Why Your FM Team Needs A Strong Maintenance “Blueprint”
With O&M as the greatest expense over the lifetime of a building, the “blueprint” of your routine maintenance plan should be as thorough as your architectural blueprints. Blueprints convey lots of information about a structure. They can easily share an overview and, as you look closer, reveal the finer details that…
Is Data Security A Deterrent To FM Technology?
When it comes to implementing new technology, is “my data won’t be safe” the new “dog ate my homework”? Many facility maintenance pros aren’t convinced that building inspections data collected on a mobile device is secure. I encounter engineers who still believe paper is better, no matter what, on a…
Why Facilities Maintenance Pros Are Among America’s Best
Facilities Maintenance (FM) professionals are the life force behind the buildings that make up America’s great cities and towns. These engineers, operators, maintenance techs, and other skilled workers keep our homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, cultural centers, and all the places we live our lives running. Keeping the buildings in our…
Declutter Your Complicated PM and Work Order Systems
Frustrated by your CMMS work order or PM system? Annoyed that you have to login and remember how to use the software that’s completely overkill for simple tasks? Sick of getting hung up managing and closing tickets? You are not alone. Does this scenario sound familiar?: Go find a computer….
5 ways to improve your facility and save money
From our own backgrounds in engineering, and as we work with facilities maintenance teams across the country, we’ve learned lots of ways to run a better, more cost-effective operation. Here are a few tips that can save money and help your equipment run at its best: Keep an eye on…
Great Mentorship Helps FM Teams Fix Unexpected Problems
I spent the majority of my facility maintenance career working in a biopharmaceutical manufacturing setting. During this time, I was lucky enough to be a part of first-rate FM teams and to have experienced exceptional mentorship. The knowledge that these mentors shared inspired a sense of ownership, pride, and a…
How Routine Inspections Impact Facility Team Culture
We recently published a blog with our friends at Bright Power about how facilities maintenance teams can cultivate a good culture…and why it matters. For this post, I talked to Mike Brusic, Technical Director at Bright Power. He shared some great insights into how he’s seen culture change for the better at his client companies…
Repair vs. Replace: A cautionary tale about an old motorcycle
Are you sure you want to replace that equipment? Is it truly beyond repair? Replacing tired looking equipment when your system malfunctions or breaks down can seem like a great idea. However, with proper maintenance and maybe the addition of some modern engineering tweaks, that old equipment may be able…
Boiler Room Heroes
Who are your heroes? Ours are in basements and boiler rooms. Eighty percent of NYC’s existing buildings will still be in use in 2050. With the cost of energy increasing and the growing need for more efficient buildings to support a rising population, who is responsible for minimizing energy consumption…
Paper isn’t just a mess… it’s a liability
It’s no secret that technology is making building operations more efficient than ever. But checking boxes, filling in blank fields, and circling your selection on paper log sheets is still standard practice when performing building inspections and rounds. And it works great…right? Paper log sheets are tangible and low tech….
