Tag: facility management

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!
May 22, 2023
ESG Leadership: Biggest Movers And Shakers In Real Estate & Facilities Management
In this article, we examine the “Top Movers” in the Real Estate and Facilities Management industries based on ESG impact, highlighting the companies that have taken the biggest strides towards decarbonization of buildings and bear the lowest environmental risk.

Companies now have a much greater responsibility to effect positive change on the environment. This begins with ensuring they’re not wasting energy and are proactively following sustainable practices as outlined in their ESG roadmap.

The same is extremely relevant for building owners, operators and managers because buildings are the source of almost 40% of the world’s carbon emissions. With a bold vision and clarity on the action required for sustaining business and the planet as a whole, a number of real estate and facilities management companies are leading the charge on ESG initiatives within the built environment. To achieve these targets, it has become extremely crucial to have sustainable facility management solutions for a carbon free future.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest movers and shakers…

Dexus Property Group, Australia

Of the 52 real estate leaders that made it to the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook for 2023, Dexus Property Group secured the top spot (Gold Class) with an industry best ESG score of 89.

In another score on ESG related risk by Morning Star company Sustainalytics, Dexus Property Group received a Negligible Risk rating of 6.8, the 9th best rating out of 1058 real estate companies in total.

Dexus recorded a 62% annual decrease in emissions intensity per employee in FY22. The company also met its target of 1 million sq. m. of office space rated at a minimum 5 star NABERS Energy. To reach this milestone, Dexus increased energy efficiency across approximately 500,000 square metres of office space in the last five years, including properties where its corporate tenancies are situated.

Further, the company has ramped up its net zero ambition by aligning its Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions reduction target with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, France

Since 2007, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has had a bold CSR strategy focused on sustainability – minimizing the ecological footprint of its activities while increasing property values. The property group received a Negligible Risk ESG Rating of 4.7, which earned it the number 2 rank out of 1058 real estate companies in this year’s sustainability scores by Sustainalytics.

Between 2006 and 2015, the group reduced energy intensity per employee by 33.8 percent and carbon intensity by 65.1%. URW is advancing its CSR strategy and has established new long-term goals as part of its “Better Places 2030” program. One of the core commitments of this program is to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% from 2015-2030. Some of its other initiatives include:
- Improving the energy efficiency of assets by 30% by 2030
- 100% of assets to include a climate change risk plan by 2022
CBRE Group, Inc., United States

CBRE Group, Inc. secured an ESG score of 79 in S&P Global’s ESG Scores for 2023. The group is also ranked No. 17 on Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Ratings out of 1058 real estate companies with a Negligible ESG Risk of 7.6. In the Top 50 Best ESG Companies by Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), CBRE is #23 and the only commercial real estate services firm on the list.

CBRE Group has signed The Climate Pledge as part of its 2040 net-zero emissions plan, committing to achieve net-zero carbon 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement objective. This commitment includes carbon emissions from the company’s core activities and buildings managed for investors and occupiers, as well as indirect supply chain emissions.

CBRE listed and benchmarked 5,941 buildings in the ENERGY STAR programme in 2021, totaling more than 346.9 million square feet. Thirty-six CBRE-managed facilities in the United States increased their ENERGY STAR rating by at least 10%, resulting in a total decrease of 23,233 metric tonnes in GHG emissions.

This year, the company also joined the Business Ambition for 1.5°C, which is being driven by the SBTi in collaboration with the UN Global Compact and the We Mean Business alliance.

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL Inc.), United States

S&P Global granted JLL Inc. a strong ESG score of 72 for the year 2023. The real estate services firm also ranked 7th out of 1058 companies with the lowest ESG risk, securing a 6.7 Negligible Risk Rating by Sustainalytics.

By signing The Climate Pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, JLL has shown the pathway for real estate to accomplish sector-and-economy-wide sustainability goals. To meet the promise, the company will fully abate 95% of its 2018 baseline greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, JLL has set an aggressive science-based target that covers Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions from over 380 offices in 40 countries around the world. The real estate services company also joined the WGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, which strengthens its existing goals and reinforces its ESG leadership in the built environment.

DLF Limited, India

With an overall ESG score of 75, DLF Ltd. is the only Indian real estate company to be recognized globally for its ESG performance and included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The company has also been named S&P Global Industry Mover in the real estate category for the year 2020-21.

DLF is driving ESG leadership in India’s built environment by linking its initiatives with the most relevant SDGs, and working on KPIs to track progress towards them. DLF has significantly reduced energy consumption through measures such as use of energy efficient lighting and equipment, and management of HVAC systems, etc.

Following are some of the sustainable facilities management initiatives taken by DLF in its existing buildings:

Using FY 2019-20 as a baseline, reducing energy intensity in their rental assets by 15% by 2030.

Using FY 2019-20 as a baseline, reducing water intensity in rental properties by 10% by 2025.

By 2030, DLF plans to have at least 90% of its overall rental portfolio certified as green and in compliance with all regulatory standards.

MITIE Group PLC, United Kingdom

Mitie Group has been conferred a Low ESG Risk Rating of 12.5 by Sustainalytics, which places it among the leading ESG companies in the world. Mitie’s Social Value Report for 2022 shows that the UK facilities management company is well on course to reach zero operational emissions by 2025, 25 years ahead of global net zero commitments.

Mitie emitted 23,661 tonnes of carbon in FY22, less than their aim of 25,230 tonnes. The company launched a Plan Zero initiative that lays down the roadmap for decarbonizing all its sites across the UK, with nine sites becoming net zero in 2022 itself. An additional 8 sites are planned to be decarbonised by next year. Mitie has also committed to initiatives such as LED lighting, insulation, modernising obsolete equipment, and asset management, which will save 26 tonnes of CO2 each year.

Cushman & Wakefield PLC, United Kingdom

As a global real estate services provider, Cushman & Wakefield has planned to achieve net zero emissions in its own properties all over the world as well as those of its clients by 2050. In 2020, the company offered energy and sustainability services for 370 million sq ft of space in the United States alone, according to its CSR Report.

Cushman & Wakefield emitted 18,827,178 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 GHG emissions through its operations in 2020. In comparison to 2019, this implies a 2.5 percent reduction in overall emissions.

Cushman & Wakefield GHG Emissions 2019-20

To further boost its ESG leadership, the company has committed to a 50% reduction in scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions — by 2030 from a 2019 base year, a target which has also been endorsed by The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Driving the Future of ESG in the Built Environment

Numerous studies have confirmed the benefits of implementing an ESG plan, indicating that buildings with a clear sustainability purpose will see a higher return on investment. Setting specific and achievable ESG targets will aid in lowering operating costs and carbon emissions, as well as improving productivity and the overall performance of the facility. It is important for companies to have sustainable facility management solutions.

ESG initiatives should now be a main focus for Facilities, Real Estate, and Property Managers who want to stay ahead of the game. This will allow them to create KPIs and report on performance to stakeholders, as well as ensure that their buildings are appealing to both investors and occupiers.

If you enjoyed reading this article and want to take action, we want to hear from you! Get in touch with us.
May 19, 2023
What’s Missing From the Technology Stack of ESCOs and RESCOs?
In an effort to start sustainable growth and implement strategies to achieve net-zero emissions, many countries around the world have recognized energy efficiency as a key component of the plan. By implementing a plan around netzero for enterprise asset management, organizations can achieve their Net Zero targets while also reducing energy costs and improving the efficiency and sustainability of their facilities. For businesses prepared to take on EE initiatives, Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs) provide appealing possibilities.

Without having to oversee how objectives are accomplished, facility management companies can concentrate on the desired results. ESCO adds experience to a project as energy efficiency is its primary focus. However, in some countries, ESCOs are still unable to tap into the possibility and provide energy savings to businesses. It is expected to grow and become more significant, which will need ESCOs and RESCOs to eventually take bolder steps and work on projects other than the usual ones involving energy efficiency.

Our Founder & CEO, Umesh Bhutoria shares his observations, stating that the Middle East is a prime example of a region where a top-tier FM company acquired the majority stake of a fully-fledged ESCO service provider. Similar instances have occurred in other regions, and a similar situation is taking place in the energy, retail, or utility industries.

ESCOs and RESCOs Primarily Focus on Two Areas

A deeper understanding of the role that technology would play throughout the life cycle of the projects that ESCOs and RESCOs ultimately undertake, as well as a better understanding of how your companies’ technology stacks actually look, are necessary to complement the aspirations and growth prospects currently existing in the industry. Now we get to the two areas that ESCOs and RESCOs have conventionally focused on.

Customer Acquisition

Over the past few years, ESCOs have been active in their customer acquisition efforts, using appropriate strategies. Better performance and the quest for cost-effective solutions have emerged as key components of an ESCOs and RESCOs business model as competition for both existing and new customers intensifies. And thus, they are clearly focused on measurement and verification once the customer has been acquired and the project is near completion.

Measurement & Verification (M&V)

In the context of ‘Measurement and Verification’, risk refers to the apprehension that anticipated savings won’t be achieved. Both ESCOs and customers are usually hesitant to take accountability for variables over which they have no control, and having some criteria defined in the M&V plan can help meet those contractual obligations.

When the projects become slightly more complex and involve integrating with the operations of several types of facilities, such as manufacturing plants, data centres, or IT parks. It gets impossible to ignore the interconnection between energy, operations, and maintenance.

Assume for a moment that you are an energy retailer who provides services on a yearly contract basis for a set price. You propose installing and maintaining a solar rooftop panel.

In this situation, the company would require workforce for solar rooftop operations and maintenance as well as installation. Therefore, they bear the performance risk.

On the other hand, you are an energy service company (ESCO) suggesting upgrades and improvements in AHU that will result in guaranteed savings.

In this situation, ESCO is considering energy-saving investments in AHU and other components.

As a result, both have a substantial risk of guaranteed performance. And at this point, your technology stack needs to be quite similar to that of a facilities management or an asset management company.

Need to be Added to the Technology Stack of ESCOs and RESCOs

In ESCO’s tech stack, there is currently no such process in place that addresses full risk. Your main concern should be selecting solutions that will improve asset performance — while empowering your teams to deliver energy cost savings and carry out measurement and verification tasks to determine the energy savings post the set-up of energy-efficiency projects.

1. Adding a data-driven customer success platform and leveraging data points to deliver customer success across the entire life cycle of a project.

2. Implementing an important process (Operations and maintenance) throughout the life cycle in a standardised manner.
- Internal teams bring in a suitable digital stack.
- Vendors or Installers bring their own technology or a services app.
In order to effectively manage risks, it is necessary to connect the dots from the point at which a customer is acquired to the point at which services are being provided. And you must consider taking a 360* view of an entire asset performance management stack rather than focusing only on measurement and verification.

What does your Energy service company’s technology stack look like? What do you observe in your country, and are they willing to take on the challenge of upgrading their digital stack? Is there any other strategy to cover the risks? Send us an email at [email protected] with your thoughts.
September 16, 2022
How FM Teams Can Demonstrate the Impact of Every Proactive Measure
Facility managers are responsible for a diverse range of tasks. They are expected to achieve more with less, meet customer expectations, as well as make a proactive impact.

How do they demonstrate the impact of the measures they take?

Through measurement and verification, which are absolutely an important component of energy efficiency.

With a bit of commitment and an understanding of the small yet proactive measures they take to deliver exemplary asset performance, they’ll be proactive in no time.

So now we’re asking every FM team to press the pause button and dedicate a certain amount of time to being proactive.

Our Founder & CEO Umesh Bhutoria spoke about the “black box” technique, which he first presented in his early consultancy days, to show how facility managers can cut costs and drive savings while putting the idea more in the context of facility management.

Here are six steps facility managers can follow to demonstrate the outcomes of the proactive measure they take at the asset level.

#1 Keep it simple. Every saving matters!

Often, facility managers encounter several challenges in order to efficiently maintain their facilities, equipment, and infrastructure. If you’re working on a project to add value, it can be a change in the maintenance schedule, putting in place proper operation standards, or performing any energy-efficiency assessment. Keep it simple, as every savings you make matters.

#2 Define the localised boundary

The second step, which is actually quite easy, impacts your overall planning. Hence, you must define the localised boundary of your project. Let’s suppose, you are working on Air Handling Unit (AHU) maintenance. At that time, selecting a Fan Coil Unit (FCU) or chiller for the facility should come first. You should not consider it as a component of a huge facility; instead, consider it at the localised level.

This would be quite beneficial if you do not have downstream flow metering solutions at your availability. Although your chillers would have BTU metres, it’s unlikely that every AHU or FCU would. Therefore, the majority of the facilities we have seen—roughly 70%—fit this description.

#3 Establish a baseline

Depending on the type of data available, you could use one of the three methods listed below even in the absence of metered data.
1. Tick off crucial numbers using operational data from the BMS.
2. Utilise measured data obtained from clamp-on metres or power analyzers.
3. If data cannot be measured, refer to manuals or standard operating procedures once more.
While having metered data is considered to be the best approach, not every FM company has it. And you must consider the other available alternatives that could uphold the engineering principle.

#4 Time to make a proactive impact

How can you be certain that you are taking proactive measures?

Repeating the process you did in step three will give you the opportunity to make a proactive impact on the current project. By being proactive, you can minimise downtime and maintain the asset for a longer period of time.

#5 Evaluate the difference from all perspectives

Without a doubt, you cannot be proactive if you cannot demonstrate the impact. Here comes our fifth step which is slightly linked to the third and fourth steps.

If you do not have metered data employ all three methods so that you have multiple references, not just one which is likely the ideal situation to be in. As a result, it will be easier for you to establish the difference from all perspectives.

#6 Amplify the process for all proactive measures

Amplifying is really important in the long run. You just need to access the data you require and accelerate the process across the site. At the end of the day, you will make a significant impact, which is visible to all. And, having a plan and process in place will undoubtedly help you with that.

The idea is always to add the small numbers up because they will eventually pave the way to creating a huge impact.

Let’s do a quick recap of all the steps we discussed above.

Whether or not you currently have a set of methods and processes in place to demonstrate the impact of small proactive measures to customers or stakeholders, use this blog as a guide to assist you in taking each small step toward making a big difference.

Even if it takes time, the savings you have made will show up. And although proper downstream metering is essential, it shouldn’t be the last thing that prevents your team from making a proactive impact.
September 14, 2022
State of Facilities Management in the UK
In today’s world of global competition, facilities management in the UK is under growing pressure from clients to maintain facility portfolios with uncompromising targets for value, energy savings and environmental impact.

During cop26 last year, sustainability in Facilities Management as an approach gained a lot of attention, with very clear goals established for energy efficiency, resource usage, and carbon emissions. Since most of these objectives are within the traditional scope of FM services, shifting from a cost-centric to a people-centric approach is not as challenging, and the UK market is positive of transformation.

There is only one action left to take. Acting on these trends is something that FM leaders in the UK should focus on, particularly common trends and major sectors which would see massive movements.

Umesh Bhutoria, the founder and CEO of Xempla, seized the chance to delve deep into the movements that will take place over the next 24 months. He walks you through the current situation of facilities management in the UK in a 10-minute podcast, starting with the context of digital transformation, data movements, and asset performance management.

For a more detailed explanation listen to the podcast at the end of this blog to keep up on all the action.

Let’s get started!

The facility management market in the United Kingdom is extremely diversified due to the existence of multiple competitors of all sizes in a fiercely competitive environment. In addition, this market in the UK has three major talking points in terms of what is going on in the FM space, digital transformation, and hard services.

Common Trends in the UK

1. Reliability

Predictive technology or analytics are not only the sole topics of conversation. FM companies are also considering reliability-centred maintenance as a highly focused end result. This distinguishes the end job that must be completed from the technology that the company wishes to invest in.

2. Energy

Energy has been a subject of growing interest. Businesses in the UK experienced a cost increase of 54% since April, and they can anticipate seeing another one later in the year. Therefore, FM firms are putting a lot of emphasis on how their clients may cut costs, and there is a strong connection between operations, maintenance, and energy.

3. Sustainability

The majority of commercial real estate has made sustainability a top priority, but in industries like data centres and healthcare, sustainability and net zero was not the primary objective of using a lot of technology.

Key Discussion Points

Performance Based Contracts

Contractually, FM agreements haven’t progressed to the point where they might consider performance-based contracts, but there’s a lot of discussion going on about being proactive versus reactive, which is mostly linked to risk or reputation management.

It would be wise for FM companies to start preparing now so they can be ready for performance-based contracts over the following 12 to 24 months. This is a good time for businesses to start planning. Additionally, FM businesses are thinking about focusing on two aspects.
1. Winning Rebids
2. Avoid getting Market Tested
Beyond Discovery, the UK

There are very few FM companies still in the discovery stage in the UK market. Most of the FM companies in the UK have an approximate 40–50% understanding of what their end state will entail and have a long term-focus, which is a great spot to be in. One great difference between the UAE and UK is that UAE is still looking at the discovery phase.

Build Vs Buy

Most facility management companies, aside from the usual larger ones that operate on decentralised facilities like retail, are more inclined to build their own suite of application platforms, but those that manage huge facilities like hospitals, data centres, or airports clearly have a roadmap. They are focused on building the data lake and then selecting a suite of applications that are best in the market.

They are therefore using a combination build plus buy, however the buy is really strategic as they are basically partnering rather than taking over a vendor-driven approach.

Sectors that will experience massive movement

Healthcare, data centres, and infrastructure facilities are the sectors that will experience massive movements. In these sectors, the shift from a reactive to a proactive approach is essential since maintenance aspects and cost factors are significantly more critical. The commercial real estate market will undoubtedly experience tremendous movements, but the above sectors will outgrow them.

What is going to happen over the next 24 months?

Everyone has likely heard the word ‘R’, Recession. Even if the world had to enter a recession, there would still be a huge opportunity since use of technology in the FM space would only experience a 10X boost in macroeconomic levels.

FM companies in the UK will be prepared with a parallel business model far earlier than in some other regions. Therefore, there is a strong anticipation of a parallel business model versus a business usual scenario.

As far as asset performance management, operations, and maintenance are concerned, the UK will be more than prepared to transition into a data-first environment.

Which sectors, in your opinion, would see significant changes? If you’ve been paying close attention to the markets and you have a slightly different perspective, do share it with us.
August 1, 2022
5 Things to Remember Before Starting with Remote Asset Monitoring
This solo micro-podcast episode by Umesh Bhutoria, Founder & CEO, Xempla, lists 5 things you need to know before getting started with Remote Monitoring at your facilities. Even if you’ve already started, it would be a good checklist to go through to evaluate your current strategy.

We now live in a world where IoT-enabled remote monitoring is the “new normal,” and data technologies aid in better decision-making and asset optimization. Remote asset management has gained a lot of importance in the engineering and hard services space in facilities management, and its value in asset intensive industries is only growing.

Setting up a remote monitoring system is also one of the first steps to take if you’re looking at augmenting your current process of doing maintenance or running energy management services across the built environment. Remote asset monitoring brings in aspects like the Internet of Things (IoT), data collection devices (sensors) and enables gathering of real-time asset information from remote or off site locations. Thus, it has helped shoulder the rise of proactive facilities management methods like predictive maintenance of building assets.

But simply installing high-tech sensors and remote monitoring software is not enough to get results. You may have an idea of what features you want in a remote monitoring system, but putting one in place is challenging. To help you out, here are five things to remember before getting started with remote monitoring or to evaluate your existing strategy if you’ve already started:

#1 Plan carefully before you start

The first step, obviously, is to plan carefully before you start. What’s the end objective you want to achieve with remote asset monitoring? And what are those two to three key aspects that would help you lay down your assumptions and validate them? These can be hypothetical points that you are considering ticking off if the strategy were to become successful. Also, it will be wise to connect your remote monitoring strategy to the business value you’re looking to drive out of it.

#2 Keep it simple

Overcomplexity will dampen your efforts to set up a remote monitoring program, and it’s probably going to kill the entire thing even before it starts. Take our word for it. Focus on getting to a limited outcome over looking to get multiple outcomes, and you’re going to be far more successful. Seeking to resolve all your pain points at once is not a good strategy, especially when you’re just starting out with the program.

#3 Choose your asset mix wisely

Most of your engineers or on-ground maintenance staff would know this – not all assets are suited for remote monitoring. Choose a diverse mix of assets, the ones which are critical, along with the ones that are large in number, depending on the size and type of your facilities. For the critical ones, even if you become successful with your assumptions, you would still probably be a long way off in trying to move from your current scheduled regime to a more optimized regime.

The optimization would happen first for noncritical assets, and for critical assets, it would take a longer journey of learning and evaluation. We highly recommend that you pick a mix of non-critical assets, which are usually larger in number, and the critical ones to help you with the next step, which is determining success factors.

#4 Determine success factors

Put a good amount of effort into thinking about how all of this is going to augment or change your current process of monitoring assets. Suppose you look at a chart showing how you do things currently. And if you are to be successful with, let’s say, putting up those sensors or looking at building management system (BMS) data in a better way. How is it going to help your process become better, not just from the overall process perspective, but also from the perspective of all the steps involved.

Some potential examples could be –
1. Under the current method, the team takes almost 30 minutes to look into BMS data as in when they need to. Can it be brought down?
2. Teams do not typically look at any data from BMS or from any other data sources while evaluating or conducting maintenance procedures. Does this help them augment or improve maintenance procedures?
The idea is always to look for small gains, because they will eventually pave the way for bigger gains.

#5 Have the big picture in mind

Having the big picture in mind is really important for your remote monitoring program to be successful. At the end of the day, you are doing this not just to prove a concept, but to prove a value. This means you need to consider changes at the portfolio level, not just individual sites.

While it’s important to think about what scale could and would look like, you’re better off not evaluating this exercise with that perspective. Keep it at the back of your mind. Look at what’s working. Look at what’s not working. And then eventually make a call.

Remember these 5 things before getting started with remote asset monitoring:

Final Words

Given what’s happening around the world across the built environment, with a focus on sustainability and cost reduction, everyone has been thinking of getting started with remote monitoring. That’s the first step that you could take to enhance your asset performance management – even make facilities self-reliant.

If there’s anything else that you think should be kept in mind, or you’ve done something which has turned out to be very successful, we would love to know what it is!

Listen to the latest episodes from our FM Times Podcast series here.
March 22, 2022
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.
March 7, 2022
What Digital Twin Means for the Facility Management Space

Facility management companies have so many things to handle at the same time when it comes to maintaining workspaces with ever-changing challenges and rising expectations. Digital twin is the next step in building information modelling (BIM) in terms of data-gathering and service-enhancement functionality.

However, the question is, how does it play an important role, and how will it boost the FM and real estate sector which needs to shift towards digital twin? Facilities management and sustainability also depends on it and needs attention.

Concept of Digital Twin

In this conversation Umesh Bhutoria and Balazs Szappanyos talks about the digital twin backbone of one of the leading providers of real-time building data in building and industrial operations. Here the concept of operational BIM, arose from the realisation that the real estate industry is falling behind.

The company is Orthograph operational BIM having a strong foundation for the digital world. As a technology provider, they are in the PropTech and FM tech fields. During the deployment phase of CAFM solutions, it was discovered that, while providing building owners and operators with reliable software to track all operations, people still lacked real-world building data.

The original concept behind OrthoGraph was to forge ahead and provide tools for building owners and operators to truly view up-to-date 3D graphical and inventory data both on-site and in the office.

To whom do these leading companies provide digital twin solutions?

The focus is mostly on FM companies, FM service providers, and building operators since FM spend the most time in buildings, acquire data, and visit the site every day, whereas other stakeholders operate from their offices. Someone must physically visit the buildings in order to maintain any form of building documentation. As a result, selecting people who can simultaneously manage the physical structure and the digital twin.

An ideal way for FM firms to address the entire digital twin terminology!

First and foremost, a well-functioning digital twin should be reliable, simple to use and integrate. For instance, When analysing the twin analogy, the twin evolves in the same way that the building does through time. Updating building models is a vital part that people must incorporate. The approach is to implement building information modelling (BIM), but the question of who will manage BIM and at what cost, whether building surveyors or external stakeholders, is a challenging one.

Addressing the Christmas Tree Analogy with use cases relevant to FM companies!

We’re going to approach the Digital Twin as if it is a Christmas tree without decoration. It enables users to digitise their building and have an always-up-to-date model, which they can then customise with other software solutions they want to add, but the backbone which is the tree, will never become obsolete. If people look after the twin data the same way they maintain the building. So, people get to choose to put whatever they want on their Christmas tree.

Facility management companies benefit from having this model that gives them the inside structure of the facility and allows them to rearrange their daily flows using digital twins.

Check out our most recent episode to learn about the digital twin concept and much more.

Do the blue-collar or white collar workforce use visual representation and data integration?

According to Balazs, the initial reaction is a sigh of satisfaction for real-world data they can see rather than old paperwork. Since digital twin generate calculated reports not just representation, the workforce can engage with the data more efficiently. They can obtain reports on the cleaning department, the rental department, and other areas. As a result, the building owners and engineers have a clear perspective of their structures, which is an impressive achievement itself.

Advantages of Selecting a Reliable Digital Twin

FM Markets or buildings with zero documentation can benefit from a great solution that allows them to move from zero to digital twin backbone in a matter of weeks. As a result, anyone who wishes to begin their digital journey can do so.

When considering whether or not to invest in a digital twin solution, consider how quickly a digital twin solution can be adjusted to the way buildings change over time.

Listen to our podcast episode to discover more about the Christmas tree analogy and zero documentation!

Let us know what you think are some more benefits of having a solid digital twin backbone.

February 24, 2022