Xempla

Category: Operations & Maintenance

  • 3 Effective ways to empower Operations and Maintenance teams at asset management

    3 Effective ways to empower Operations and Maintenance teams at asset management

    Remember the time when Apple launched the ‘assistive touch’ feature in IOS 5? How was life before that? How many steps did you have to go through to open a certain application? And all of a sudden that little circle gave so much control to your thumb. If you look back, you would realize it was the single feature that literally changed the way we use touch screen phones and further differentiated the iPhone from others. And if you wonder why it became so successful? That is because it was thoughtfully designed to eliminate complex multiple tasks and do more with a single touch.

    Now if I ask you to pinpoint the feature that changed the way we look at the asset performance management software or energy management application, would you be able to do that? I know there are some fabulous workplace management applications (CAFM/CMMS) available that are designed considering the psyche of the user. But when it comes to subsets like asset performance management or energy management we are still revolving around outdated dashboard-centric applications. It’s not just about the design and features, but the way insights have been delivered to the operator.

    (Well even switching to new CAFM/CMMS is not that easy. This article on taking that leap might help you select the ideal one for your need and get you prepared all things that matters)

    Ideally, an asset performance management software provides a window into the complex O&M data. They enable O&M teams to cut through the noise of data overload and focus on a subset of metrics that help them make better decisions. They are more than just a fancy pie chart and a drop-down menu of parameters placed in ascending / descending order. But unfortunately, that is very rare to find.

    If we want to list down the traits of an ideal asset performance management software / application that O&M teams would love to use, then it should be as bellow:

    Make them feel at home:

    One of the main reasons why most of the applications failed to impress the shop floor workforce is because they make them feel vulnerable around it. They feel that the application will highlight their shortcomings and they would have to face the consequences. Instead of that, if it could complement a technician’s work by providing a clear call to actions on upcoming opportunities and improvement and focus on progress then it could create harmony between them and improve the adoption rate. It should help them to make informed decisions and avoid problems before they occur.    

    Helps them to be more productive:

    If we look into an ideal day in the life of an O&M manager, we realize that they spend much of their time on inspecting the assets and planning for maintenance. If we are somehow able to bring order into the tasks then it would help them to schedule their day in advance. Also, automate dat-to-day repetitive tasks that consume most of their time. Organising and prioritising tasks are only going to help them in the future as we move towards performance-based contracts.

    Provides access to data and insights on demand:

    An ideal asset performance management software should be able to help operators reach the depth of the insights, may it be a holistic view of all of his key assets, the historical performance of the particular asset or data on performance changes since the last maintenance, etc. Graphs and indicators are good to convey the status of the operations while the system generated alerts and notifications provided the context and next set of actions.   

    So whether you are planning to buy an asset performance management (APM) software for your O&M team, make sure to take a trial and decide based on these factors for longevity and successful implementation.

    If you are already using APM software then let us know where it stands on these 3 aspects. If you have any suggestions or want us to talk to our facility management team on what’s inevitable in digital transformation, then feel free to write to us.

  • Why Predictive Maintenance is Gaining Popularity in FM

    Why Predictive Maintenance is Gaining Popularity in FM

    Is your approach to facility management largely focused on planning, scheduling, and assigning maintenance tasks at regular, fixed intervals? This approach, called planned preventive maintenance, is still widely used at most facilities. However, in order to further maximise equipment uptime and utilisation rates, many facilities are switching to a newer, more data-driven style of maintenance – predictive maintenance (PdM).

    To put things in perspective, the global market for predictive maintenance was valued at $9.15 billion in 2023. The market is now set to grow at a CAGR of 24.2% from 2023 to 2033 and is expected to reach a whopping $79.9 billion by 2033!

    The first in a series of four, this article covers:

    • the basics of predictive maintenance, 
    • how it differs from its more traditional counterpart (preventive maintenance),
    • some scenarios where it is becoming popular among facilities today, 
    • how it improves the bottom line for businesses, and
    • some questions for you to decide if it’s right for your facility

    What is Predictive Maintenance?

    As the name suggests, predictive maintenance is a “forward-looking” maintenance strategy designed to predict when an asset needs to be fixed, replaced or when any corrective action needs to be taken to optimise asset performance. Also known as condition-based maintenance, it involves the use of sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics and other smart building technologies to monitor the condition of assets during day-to-day operations and schedule maintenance before the asset breaks down. 

    Predictive maintenance has been around in the industrial world since the early 1990s, but its implementation is still fairly low in comparison to more traditional methods like preventive and reactive maintenance. When utilised timely and correctly, PdM can help facilities increase efficiency and productivity, while allowing asset lifespan to be maximised and maintenance costs to reduce over time. 

    Preventive vs. Predictive Maintenance – What’s the Difference?

    Predictive maintenance and preventive maintenance are both proactive approaches, but work toward the same goal of keeping facility assets in best working condition in different ways.

    Preventive maintenance is maintenance that takes place on a regular basis irrespective of asset conditions. On the other hand, predictive maintenance is carried out only when it’s needed, depending on asset conditions.

    Preventive maintenance is primarily performed on the basis of time-sensitive triggers (i.e. weekly, monthly, or annually), or on the basis of usage (i.e. after every 100 times used).

    A downfall of preventive maintenance is that it may lead to doing too much maintenance on an equipment. It relies on the assumption that consistent checking will uncover any faults and give you enough time to correct them before they cause failure. Alternatively, predictive maintenance allows maintenance frequency to be much lower, and at the most convenient and most cost-efficient moment, before the equipment has been compromised. 

    3 scenarios where predictive maintenance (PdM) is gaining popularity
    1. Facilities are spread across different geographical locations

    Consider a provider of commercial refrigeration storage units to food retailers across the country. Under a preventive maintenance program, workers would be dispatched on a regular basis to inspect the units. This method ignores the potential of anything going wrong in between scheduled visits. In this case, the costs could be high, with emergency repairs, food waste, and lost revenue during downtime bearing heavily on the business .

    Under a predictive maintenance program, all units would be fitted with IoT sensors to measure various aspects of their operation, including humidity levels, compressor vibrations, temperature, etc. With real time data analytics indicating when a component is likely to malfunction, a maintenance technician can be dispatched to rectify the problem before it even occurs.

    1. Facilities have pieces of equipment that are critical in nature or belong to a high-risk industry

    Not all pieces of equipment and systems are equally critical to a facility’s operations. Highly critical assets often impact organisational safety, compliance with regulation, cost, or regular business functionality. Failure of these assets can result in major setbacks.

    An offshore oil platform, for example, is a high-risk facility that has a number of critical production assets such as heat exchangers, pumps, and compressors. If a problem emerges with any of these assets between routine preventative maintenance inspections, output could be halted permanently, or worker safety could be compromised. Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, allows you to detect any anomalies in the performance of these critical assets and instantly alerts you to an impending failure. 

    1. Asset owners want a more cost-effective approach to maintenance

    Early detection of equipment faults provides a number of advantages. These include reducing downtime, preventing last-minute emergency repairs, and prolonging the usable life of your equipment. So, for asset owners looking to save money for the company, PdM is a better option than preventive maintenance. 

    Predictive maintenance can also increase productivity, and eliminate as much as 30% of all time-based preventive maintenance tasks. Preventive maintenance can sometimes accelerate failure of asset components, since disassembling and/or reassembling can potentially increase the probability of a future breakdown. This becomes especially critical in situations where downtime can be disastrous, product/service delivery quality is at stake, and machinery replacement costs are extremely high.

    Does predictive maintenance really pay off?

    According to Gartner, decision automation in the form of predictive maintenance will offer the most business value for heavy asset enterprises.

    A report by Deloitte confirms that, on average, predictive maintenance improves productivity by 25%, and slashes maintenance planning time by 20-50%. It also reduces equipment breakdowns by 70% and increases equipment uptime by 10-20%. 

    Further, research from the US Department of Energy shows that a successful predictive maintenance program can result in a 10 times increase in ROI, a 25-30% reduction in maintenance costs, and a 35-45% reduction in downtime.

    Is predictive maintenance the right choice for your facility?

    Predictive maintenance requires significant investment in terms of capital, technology, and personnel training. While these investments may appear intimidating to a company, the ROI on PdM typically transcends any initial costs. To decide if it is the right choice for you, ask yourself the following questions:

    • What is the estimated value of my facility assets or equipment?
    • Are the assets critical to business operations and continuity?
    • What do past records reflect in terms of downtime, faults, losses, and potential safety hazards?
    • Is my company currently able to afford or invest in predictive maintenance technologies or experts?

    If your answers to these questions match the three scenarios we discussed in this article, you should focus on implementing a predictive maintenance software for asset management at your facility.

    Want to read more on predictive maintenance? Head over to the next article in this series!

  • Five High Priority Industries that Benefit from Predictive Maintenance

    Five High Priority Industries that Benefit from Predictive Maintenance

    This article is the 2nd instalment of a 4-part series on predictive maintenance.

    An ideal world would be one where we would need to carry out the least amount of maintenance to maximise asset performance and uptime. But how can we know when it’s time to execute that maintenance?

    Predictive maintenance provides an answer. Predictive maintenance isn’t new, but with technologies such as real-time condition monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), analytics, and cloud platforms, there’s a lot more advancement and accuracy in predictions of asset failure and providing recommendations for corrective actions. Predictive maintenance software for asset management has shown outstanding results.

    When it comes to verifying the value of a maintenance or asset management program, learning from industry examples is the next best thing to conducting your own proof of value trial. Predictive maintenance can drive big gains in a variety of industry sectors. Companies in every industry are striving to increase reliability at their facilities by testing and investing in novel approaches to optimise their assets. Listed below are five high priority industries that benefit from predictive maintenance, including real-world examples: 

    Five Industries that benefit from predictive maintenance
    1. Manufacturing

    The most prominent industry tied to predictive maintenance is the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing operations almost exclusively rely on heavy assets and machinery, and the scope of malfunctions is enormous. Big manufacturers can lose an average of $22k every minute when operations become paralyzed due to asset failure. 

    With the rise of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and other technologies of Industry 4.0, asset maintenance in manufacturing is becoming more predictive and automated. The industry has cut substantial costs by eliminating avoidable reactive maintenance and improving asset performance. 

    Predictive maintenance examples in the manufacturing industry:

    Using predictive maintenance, Canadian pulp and paper manufacturer Mercer Celgar achieved a striking reduction in equipment failures from 50 per year to 5 per year. In addition, they reduced their pump replacements from 123 in 2007 to 15 in 2018. 

    Alumina manufacturer Noranda Alumina LLC, Los Angeles, United States realized a 60% decline in bearing replacements since implementing a predictive maintenance program in 2019. This saved the company approximately $900,000 in bearing purchases and costly downtime.

    1. Food & beverage 

    The market for food and beverage processing equipment was valued at USD 58.3 billion in 2021, and it’s expected to touch USD 76 billion in 2026. As the demand for healthy functional foods and beverages grows, the industry will require more advanced processing and storage equipment. Food and drink storage facilities also have to tackle stringent regulatory standards and maintenance challenges related to safety and hygiene.  

    Enter predictive maintenance technology. With proper monitoring of critical equipment such as refrigeration, air handling and purifying units, it could analyse the temperature and vibration to alert the staff when maintenance would be needed. Any potential issue would be addressed before it caused downtime, lost supplies, or, most critically, a threat to customer health and safety.

    Predictive maintenance example in the food and beverage industry:

    Food and beverage company Frito-Lay reduced planned downtime to 0.75% and unplanned downtime to 2.88% by introducing a robust program of predictive maintenance technologies. The technology assisted in preventing the failure of a PC combustion blower motor, which could have resulted in the indefinite shutdown of the entire potato chip department.

    1. Power & energy

    Another industry where predictive maintenance delivers big gains is power and energy. What makes predictive maintenance in this industry so crucial is the fact that its continuous functioning powers entire cities and nations, and any equipment failure can halt economic activity at a very large scale. 

    Detecting problems and fixing them ahead of time lowers inspection costs, protects the energy sector from huge expenses on repairing/replacing assets, and strengthens worker safety by improving equipment reliability. 

    Predictive maintenance examples in the power and energy industry:

    According to GlobalData’s research, Duke Energy, a large power provider in the United States, used predictive maintenance and asset optimization to deal with cost overruns involving wind turbines and other equipment.

    European electric utility company E.ON leveraged technology that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to notify potential failures prior to their occurrence.

    The same research pointed out that predictive maintenance is instrumental in alleviating serious issues such as leading-edge erosion (LEE) of wind turbines that can decrease annual energy production by upto 5%.

    1. IT & Digital Infrastructure

    Almost every service we use today is dependent on computer hardware, from government agencies and hospitals to data centres that run the financial sector and IT technology that controls navigation and telecommunications. It’s easy to see how a protracted period of service outage or data loss may result in a massive disaster affecting millions of people. Fortunately, predictive maintenance is one of the methods for lowering the chances of this ever occurring.

    The financial consequences of data centre outages are enormous. For every hour of downtime, businesses lose an average of $138,000 in revenue. To put this in context, every second Amazon.com goes down, Amazon stands to lose $1,104! 

    Predictive maintenance example in the IT industry: 

    A project at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Grid data centre currently placed at the INFN-CNAF research institute in Bologna, Italy is incorporating predictive maintenance technology to keep computing systems optimal, increase operational efficiency and reduce costs.

    1. Buildings

    Buildings can benefit greatly from the implementation of predictive maintenance software. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) is an excellent candidate for predictive maintenance inside a building as equipment failure can cause severe problems and costs. Condition-based monitoring of critical components such as compressors, fans and motors in real time can detect anomalies and maintenance can be performed before a problem occurs.

    Predictive maintenance examples in the buildings industry: 

    Commercial real estate maintenance company Enertiv said predictive maintenance reduced costs by an estimated 25%, with a 50% reduction in major equipment failures and extension of equipment life from 20% to 36%.

    According to Knight Frank, a predictive maintenance program was conducted at a 29-storied office building in Australia that incurred routine maintenance costs between $95,000 and $190,000 a year. An extra $50,000 to $120,000 were spent on building repairs. The program involved just the building’s HVAC system, but it resulted in savings of $16,742 in operating costs and $32,300 in repair costs per year.

    Read the first article in this series to see why predictive maintenance is gaining popularity among building and facility managers. 

    Do you belong to any of the five industries we mentioned above? Have you employed predictive maintenance at your facilities yet? There are many more industries where asset management initiatives like predictive maintenance can drive cost savings for your business. Schedule a call with us to learn more.  

  • Workflow automation – defining ideal flow for asset management

    Workflow automation – defining ideal flow for asset management

    What comes to mind when one comes across a workflow management application for facility management? It should be a customer-facing application for creating support tickets, managing work orders, centralizing all work requests on a central platform for quick access, etc. Well, It’s all true but not complete. The concept is not new to the FM industry in fact, workflow automation software have been in use in IT, banking, and SaaS-based firms for a long time and they have been using it to streamline their external as well as internal processes.

    Workflow automation puts critical functions of the facility management on autopilot mode,  It simplifies complex procedures which include condition-based Maintenance/Monitoring into a set of chain actions reducing human intervention.   For example, if an air handling unit’s fan is taking more current than expected value (statistically driven calculation) then it will alert the operator to check the filter or take appropriate action. 

    However, when it comes to asset management or maintenance schedules, we have rarely explored the possibilities and opportunities of asset-based workflow automation for the operations and maintenance team. It’s far from a crude concept of managing a maintenance calendar or setting up an alert on an asset set point condition. 

    The current state of FM automation software

    Nowadays, facility management teams have multiple options to build their technology stack that includes data collection sensors, processing, and cloud storage and finally, the user interface application for visualization and reporting either for O&M teams or the tenants. Teams can choose asset performance management software and CMMs/CAFM from the different vendors and work with both of them simultaneously. 

    But then are few challenges there,

    • Obviously, the level of integration and inter-application communication can be challenging as both the applications would want to build their own set of modules for critical functions.
    • The functionality of creating a ‘trigger then, that’ condition can be limited and only applies to a fixed set of assets.       
    • Takes a lot of time to set up and synchronize different applications at a new site. A user would usually need to create ‘If conditions’ from the scratch.

    With all these limitations, It becomes very difficult to pinpoint an Ideal application or software that has overcome these. But in a true sense if we want to define a set of functionalities that can be exhibited in workflow automation software specifically for managing the asset performance then it should be comprehensive for all asset class and logic types.

    Ideal Workflow:

    In terms of steps, It should look like this

    1. The O&M engineer or facility manager can log in to the application and select the asset on which we would like to set up a condition. So there would be a list of assets available for consideration.
    2. Select the condition based trigger template from the library.  Once the asset has been selected he can choose the list of parameters he would like to track for the desired condition. at the same time, he would also set up a condition/ trigger /logic for the same. (ideally, the user should have ready-made libraries to select the condition template so that can easily select the appropriate) 
    3. The next step would be selecting a time-frequency he would want the logic to run or scan the data, for example, check the inlet airflow once in every 10 min and trigger if the system finds an outlier when another logic also satisfies.      
    4. The fourth step would be to choose a medium for notification/alerts to appear as the O&M team might be using other CAFM or CMMS application. This is where the pre-configured integration would come into the picture as an operator would receive the notification in his CAFM application’s inbox or his preferred communication medium such as slack, WhatsApp ore even Microsoft teams.
    5. Closing the loop: this would be the last step once an operator receives a notification he also gets the recommendation to take corrective action so that he does not need to go back to his data bank/ BMS for rechecking. 

    In this entire process, an application can achieve four critical functionalities or could be considered as benefits to the facility manager.   

    1. It streamlines complex conditions that are otherwise difficult to track manually. An O&M operator can not monitor every asset parameter all the time even on operator-specific dashboards. Such an application can set up multiple ‘If-then’ conditions and notify on every desired stage.
    2. Since there is no manual intervention chances of errors and delay are very low. The facility manager can maintain transparency in asset performance monitoring.  
    3. Inter application communication: This is perhaps a very important and critical aspect for uninterrupted operations. As we are moving ahead to the multi-family technology stack it becomes a crucial part of managing data/ insight flow on different platforms/applications without losing the gist. This gives the ability to complete the loop from a different application. 
    4. Ready to use templates: user can save his setup condition or flow in a template library so that he can apply the same flow to other assets. This is also a useful feature to a first time user at a new facility as he gets the list of ready to use templates to set up a flow.   

    In terms of savings, facility management teams can save a lot of time and effort of the operators and engineers by automating critical functions. By scanning, segmenting, and filtering all the asset and operations-related data, workflow automation software lets FM teams focus on implementing insights.

    Now, wouldn’t that be an interesting value proposition to have all the benefits in a single application? What’s your experience with workflow automation software before? Anything else that you would like to see in it?
    Share your thoughts with us.

  • Are FMs prepared for proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the UK?

    Are FMs prepared for proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the UK?

    Energy neutrality and net-zero carbon emissions have been high on the global agenda for developed countries. This has resulted in an explosion of net-zero commitments, both from governments and corporations. Previously in one of our articles, we have covered how the govt of the UK has been planning to standardize its buildings stock by introducing a performance-based policy framework. In addition, there was another announcement related to the energy efficiency of the Commercial building at the same time.   

    On 17th March 2021, The UK government has launched a consultation on the proposed framework to implement tighter minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) for privately rented non-domestic buildings in England and Wales to reach a long-term target of having an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of B by 2030. 

    MEES was first introduced by the Energy Efficiency Regulations in March 2015 and has been in place since April 2018. The EPC framework was used to rate private properties based on their energy efficiency. 

    What has changed?  

    The UK Government is now asking commercial buildings to increase their energy efficiency commitment in order to help achieve its ambitious goals of at least a 20% reduction in business energy use by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions in the UK by 2050. Facilities that meet the higher EPC rating will be exempt from the heavy financial penalty and be able to get into new leases.

    Currently, landlords are prohibited from granting new leases (including renewals and extensions) for non-domestic privately rented properties with an EPC rating below E. same will be applicable to the existing leases from 1 April 2023, making it an offense to continue to let a commercial space with an F or G EPC rating even in the middle of a lease term.

    As per the new consultation proposals (subject to some exceptions) landlords will need to present a valid EPC by 1 April 2025 and then will have until 1 April 2027 to improve the building to at least an EPC rating of C. Landlords will then need to repeat the process by providing a valid EPC by 1 April 2028 and subsequently ensure that by 1 April 2030 the building has improved to at least an EPC rating of B.

    Simply put, buildings that previously had to improve their energy efficiency rating up to E must now improve it to C and B within a shorter period of time. 

    The economical and environmental perspective behind higher MEES rating

    For now, MEES is mandatory for privately-owned leased buildings that have a lease period of 6 months to 99 years. Although some types of buildings are exempt from the obligations for now, sooner or later they will come under one of the categories, and property owners will have to comply with the rule. 

    It’s a trade-off between up-gradation and penalty. Owners can upgrade building infrastructure with energy-efficient and sustainability-related measures or bear the financial penalty for inefficiency. In fact, in addition to the financial obligations from government agencies, they may also risk their reputation from a sustainability standpoint. In order to make an informed investment decision, investors are relying on technical due diligence (TDD) to learn how an asset actually performs and to identify potential risks. 

    According to Nick Sanderson, CFO at Great Portland Estates London, commercial buildings that don’t meet future legal minimum energy standards are at risk. “We are starting to see signs of offices being stranded by the growing demands of occupiers and regulators for sustainable buildings.” 

    Since it is clear that efficient buildings are the inevitable future it’s better to start planning for it rather than waiting for obligations to catch up. By improving their MEES ratings, businesses will be able to future-proof their buildings from more stringent standards, making them more attractive to tenants and providing a better occupant experience.

    What actions FM / Property owners can take?

    Energy efficiency plan:
    If the facility-wide sustainability roadmap is not in place then this is the right time to take the first step by creating an “Energy Efficiency Plan”. It can be considered as a subset of the sustainability roadmap. Facility managers should identify assets that need the most attention. Planning should begin with the building’s data assessment, followed by the creation of baselines and the setting of targets. We have covered the net-zero planning in one of our previous blogs featuring Mitie’s net-zero strategy. 

    The entire initiative should be able to assess the costs and benefits of improving energy efficiency and weighing these against other impacting factors within the business plan for the property.

    Asset performance management strategy:
    Through a holistic asset management strategy, energy and resource optimization, improved asset life, and better visibility into O&M activities can be achieved. It leverages the Process, People, Systems, Data, and Culture of the organization for the greater good. The asset performance strategy allows FM teams to prioritize business goals and align them with asset strategy by balancing cost, risk, and performance.

    In one of our previous interactions Derren Mccredaie, head of estates, Sodexo healthcare had shared his thoughts on an ideal asset performance management strategy. According to him “when Asset reliability, higher functionality of the asset and low vulnerability of the systems aspects meet with resiliency then you get a great holistic asset performance management strategy” 

    Use of analytics:
    As we continue to zoom in on APM, we can understand the importance of analytics for building optimization. In terms of technology, data analytics has demonstrated its value in multiple ways in the real estate sector. Monitoring asset data at a granular level can give you a wealth of information about the asset’s behavior, you can correlate the pattern with the surrounding context. FM can use this information to come up with optimum maintenance scheduling, chiller sequencing, and forecasting the load profile for a specific day as well as develop a risk model of asset failures.    

    Sustainability roadmaps, APM strategies, and Analytics can be seen as concentric circles with descending impact zones. Technologies such as Digital twins, remote monitoring control centers, and building automation can help the building operators to facilitate their building optimization goals where energy efficiency is one of the many outcomes of the initiative.     

  • Service Operation center: How much data should be centralized?

    Service Operation center: How much data should be centralized?

    “Houston, we have a problem”

    Out of many memorable real-life incidents that got featured on big-budget Hollywood movies, this is perhaps the most iconic and relatable sentence we often come across whenever things go haywire.

    If we recall from the Apollo 13, it was John Swigert, an astronaut who communicated with the NASA Mission control center and updated the unforeseen emergency they were facing in the spacecraft. 

    For a civilian like most of us, those were early movements when we familiarized ourselves with the concept of a ‘control center’ which remotely monitors activities and provides essential support. Since then if we fast forward to today’s technology that goes behind SpaceX’s mission control center we would simply be astonished by the sheer computing power these centers possess and their ability to track micro-changes in the spacecraft.

    Like many other technologies that found their origin in space exploration activities and later commercially available for general use, remote monitoring is the closest one for the proptech industry. Leading facility management firms are establishing their own version of command and control centers also called service operations centers to centralize the decision-making process for critical assets and deliver predictive insights to the local O&M team. 

    Let’s explore the current state of Command & Control Centers for facility management firms, the benefits of having one, and further opportunities.

    Where does the service operation center come from?  

    A facility management firm that has been managing a large portfolio of commercial buildings in close proximity wants to centralize the processes, operations, and data that generates from those buildings for a clear understanding of the assets. Bringing data to a central location not only gives them a holistic perspective but also helps them mobilize their O&M team effectively.

    CCCs are equipped with enterprise-level applications and platforms to provide essential monitoring and support services to ground-level FM teams. A team of experienced engineers, subject matter experts (SME) who have a deep understanding of the electrical, mechanical as well as OT & IT processes are available to support the client any time of the day and the week.

    It is the job of the command and control center team to coordinate maintenance teams, suggest optimum asset configuration (setpoints),  identify any operational issues, and provide predictive insights to the ground-level team to take preventive actions.

    Now there are numerous benefits that can be drawn from the CCCs.  

    Efficient Mobile engineering teams:

    Outsourcing the O&M and deploying an on-demand team of technicians is getting popular among the small and mid-size facilities. With the help of CCCs such facilities can reduce servicing costs by minimizing or eliminating the need for those site visits, particularly in odd times when the clients are not expecting any interruptions.

    Reduce Asset downtime:

    Critical assets such as HVAC networks or elevators can have a long-lasting effect on operational continuity. Predictive analytics reduces the risk of asset downtime by identifying assets’ operational patterns and providing alerts to prevent any unexpected breakdown.

    Leveraging the knowledge of SME:

    Regardless of having an SME in your local FM team, facilities can always lean on an expert’s opinion from the command and control center. A team that has seen various scenarios of asset breakdowns can leverage their situational awareness to suggest optimal setpoint conditions. 

    360-degree facility view:

    Command and control center can be the only place where an asset, workplace, and process data gets combined and correlated to examine the optimum working environment for occupants. The same insights can be utilized to improve the working conditions and overall productivity of the staff. 

    Like to listen?
    Tune into Facility Management Times podcasts curated by Umesh Bhutoria covering topics at the intersection of Facilities Management, Digital Transformation, and Blue Collar Workforce.

    Will this be the ultimate solution? What else can be done?

    The service operations center is a great leap of progress in a direction of remote asset management. However, there is this innate fear that the FM industry might be overwhelmed by its illustrious setup, visualization capabilities, and the aura it carries to attract the client, and in this process, we might miss out on some of the basic principles that can deliver even greater impact. 

    In one of his podcasts, Umesh bhutoria, CEO of xempla referred to the term “the nerve center”. large organizations set up a team of experts from different disciplines as a response to uncertain situations. A dedicated team that has a single objective of navigating the organization through a critical time. In the context of facility management, Umesh suggested that ‘the nerve center’ can be emulated for a large-scale FM company.

    Besides having a CCCs there are other ways FM can sustain the innovation:

    Dedicated leadership:

    Apart from centralized data and the decision-making process, there should be a team that can work on facility/use case-wise technology roadmaps. For this initiative Involvement of O&M, innovation, and IT team is crucial however having a dedicated leader who can oversee the progress and set up expectations is a must.

    Decentralized processing:

    Just like edge computing where computing infrastructure including data, storage, and applications are decentralized and located somewhere between the data source and the cloud to get the advantages of cloud processing near the data sources, some of the mundane decision-making tasks can be filtered and taken at the site level and then the rest is processed at CCCs.

    With partial on-site monitoring, the FM team can maintain agility and respond quickly to frequent issues.  

    Automated workflow:

    Although the systems and analysts at the CCCs are capable enough to process large quantities of assets and process data, there is a typical process that can be automated. For example, logical pathways or algorithms for condition-based monitoring can be created to process the data related to certain Indicators or KPIs. such logical pathways can be converted into widgets that can be accessed on the dashboard. Umesh talked about such workflows on one of the product Wednesdays.

    With these workflows, CCCs can schedule and automate most of the primary data inspection processes and get more involved in decision support systems.    

    What are your experiences with command and control centers? Are there other ways to get the most out of them?

  • Remote Asset Management: ways to make facilities self-reliant

    Remote Asset Management: ways to make facilities self-reliant

    For a generation that has learned PLC or SCADA in their graduation or engineering courses, remote asset management as a concept and its applications are fairly understood and practical in nature. However, in the last 5-10 years, some various technologies and circumstances have pivoted the growth of remote monitoring to a vast range of sectors.  

    If we have to choose such key 3 technological advancements that have led to the growth of remote monitoring then it can be as follows:

    1. Cloud storage & processing capabilities   

    2. IoT based sensors and communication devices

    3. Rise of mobile applications  

    But before we discuss those 3 technology trends and other demand drivers that almost made Remote monitoring the second most popular buzzword after the digital transformation, let’s examine what remote monitoring really implies?

    What comes under Remote Monitoring?


    Remote asset management aka remote Monitoring refers to smart building automation systems that can be accessed, monitored, and controlled through cloud-based systems from any location outside of the facility premise. 

    As per the definition, it is nothing but a combination of various technologies that sense, collect, transmit, analyze and report to the facility manager on how the assets or workplaces are operating or behaving to the changes without a need of O&M team to physically inspect the site. Smart sensors and analytics monitor your buildings around the clock, keeping them safe whether they’re empty or occupied.

    Since the scope of applications for Remote monitoring is expanding the market for the same is also expected to increase, according to the market research firm, MarketsandMarkets The global market for IoT-enabled remote asset management solutions is predicted to grow from US$16.5 billion in 2020 to US$32.6 billion by 2025.

    Why remote monitoring is getting traction?


    Although this is not a surprise for most of us, a decent engagement around the remote asset monitoring was there even before the COVID situation. But out of 4 key drivers, the latest one which is related to the health and indoor environment of the facility is often considered pivotal for the rise of remote asset monitoring.

    There could be 4 major drivers that are responsible for the growth of remote monitoring applications

    A. Changing Tenant’s expectations
    Gone those days where a tenant used to call a help desk or shoot an email to change room temperature or register any issues with the surveillance system. Tenants/occupants want more control over their office environment. From booking a meeting room to set up a projector in the conference room they want everything available on their workplace management app. 

    Certainly the same is expected when it comes to notifying any issues with the HVAC or elevators. Real-time monitoring of critical assets can not be possible without having them linked to a remote monitoring network.   

    B. Technology
    As we mentioned earlier cloud-based platforms and applications, access to customizable IoT devices and a mobile-first economy is providing a suitable environment for remote asset management applications to penetrate across all type of facilities.

    Earlier many technology vendors were following closed protocols that would not allow third-party systems to be installed within their ecosystems. However, since the last couple of years vendors are recognizing the importance of open & public protocol for the scalability and integration capability of their applications.   

    C. Cost economics
    Every portfolio manager, Operations head, and facility manager have one common element in their KRAs, which is the Operational cost. It’s all about how to improve the efficiency and the overall life of the asset, how to reduce unexpected breakdowns, How to reduce additional work hours, and deliver a seamless experience to the tenant at no additional cost. Remote management not only reduces the redundant physical inspection cycles of the technician it also gives better control over a range of assets on a real-time basis. 

    D. Building reopening policies
    As buildings are reopening there could be multiple situations that may call for remote access into a building’s HVAC or other operational systems. Facility managers are needed to be able to make decisions and implement them without being available on-site all the time to monitor, review or assess the assets operating condition. O&M teams may be needed to manage the facility with limited staff, different occupancies, and unforeseen operational situations.  

    It has been seen that the facilities which had sophisticated BMS/BAS system available even before the pandemic, were much more adaptive in handling the challenges caused by the lockdown situation. 

    How a facility manager can leverage remote asset monitoring to do more?


    With all the improvement indicators, it becomes even more important for a facility manager to examine the prospects of remote asset monitoring for his facility. To support the argument we can come up with two ways a facility manager can reap more benefits out of remote asset monitoring.

    1. Improve building Performance 

    Road to building automation goes from different stages of data and process maturity. In order to access asset-level insights from the remote location all the initial stage of building automation needs to be fulfilled. In the process, the facility improves on various aspects such as – Deployment of sensors to collect operational data, Data centralization, Automated reporting, and predictive insights on asset performance. 

    Facility wide single dashboard continuously monitors all integrated data points and gives insight into the area that matters to you. you can track the asset, see performance forecasting and respond early to prevent the breakdown, with that you send relevant technicians to fix a problem or even enable remote fixing from your location.

    1. Lower the operational cost

    Sometimes having access to the right data can have a big impact on the performance of the O&M team, According to NIST’s research facility technicians spend 15% of their time simply searching for the right facility data. With real-time monitoring software, they can identify issues and act upon them at a record time.  The use of IoT technology and AI-driven control applications provide transparency into real-time operations and give a holistic view of building operations. This will unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency while reducing long-term operational costs. 

    Are your facility using remote asset management? Let us know your experience and the benefits your team has reaped so far. Want to know how your asset data can be better leveraged with the help of data analytics? Reach out to us.

  • Green Data Centers: ways to improve sustainable and efficient operations

    Green Data Centers: ways to improve sustainable and efficient operations

    Your last movie on Netflix, food that you ordered yesterday or even scented candles you bought on Amazon, could have something common in them. If you have been working in the software or IT domain then yes, you guessed it right. They are all cloud-based services and there is a chance that all your recent purchases might have shared common data centers. 

    Data centers are well guarded and maintained facilities that house servers to store critical applications and data along with the hardware and software (such as routers, switches, firewalls, storage systems) needed to maintain it. Due to the importance of data security and continuity, they often have a dedicated power backup or captive power generators to support operations all the time. 

    Businesses of all types and scales rely on data centers to serve their customers, partners or host their own employee data. Except for a couple of technology giants such as Facebook and Google, most mid to large enterprises depend on retail or wholesale colocation services.

    Since the growing popularity of subscription services, accessibility to internet-based applications and changing work environment, it is estimated that the number of data centers is expected to grow significantly within the next 5-10 years. A sector that has crossed the market value of $100 billion will see a CAGR of 4-5% during the period of 2021 – 26. The southeast Asia market has a great potential to grab a larger pie from the global market.  

    Evidently, due to the low-risk environment, outstanding digital infrastructure, and growing regional internet users, Singapore has become the center of attraction for data center constructions. The Arcadis Data Centre Location Index 2021 ranked Singapore the second most attractive city to build data centers, while according to Cushman & Wakefield’s report Singapore stands on 5th rank on the global data center comparison score. Despite the uncertainty of the moratorium, Singapore is expecting a high growth of data centers in recent years.    

    Among many other factors that are responsible for a profitable operation of data centers, two are increasingly growing as an area of concern for many forward-thinking organizations that are the energy consumption and sustainable operations. Data centers are infamous for their resource requirements, mostly in the form of electrical energy to cool down and maintain the servers. According to the study, in 2018, the world’s data centers consumed 205 terawatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to 1 percent of all electricity consumed that year worldwide.

    Although in the last 5-10 years, many data centers have been adopted to greener or renewable energy sources, there is still scope for improvement through server technologies, the economy of scale, and AI-powered operations & maintenance of the servers. Facility management and sustainability goes hand in hand for energy optimization.

    In this article, we will explore 3 different ways to improve data center energy efficiency. After the years of efforts on reducing energy consumption, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that all the low hanging fruits have been plucked and it is a time to have a holistic approach from server virtualization technologies to upgrading the hardware and software that are required to monitor and maintain the data centers. Internet of things and AI-powered applications can provide a viable solution for further improvements in operational efficiency.   

    Data centers are built to ensure high levels of reliability and to achieve optimal performance capabilities. Ironically for such expectations arrangement for backup options would cost an excess power consumption. It’s like taking insurance for precious materials in your storage, the premium would cost you a fortune and make you doubt your decision all the time. But that doesn’t mean you should not opt for it. The best you can do is to evaluate the risk vs benefit situation and make a calculated decision.      

    1. Chiller Optimization:

    Large energy consumption of data centers come from cooling load. Servers and hardware components generate heat and require better ventilation to reduce the temperature for optimum performance. 

    Besides the material changes such as proper insulation for better cooling one can do a lot with the data available from the BMS or AHUs. smart sensors to detect the hot and cold spots and complementary analytics solutions to monitor the airflow in particular areas. AI power applications can be able to find out the optimum temperature needed to handle the data traffic and change the temperature according. This way a single degree reduction in temperature can save thousands of units.    

    1. Space management: 

    Nowadays space or layout management comes with great flexibility. With the use of a modular design that can be scaled up or down to meet the demand, one can achieve higher efficiency levels and control data center power usage. Space optimization applications can suggest an ideal layout for power consumption in case of expansion or scale-down situations. 

    Blade servers or larger disk servers are more energy efficient on the server technology side and can process more data per unit power consumption. With the shift toward ‘hyper-scale facilities, uniform computing architecture can be possible for scales up to tens of thousands of servers.

    1. Synchronization between server capacity and load 

    It’s an old strategy that is still applicable to new server technology. It is an obvious situation that low capacity utilization would cost more energy consumption per unit usage.  But with the proper monitoring and planning tools, one can come closer to the synchronization of the server capacity and demand.  

    Virtualization of the server is one of the options to improve hardware utilization and eventually reduce the number of power-consuming servers and storage devices. According to the studies, it can also improve server use up to 50 to 60 percent.

    If your team is managing O&M of data centers then let us know what measures you have taken for efficient operations. If you think we have missed any important points then suggest us by commenting below.