The Concepts of Facilities Management
Pitt and Tucker discussed the Facilities management as with the interdisciplinary coordination of all business support services and maintenance function in the buildings such as care of offices, commercial or institutional buildings, like hospitals, hotels, office complexes, arenas, schools or convention centers and the like. Facilities management can be also defined as the integration and alignment of the non-core services, including those relating to premises. They are all required for the daily maintenance and operation of a business in helping the entire organization to achieve its mission and main goals of putting the business. ( "Performance Measurement in FM", Property Management Vol. 26 No. 4, 2008 pp. 241-254). Facilities management has been in its new developments and continuous innovations in any industry that is in accordance with the customer's expectations, as well as adding the core value of the business. ( Mudrakm, et al.)
Additionally, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) stated that FM is "a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, processes and technology." Even the European facility management association admitted that FM is "integration of processes within an organization to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities." Therefore, the scope of FM is focus on space and infrastructure of the building or office through planning, design, construction, maintenance, occupancy, furniture and fixtures and most of all cleaning programs. In this connection, the support of the facility administrative management is very essential by providing the facility staff with information technology that is based on computer-aided facility management(CAFM). Apparently, the role of FM is coincide with the roles of facility managers in the organization. Most facility managers are doing their tasks through two levels. The first one is by strategic-tactical, and the other one is by operational function. The strategic-tactical, the owners must be informed on the possible effects of the facility managers' decisions and the restrictions and conditions of the services they are going to provide to the clients as well as to the entire departments of the company. The latter type gives the facility manager a full responsibility to ensure that proper operation in all areas of the building or office are safe, well maintained, and promotes cost saving objectives for the occupants. These factors can be achieved successfully if health and occupational safety compliance is given extra consideration by the business owner together with the local, state and national laws in the business communities. Next is the industrial hygiene is also important in operating everyday the business; so as the indoor air quality ventilation for the workers. Another one is the display screen regulations as the guidelines to follow by the entire workforce; at the same time, the safety rules for contractors must be given emphasis in order to avoid any untoward incidents in the workplace. The risk assessment program, control of hazardous substances to protect the health condition of the working people are all crucial in determining the efficiency and effectivity of facility management in a particular office or building. And, the most overlooked aspect of maintaining a building is the fire safety program. Keep in mind that a proper fire safety protection measures play a vital role in maintaining business facilities that include the implementation of the fire protection and safety, installation of the smoke or heat detectors, as well as the installation of fire alarm systems, sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, dry risers, and fire stopping. On the other hand, there must be also an access control of the security guarding system in the office or building just in case, any untoward incident occurs in the work place. And to help the security department to do their task a little bit easier, the sue of CCTV system is very rampant nowadays in every commercial buildings and establishments in order to secure the total security of the occupants as well as the building facilities and the building administration too. Aside from all those mentioned aspects of facilities management, the heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration, preventive and predictive maintenance, corrective maintenance/reactive repairs, both building automation and fabric-decorative systems, grounds maintenance and horticulture, computerized maintenance management system, periodic statutory testing and inspections, lifting-working equipment, electrical systems among many others are all included in the regular maintenance of an office building or any commercial establishment.
( www.ifmashanghai.org/.../Facilities-Management)
Correspondingly, FM was only its inception in China today; the SCCA-TONGJI-RICS (Shanghai) Learning Center, organized seminars with the theme "Facilities management in China's development," The seminar was able to discuss the concepts of facilities management, as well as the distinction of the traditional property management from the analysis of facilities management in the Chinese business environment with the challengers and opportunities in the business setting. And, what facilities management can do in the daily operation of the business.
( www.ifmashanghai.org/.../Facilities-Management)
References:
(Mudrak, T., Wagenburg, A.V. and Wubben, E. (2004), “Assessing the innovative ability of FM teams: a review”, Facilities, Vol. 22 Nos 11/12, pp. 290-5). Retrieved from
www.ifmashanghai.org/.../Facilities-Management
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment