recent event, aptly named theBuilding and FacilityMaintenance Show, in Florida. The show had severalinteresting technologies exhibits/demonstrations.The one common theme the vendors pushed wasthe need for preventive maintenance for facilityassets. It was sort of surprising because the ven-dors pushing new technologies such as vibration

analysis or infrared thermal scanning understoodthat predictive maintenance (Pdm) was part of thegreater umbrella of preventive maintenance.

Multiple Solutions

Too often I read or hear that time-based preventivemaintenance is a dying methodology, usually from

people trying to promote a specic maintenancemanagement software or from people not able to seea bigger picture that preventive maintenance is not

just time-based. However, every facility is unique

in its own regard. The size, cost and complexity ofassets vary greatly. As a result is it rare that onlyone maintenance solution is applicable in any orall facilities. For example, high value equipmentsuch as boilers or chillers certainly have a need foradvanced technology to detect issues before they re-sult in catastrophic failures. On the other hand, thissame equipment also requires regular scheduledinspections and preventive maintenance work tomaintain optimal operating/energy efciencies or toidentify issues not being detected by sensing equip-

ment. The early visual detection of corrosion, roofdebris or excessive condensation are other examplesofthe need for timely inspections.

By instituting a work order/maintenance solu-tion, Best-In-Class enterprises have effectivelybeen able to track, monitor and act on variouswork orders that plaque the modern facilitiesmanagement team. Aberdeen Research hasfound that enterprises utilizing this systemhave achieved a 25% lower cost to process asingle work order.

Source:The Aberdeen Group December 2009

Most facilities usually have lower value assetssomewhere such as small motors, ofce equipment,smaller HVAC units, plumbing/piping as well as otherassets whose value is somewhere between throwaway when broken or x as needed. For this typeof equipment, new technology detection systemsmay not be economically feasible. However, if usingan EAM/CMMS the useful lifecycle of these assets

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Building Maintenance Management and Technology

can be extended by a little regularly scheduled TLC.After all, the object of any maintenance solution isto better manage the asset lifecycle.

The Cost of Change

The challenge for any vendor selling to maintenancemanagement is to show enough value so that thedecision maker can justify an out of pocket expense

to either begin a new program or replace an existingmaintenance management policy. Therefore is cri-tical to be able to demonstrate that the technologybeing purchased will save them enough money tocover the immediate out of pocket costs as well asthe inherent cost of change. The cost of change in-cludes but us not limited to:

Lossofproductivityuntilnewmethodsarefullyadopted. New technologies or anew CMMS software system look great on

paper. The reality is system implementationtakes time stretching out the time it takesto see the desired ROI. Standard operatingprocedures must be developed, benchmarksmust be established. Management time isoften unaccounted for in the calculation ofexpenses. Employeeturnover,lossofknowledgebase,dragons. People are naturally resis-tant to change. Some maintenance teammembers will walk away, some will be vocalopponents (dragons). It is critical to slay thedragons early to achieve the needed adop-tion rates because all employee turnovercontains a cost to replace, recruit or retrain.In addition, staff turnover may result in anunwanted loss of maintenance know-how. Integrationwithotherpreventivemain -tenanceprograms.Will the new techno-logy play nice with existing maintenanceprograms? It would be great if that newinfrared scanner could integrate its ndingsdirectly into a web-based CMMS. If not, will

facilities maintenance personnel be requi-red to perform rounds with multiple hand-held devices or will results be delayed untilthe information is brought back to the oceto be manually uploaded?

Applying New Technologies

It is important to note that some of the new techno-

logy can have widespread applications. The semi-nar put on byFLIR Systems, Inc. demonstrated howinfrared cameras can be used for everything fromdetecting gas/steam leaks at a plant to detecting heatsignatures of mold growing in an apartment com-plex. Their video below was made for building andhome inspection but should catch the attention ofproperty managers as well as manufacturing plants.

When applying new technologies to building main-tenance management it is important to rememberthe end game of increasing eciencies, loweringMRO expenses, maximizing uptime and extendingthe useful asset lifecycle. There are tools available tohelp you do this. AnEnterprise Asset Management(EAM) system is the tool of choice for many opera-tions. An EAM/CMMS promotes the management

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of assets from conception through retirement bytracking work requests, scheduling work ordersand reporting preventive maintenance tasks ingreat detail. Implementation can also accommo-date new technologies. For example, schedulinginfrared inspections or contract management ofvibration equipment.

How does your organization integrate technology

for maintenance management?

If you liked this article you may also enjoy reading

EAM CMMS, predictive maintenance, preventivemaintenance

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