Sustainable Facilities Management will require a fundamental change in mindset.
Even though tools and services are readily available to consistently deliver quality, on time and on budget repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build outcomes, real property owners and facilities management professionals have yet to adopt system thinking.
What is system thinking? – Simple, it’s the process of considering the whole and how the all the associated parts, people, actions, resources interrelate, and discovering ways of improvement.
Why does it matter? – The application of system thinking to facilities management (FM) and the AECOO sector, and associated tools and support processes, can consistently ensure the delivery of quality, sustainable outcomes, on time and on budget. (AECOO = Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owners, Operators)
What are the barriers? – System thinking requires a fundamental change in mindset for current AECOO players. While the following may sound like “common sense”, the philosophies and concepts are rarely practiced. Care of People. – Innovation and improvement require that traditional adversaries find common ground. We all know that traditional planning, procurement, and project delivery practices are adversarial, and broken, yet we fail to address this basic issue. Owners must lead a change in mindset and provide a consistently safe, welcoming, and collaborative environment. Everyone involved also must enable those doing the work, those with hands-on knowledge, to contribute to solutions in innovative ways.
Focus must shift from constantly seeking technology as a solution to the root cause of the AECOO sector’s problem, a bad process.
Examples of FM and construction philosophies, concepts, and tools that leverage system thinking? Lifecycle total cost of ownership (TCO) asset management, Alliance Contracting, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), and LEAN Job Order Contracting all embody system thinking. While the degree to which these and other practices maximize the benefits of system thinking varies widely based upon actual implementation, significant, measurable benefit can be realized if ALL the following criteria are met. Total cost savings of 30%-40%, on time, on budget quality delivery, and satisfaction of all involved participants and stakeholders are just a few of benefits.
- Real property owner leadership, accountability, and commitment
- Multi-party, long term agreement with an integral operation manual and/or execution guide that clearly communicates roles, responsibilities, deliverables, processes, workflows, quantitative performance metrics, and shared risks/rewards.
- Integrated internal and external planning, procurement, and project delivery teams that communicate and collaborate on an early and ongoing basis.
- A common data environment (CDE) inclusive of 1. A common written set of terms and definitions using industry standards without confusing acronyms or abbreviations, and 2. a granular, line time construction task listing that is both locally researched, current, and organized using a standard data architecture (examples: expanded CSI Masterformat, expanded Uniformat).
- Mandatory initial and ongoing training for all participants.
Even though tools and services are readily available to consistently deliver quality, on time and on budget repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build outcomes, real property owners and facilities management professionals have yet to adopt system thinking. Until this occurs, sustainable facilities management solutions will remain on the shelf.
Time for real change?
via Four BT, LLC – www.4bt.us Sustainable FM solutions