Quality in Facilities and Services

By Prof. K.R.Ramana

Introduction:
Facility Management in India is gaining momentum day by day. In todays busy schedule where all are striving hard in a family to earn the maximum, you have least time left for household chores like gardening and landscaping, lawn management, waste management, Facility Mngt. - general electrical maintenance, garbage collection, security services, home pest control system, periphery services, building maintenance etc., So for this purpose, you need to know Facility Managers or Home Managers who take care of your household work with full responsibility and zeal. Facility Management companies offer an entire range of services, both engineering and non- engineering, such as maintenance of lifts, pumps, generators, sewage treatment plants etc. Most people are ready to dole out cash for full and timely comfort. In view of all the above, out sourcing continues to play a major role in streamlining corporate business. More and more new service companies are appearing, offering services that present Facilities Managers to understand the Customers requirement to provide quality service and enhance customer satisfaction. It is up to Facility Managers to think, plan act and communicate in an entrepreneurial fashion. Implementing defined strategies and structures to increase quality and productivity in facility operations and maintenance and add value to enterprise takes a significant long term commitments. Quality in Facility Management is an influential facility information management system. It provides the capability to manage all of our facilities, It is the Administration of buildings and Services. Services are divided into Hard and Soft services. All services required for the management of Buildings to maintain and increase the value of quality services.

Quality Strategies for facility operation and Maintenance

What is Facility Management? 1. Definition provided by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA)

A profession that encompasses multiple discipline to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology

2. As per the British Standard Institute of facility Management Facilities Management is the integration of multidisciplinary activities with in the built environment and the management of their impact upon people and the work place. 3. In todays world the customers expectations in the area of quality service is very high. All the above requirements can be meticulously accomplished through an established Quality Management System. Quality Management is a co-ordinated activities to direct and control an organizations with regards to quality. 4. One of the simplest and easiest way is to adopt PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) to provide quality in facilities and services. This is one of tools for Best planning Best doing Best checking and also to take corrective measures to improve the services.

By adopting the above tool:

a. Facility Management Focuses on the process necessary for the - Planning and Development of new facilities. - Maintaining and operating mature facilities sustainability. b. A wide variety of Management concept to the adopted for customer satisfaction. Facility planning. Facility Economics. Documented Facility Management Systems and training the staff. Optimal maintenance management. a. Preventive maintenance b. Breakdown Maintenance Reliability of facility systems. Assets valuation and utilization

The task is not that easy to provide quality services unless the total activities are broken down in to macro or micro level activities depending up on the situation and develop documented work procedures for each activity.

Salient areas for Facilities managers development group (FMDG) to provide quality services to customers are: 1. Resource Management: Staffing. Personal Management. Evaluation of mix of staff, consultants and contractors. Providing required Training and also training in the areas of Multiskilling for optimizing the Man power requirement. 2. Directing: - Work scheduling. - Work co-ordination. - Policy and procedure development. 3. Controlling: - Work reception. - Standards establishment. - Policy and procedures execution. 4. Evaluations: - Critical list preparation. - Post occupancy evaluations. - Contractor evaluation (for Outsourced activities against the written down procedures) 5. Space Planning, Allocation and Management: Space Allocation. Space inventory.

- Space Forecasting. - Space Management. 5. Work place planning, Allocation and Management: - Work place planning. - Work place Design. - Furniture specification. - Equipment specification. 6. Operation, Maintenance and Repairs: - Exterior Maintenance. Preventive and Breakdown Maintenance. Ground Maintenance. Road Maintenance. Pest Control. Hazardous waste Management.

7. Tele Communications: - Operation. - Maintenance. - Central voice operation. - Network Management. - Internet Facility. 8. Security and life safety Management: - Code compliance. Operation. Criminal Investigation.

9.

General Administrative Services: Food Services.

- Reprographics. - Mail and Messenger Management. - Transportation and Medical facilities. - Property disposal. - Procurement. - Health and fitness programme Management. - Occupants manual for Dos and Donts. It is extremely essential under the Quality in Facilities and Services in other areas also: 1. Water, Electricity, Sewerage. 2. Street lighting, Air Conditioning 3. Parks, shopping and Recreation. 4. Temples, masks and churches. 5. Drinking water confidence reports. 6. Energy saving system. 7. Manual for building usage safety, load for water, Electricity and load bearing areas. 8. Campus master plan display at major locations. 9. Water recycling plant facility. 10. Payent of water, Electricity and phone billing facilities. 11. Reading room and library facilities. 12. Providing fire extinguishers and training to Occupants to use the same in case of Utilities service guide/phone Directory with all emergency contact numbers.

emergencies.13

Five key Aspects of Quality Facility Management: Quality facility management helps us, 1. Surpass customers performance expectations and recover effectively from the most damaging mistakes. 2. even

5.

Provide quality facility management without implementing a formal Total Quality Management (TQM) programme. 3. Accurately measure critical aspects of your operations and act effectively on that feed back. 4. Device a facility marketing plan that enhances your departments image with customers and Top Management. Introduce a programme of continual Quality improvement into effect through: - Leadership and Involvement of customers (occupants) - Staff Training and skill improvement - Vender Collaborations and other proven means.

QUALITY IN FACILITIES AND SERVICES BY Prof. K.R.Ramana