M10_Major

•
Themes of Ar. Don G. De Vera
• AR 138-2
Facility • FACILITY MANAGEMENT
Management • MITL
 • The cost of ownership.

Major There are initial and ongoing costs to the

Themes of ownership of facilities. These have been
documented repeatedly by the National
Facility Academy of Sciences.
Management Management must understand and provide
for those costs, from planning through
disposal.
Major
• Life-cycle costs.
Themes of
Facility As a general rule, all economic analyses and
Management comparisons should be based on life-cycle
costs. Bad decisions are often made when
only capital or initial costs are considered.
Major • Integration of services.
Themes of
• Good management means integrating
Facility different facility services
Management • (e.g., design and operations).
Major • Design for operations, maintenance, and
Themes of sustainability.

Facility • Operators and maintainers, even if they are

Management contractors, must be actively involved in the
design review process.
Major
• Delegated responsibility.
Themes of
Facility • In large organizations, FM functions should
Management be grouped into budget programs, with a
manager responsible and accountable for
each.
 • Cost-effectiveness.
Major
Themes of • The key is to identify and compare costs with
Facility meaningful benchmarking partners, and
make those comparisons regularly over time.
Management
Major • Efficiency improvement.
Themes of
• Efficiency should be judged constantly
Facility through comparators, user feedback, and
Management management-by-walking-around.
Major • Quality of life.

Themes of
• The facility manager must actively promote
Facility and protect the employees’ quality of life. A
Management safe workplace is the minimum; a workplace
where the facility promotes individual and
group productivity should be the goal.
 • Integration of elements.

Major • The facility manager is the company’s expert

Themes of on facilities (the place), on those factors that
determine the success of work (the process),
Facility on the analysis and documentation of those
Management factors and systems (the technology), on the
employees (the people), and on how they all
come together.
Major
• Redundancy and flexibility.
Themes of
Facility • Because the nature of this work is always
Management partly reactive, the facility manager must
build flexibility into the facilities, the
organization, and departmental procedures.
 • Facilities as assets.

The facilities should be viewed as a valued

Major asset (not just on the organization’s books)
that contributes in numerous ways to the
Themes of company mission. If this concept is sold to
Facility management, then the rest of the mission
automatically becomes easier.
Management There is growing evidence that employees are
judging employers on the quality of the
facilities; this may make this argument easier.
Major • Facility management as a business function.

Themes of
The facilities deserve to be managed in a
Facility businesslike manner. Facilities must be
Management developed in parallel with the organization’s
business and aligned and planned to the same
degree.
Major • Facility management as a continuum, from
Themes of planning through disposal. It is not a series
of discrete projects.
Facility
Management •
 • Service.
Facility management provides only one product—service
Major support. The
nature of FM is likely to emphasize control and compliance,
Themes of whereas it should

Facility demonstrate flexibility and service. This is particularly true

in the public sector.
Management A quality program is based on how service is perceived by
the customer,
and this perception must be sought in multiple ways. A
successful service program
depends on long-term relationships and commitment at all
levels.
 • Contracting. A facility manager must be an
Major agile procurer of services. Traditional
contracting methods are often subject to poor
Themes of service, unsatisfactory performance, higher
Facility costs through change orders, and poor
contractor–facility manager cooperation.
Management Contracting should be ethical and
performance-based, and emphasize
partnership and equity for all parties.
 • Exhibit 1depicts the life cycle of any facility requirement. The only
variables are space and complexity. For smaller facility departments,
the landlord meets all or most of its space, build-out, operations,
maintenance, and repair needs through terms agreed on in the lease.
In owned facilities (normally associated with larger facility
departments), functions like design, construction, or alterations may
The Facility be done by outsiders, but control resides with the facility manager.

Management • Eventually a facility is occupied, operated, maintained, and repaired.

Sometimes it is altered for use beyond its original intent. (Adaptive
Life Cycle reuse has been popular in the revitalization of urban areas where, for
example, old warehouses have been converted into trendy condos or
apartments.)

• A facility is probably evaluated several times during its lifetime. Does

it fit its original intent? Is it worth renovating? Is an upgrade
economical? Such evaluations may lead to renewed life through
alteration or to a decision to dispose of the facility through sale or
demolition. Gerald Davis at the International Centre for Facilities has
FACILITY
MANAGEMENT
LIFE CYCLE
EXHIBIT 1