Detailed Facilities Management Report for Factory Operations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of facilities management within a factory setting. It begins by outlining a feasible facility management team, detailing the roles and responsibilities of each member, including electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, safety officers, technicians, and IT managers. The report then explores task delegation strategies, discussing the pros and cons of using direct labor, in-house expertise, and outsourced managing agents. It further examines essential maintenance programs, such as air filter assessments, leak checks, and lubrication schedules. The report also addresses the need for external services, like power and equipment repair, and how the FM department interacts with other departments. Additionally, it details a preventive maintenance plan and inspection plan, covering components like the blower section and automatic control systems. Finally, the report compares the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing external versus internal services, offering valuable insights into optimizing factory operations. This report is designed for students seeking a detailed understanding of facilities management.

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Facilities Management
Course name
Professor’s name
University
City, State
Date of Submission

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a. Draw a feasible Facility Management Team to manage the facility in the factory and one
of them is the AHU room above, describe their functions and responsibilities.
 Facility management is an important facet in the operations of any production or
enterprising entity. It provides and maintains services in an organization which
support and ensures effectiveness in the organization’s primary activities. The
facility management at the AHU room will include the following:
Job title Quantity Responsibilities
Electrical Engineer 1  Installation and maintenance of
control systems and power system
 Maintenance and repair of electronic
systems
Mechanical Engineer 2  Installation and maintenance of
heating and ventilation system.
 . Maintenance of the DX heating and
cooling system.
 Assessment of air filters maintaining
the air side economizer at good
working conditions.
 Maintenance of the control systems.
 Performing any other mechanical
operation as may be required.
Safety officer 3  Enacting emergency safety measures

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in case of an accident.
 Train the staff on safety.
 Ensure general security and safety at
the workplace.
Technician 3  Assist the engineers in technical
work.
Caretaker 1  Workspace control.
IT manager 1  System upgrades and security
monitoring.
b. Describe how the facilities manager will be delegating the task and responsibilities to his
team, describe with pros and cons.
 The FM manager may choose to use direct labor from the facility to perform
various facility management activities that require less expertise and skills such as
in cleaning operations. This form is cost effective. However, it cannot be used in
facility management operations where expertise is required.
 The FM manager may also keep a small team of in-house non-management
employees who will take care of operations requiring expertise. Such operations
may include mechanical and electrical engineering work as in electrical
connectivity, air conditioning, power supply, and security provision. While this
form takes care of facility management activities requiring expertise, it is
expensive.

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 FM managers are also focusing on using outsourced managing agents who may
provide the facility management services themselves or subcontract other service
providers to give the services. This form is regarded as more effective. However,
it could be expensive to use outsourced managing agent.
c. What maintenance programs allocated to the FM at this factory?
It does:
 Assessment of air filters and air side economizer and replacement of the air filters
in the air handler control unit.
 Regular checkups on the pipe connections and valves for leakages and
maintenance of the connections through tightening.
 Checking for failures of systems due to overheating and mechanical vibrations
and subsequent repairs before the failures get out of control.
 Regular cleaning to ensure the area around machines is kept in the right sanitary
conditions.
 The FM management team does lubrication of the shaft and motor bearings.
 They also ensure the coils, the evaporator drain pan, blower, and drain pipes are
kept clean.
d. What are the external services required to cater for all the equipment in the factory?
 Most equipment in the factory require a source of power to run. This may include
electricity, fuels such oil and diesel, water such as in hydraulics, and air in
pneumatic systems. Therefore, the FM department must ensure that power is
adequately supplied for the effectiveness in the factory from an external source.

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 Equipment are subject to breakdown due to various factors such as vibrations and
overheating. Such breakdowns often require skill and expertise to repair which
might not be available within the factory. Therefore the FM may depend on
external services to repair and maintain the equipment. It may also involve regular
checkups of the equipment from an experienced external technician.
e. How is the relationship of the FM department relevant to other departments in order to
get things done?
 Yiu (2008) identifies one of the roles of FM department as sourcing of
workspaces. He further says that FM department is the one tasked with sourcing
of funds from infrastructure activities. There is a great relationship between these
roles and property strategy and strategic planning. Therefore, FM department
must create extensive relationship with key management stakeholders with the
aims of constant access and sharing of information that will aid in the use of space
and also to identify the needs within a facility and subsequently propose
improvements for efficiency.
 Haas and Hansen (2010) says that in operational services the owner of the facility
is the main stakeholder. While the FM department may be tasked to take care of
various operational services such as maintenance services, the owner controls the
manner in which they are carried out. For instance, the owner sets the service
levels and modalities for monitoring of performances, the skills and FM

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competencies, and does the balancing of costs versus the value of support service.
Thus the operation is dependent on the owner’s decision.
f. Create the Preventive Maintenance Plan and Inspection Plan to cater for reactive actions.
 The maintenance system shall include the following components
o Blower section
o Duct system
o Fan section
o Filter’s section
o Motor section
o DX heating and cooling system
o Sound attenuates
o Automatic control systems
 AHU’s priority policy ensures that maintenance operations can be done at the
most appropriate time with limited expenditure. Priority shall be given as below.
o Emergencies
o Urgent appeal
o Scheduled maintenance operations and services
 The manager shall outline clear maintenance policies and procedure which shall
be reviewed annually.
 Maintenance shall include

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o Regular replacement of components
o Repairs at points of failure
o Periodic upgrades on equipment
o Lubrication
 Regular inspections will be carried out to identify failures. The techniques will
include
o Vibration monitoring
o Oil analysis
o Visual inspection
o Performance testing
o Wear and dimensional measurements
g. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of getting the external services vs the internal
services
 Use of external services helps companies focus on the core business. Most
support services may require enormous resources in terms of capital and time and
therefore by outsourcing them, the company settles on meeting its core business.
 Use of external services saves the company cost and improves efficiency by
utilizing the economies of scale. Also it reduces overhead costs as those support
functions that can be outsourced are separated from the company.
 External services provide staffing flexibility, expertise and work quality. Most
outsourcing companies have qualified manpower who understand the latest
technologies in organizations hence will enhance service delivery.

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 However, external services possess disadvantages. For instance, there is loss of
control. The host company loses the ability to instruct the workforce to perform
their duties beyond what is in the contract policies. Use of different management
policies may also affect the host company.
 Given the long procedures involved the response time may be slowed down hence
affecting operations that may require urgent attention.

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Reference List
Yiu, C.Y. (2008), “A conceptual link among facilities management, strategic management
and project management”, Facilities, Vol. 26, No.13/14, pp.501-511.
De Haas, H. and Hansen, A.P., 2010. Facilities management in a service supply chain
perspective. In Logistics and Supply Chain Management in a Globalized Economy. NOFOMA.
pp. 631-645