Supplier management.
Supplier management is an important aspect in facilities management Services keeping in mind that vendors and suppliers provide goods and services needed in operations. Management of suppliers and vendors is one of the major challenges facing facilities management. Vendors determine the cost, quality and therefore proper vendor management makes it possible to control operations. Facilities management is faced by issues like controlling vendor prices and quality of goods.
To address this challenge, vendors should be selected based on performance, pricing, certification and also qualification in their area of expertise.
Making decisions without enough information.
Information is power and the same rule applies in facilities management. All important decisions must be based on reliable information in order to achieve the desired results. The problem is many facilities do not have the right systems needed to capture reliable information. This results to making decisions based on unreliable data and this ends up bringing more problems.
To capture present data and store past data it is important to have proper structures in place. Many facilities rely on excel sheets that are not reliable. Bigger and complex structures are necessary to get the right information for decision making.
Trying to do more with limited resources.
Limited resources is a big challenge in facility management especially human resources. There is always a need of trying to do more but resources limit this. Facilities are trying to create systems that will enable them do more even with fewer resources. For instance in the area of communication and paperwork with vendors, facilities are abandoning e-mail and phones as way of communication because they are too exhausting.
Facilities are now creating a common system where the vendors can interact with the facilities in a common platform. Using this system it becomes easier to monitor prices from vendors and also order management in an easier manner.
Prolonging the life span of assets.
Increasing the life span of assets is a challenge in facilities management. Assets are bound to deteriorate from time to time but the aim challenge is trying to prolong the life as much as possible. To increase life span of assets, doing regular preventive maintenance at minimum cost is a necessary step.
To prolong the life span of assets preventive maintenance is seen as a better way compared to doing repairs after break downs that end up being more costly.
Saving cost.
A lot of cost is incurred in facility management because this is where the actual operations are done. If cost of operations is minimized at the facility level then the profitability is highly increased. The specific areas where cost should be minimized include warranty work management, control of prices with vendors and call avoidance. Producing quality output in a facility is also important because cost of repairs is saved by the facility.
There are many cost areas in a facility and it is important that facility managers identify specific areas and know how to save cost incurred in those areas.
Regulation and compliance standards.
Keeping up with regulation and compliance standards is a big challenge facing facilities management. These are legal requirements that need to be met for a facility to continue with its operations. Some regulations and standards are too strict to adhere while others have a lot of cost implications. The regulations and standards depend on the industry and most facilities are barely trying to comply with the required standards.
Facilities should continue familiarizing themselves with the required regulation and standards to stay on top. They can also benchmark from the leading facilities in the industry in terms of compliance.
Social responsibility and environmental concerns.
Facilities have now to keep up with corporate social responsibility and give back to the society. This is becoming a concern and all facilities must take be responsible for the environment around them. Environmental concern is also another challenge because facilities have to take care of the environment around them. Activities like pollution are becoming a great concern and facilities are being encouraged to adopt safe ways of disposing off waste from the facility. Most facilities are still struggling with trying to adopt environment friendly operation procedures that do not affect the environment in any way. Both social and environmental responsibility have cost implications on facilities management.
