Month: February 2022

Everyone expects to be kept safe and comfortable in the spaces they occupy, whether at work, at home, or at play. Despite the critical role building maintenance management plays in our daily lives, many of us pay little attention to building maintenance – that is, of course, until something goes wrong. This article provides an overview of building maintenance management.

What is Building Maintenance Management?

Building maintenance management is the coordination of maintenance activities designed to maintain, repair, and improve buildings and their related systems and provide a safe, habitable, comfortable, and functional environment in a cost effective manner. It encompasses all tasks that make a space “livable” and ensures that major building systems, such as electrical, plumbing, fire prevention, and HVAC, are working efficiently.

Building maintenance management also includes a building’s structure including flooring, walls, ceilings, roofs, and fixtures. In addition, building maintenance may extend to building exteriors and include painting, cleaning, landscaping, and groundskeeping.

Why Building Maintenance Management is Important

A properly maintained building is important to both building owners and occupants for a number of reasons.

Safety and Comfort

Proper building maintenance management is important for the safety and comfort of building occupants – whether residents, employees, or commercial tenants.

Though occupants are responsible for some maintenance tasks, such as changing light bulbs and maintaining a sanitary environment, they become disgruntled when common areas aren’t cleaned or safety issues arise. Further, maintenance issues that are ignored accumulate over time and create dangerous environments, sometimes with tragic results.

In addition, prospective occupants need assurance from their lessors or owners that their maintenance concerns will be addressed in a timely manner.

Money-Saving

For building owners, it is much easier to manage a maintenance budget with predictable costs, rather than try to find the money whenever issues occur. For example, it is more costly to replace a major building system than to proactively maintain building assets through regular preventive maintenance (PM). Well-maintained buildings are typically more energy efficient as well, leading to further cost savings over time.

Compliance

Adequate maintenance is essential to staying in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations, such as those imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and the International Code Council (ICC). Building code violations can result in heavy fines and other penalties for building owners.

Staying in compliance with building codes also helps minimize safety risks and reduces liabilities to occupants or guests who use your building.

Functionality

As with equipment maintenance, the overall objective of building maintenance management is to minimize failures and downtime. Without regular maintenance, buildings deteriorate and are more likely to cause disruptions to those inside.

Organizations that perform building maintenance management must address the challenges of both new and old buildings. New buildings may have design flaws that lead to undesirable conditions, such as inadequate air circulation, that may result in problems with indoor air quality. Old buildings face age-related issues, such as inefficient HVAC systems that create an uncomfortable indoor climate and result in high utility bills.

Profitability

Effective building maintenance management not only saves building owners money, but helps owners maintain or increase their property value. Buildings kept in good repair have the potential to earn more income from lessees, tenants, and buyers.

Types of Building Maintenance

Building maintenance generally falls into three broad categories.

Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is routine maintenance performed on a regular basis to proactively address maintenance issues before they arise. It involves inspections, treatments, part replacements, and other tasks that prevent damage to the building’s interior and exterior structures. Preventive maintenance tasks are planned and scheduled according to appropriate date-based or usage-based intervals.

Corrective Maintenance

Corrective maintenance activities restore a building to optimal conditions as damage becomes apparent. The nature of these tasks varies based on the type of building and the needs of its inhabitants. Unlike preventive maintenance, which is planned, corrective maintenance is done in response to an issue, such as those reported through service requests.

Protective Maintenance

Protective maintenance shields building structures from harsh environmental conditions and deterioration. It involves applying protective paints, sealants, coatings, and films to exposed surfaces such as pillars, awnings, and other architectural surfaces. Depending on the climate, these areas of the building may need protection from ice, snow, salt, heat, moisture, and extreme weather.

Areas of Building Maintenance

Building assets that require maintenance can be broken down into a few major building systems.

Electrical Systems

A building’s electrical system includes lighting, safety systems, electrical equipment, and power distribution. Regular maintenance of electrical systems ensures that spaces are adequately lit, electric systems are installed correctly, and that the building can handle the electrical load without causing safety issues.

Electrical maintenance is becoming increasingly important in older buildings that need to expand their electrical infrastructure to support newer equipment and technology.

Plumbing Systems

When people think of plumbing, the first thing that typically comes to mind is bathroom fixtures such as sinks and toilets – but it’s much more than that. Building maintenance management professionals are also responsible for maintaining hot water heating systems, storm pipes, roof drainage, and fire sprinkler systems.

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems provide for a safe and comfortable environment for occupants. HVAC systems not only control air temperature, but also air quality, air circulation, dust, and relative humidity. HVAC maintenance for buildings includes maintenance of the air handling units themselves, but also ensuring that the building structure is air tight and has proper ventilation. Maintenance on HVAC systems also includes the energy source for building heating and cooling.

Water and Wastewater Treatment

Building maintenance management also requires the maintenance of water and wastewater treatment systems. Maintenance teams must ensure there is a reliable source of safe, potable water for cleaning, drinking, and other uses. Wastewater and sewage systems must also be maintained to ensure safe and sanitary disposal of human waste, chemical runoff, and other hazardous materials.

Energy Management

Energy management is an important aspect of building maintenance management, especially in aging structures. Proper energy management leads to greater enjoyment of building spaces, better health and living conditions for occupants, and lower energy bills. Therefore, building maintenance teams must inspect and track the condition of roofs, insulation, doors and windows, and other areas that might contribute to the loss of heat or cold.

Interior

Interior building structures include floors, walls, stairwells, basements, and ceilings. Maintenance for these areas includes tasks such as cleaning common areas, regular trash removal, repainting walls, repairing drywall, refinishing flooring, and carpet replacement.

Exterior

Maintaining building exteriors is important for building owners because it gives the first impression of the residence or business. Exterior structures that require building maintenance include the foundation, roof, exterior walls and doors, and windows.

Some building properties also include the grounds surrounding the building.  In addition to the building itself, building maintenance managers are then also responsible for maintaining lawns, parking lots or structures, sidewalks and walkways, drainage, pest control, and landscaping.

Who is Responsible for Building Maintenance Management?

Building maintenance requires professionals with a wide range of skill and expertise.

Building Occupants

In some cases, those who occupy a building are responsible for minor maintenance tasks. For example, in the state of Wisconsin in the United States, Wisconsin state law dictates that apartment tenant’s repair responsibilities include:

• Changing light bulbs and other minor maintenance
• Keeping the apartment in a safe, sanitary condition
• Keeping working batteries in smoke detectors
• Keeping thermostats at a reasonable temperature to prevent freezing of pipes and other equipment
• Repairing damage they or their guests have caused
• Controlling pests (in specific instances)

Janitorial Staff

Janitorial staff is responsible for the general cleaning of a building. Their job responsibilities include tasks such as sweeping, mopping, trash disposal, vacuuming, and so on. Depending on the organization and building size, janitorial services may be outsourced to a service provider.

Maintenance Technicians

Building maintenance technicians perform various routine tasks, such as performing inspections, repairing fixtures and equipment, and addressing simple maintenance needs. Smaller organizations may employ a “handyman” or jack-of-all-trades, while larger organizations are more likely to hire technicians with more specialized skills, such as a dedicated HVAC technician.

Other technician responsibilities include responding to work requests submitted by others and performing low priority preventive maintenance.

Maintenance or Facility Managers

Building maintenance managers or facility managers oversee all building maintenance. They plan and schedule maintenance activities, manage the team, and ensure tasks are completed on time. Additionally, people in this role may also hire and train new maintenance employees.

3^rd Party Maintenance Service Providers

Organizations may outsource maintenance work to third-party vendors depending on the scope of work, specific job, or required expertise. For example, some companies may not find it beneficial or cost-effective to hire a full time electrician, so electrical work is outsourced instead. Other building maintenance functions, like snow plowing and pest control, are typically performed on an as-needed basis. Therefore, it makes sense to outsource these tasks.

Building Maintenance Software

Building maintenance management can be overwhelming without a system to help coordinate and organize maintenance work. Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software provides a single platform for managing building maintenance. Using a CMMS allows maintenance and facility managers to maintain a birds-eye-view of all maintenance activities, track building and equipment maintenance costs, and schedule preventive maintenance tasks.

Improve Building Maintenance Management with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select is CMMS software designed to help you efficiently and effectively manage building maintenance. Comprehensive preventive maintenance functionality allows you to keep track of routine maintenance tasks and create maintenance schedules that protect and maximize the value of your buildings and equipment. A mobile app extends work order functionality to technicians in the field. Request a demo today to learn more about FTMaintenance Select.

Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) inventory spending accounts for a significant portion of an organization’s maintenance budget – in some cases as much as 45%! To minimize MRO inventory costs, organizations must understand what is happening to stock that is currently on hand. This article provides an overview of inventory control and its relationship to MRO inventory management.

What is MRO Inventory Control?

MRO inventory control, sometimes called stock control, can be defined as the process of tracking and regulating the level of MRO inventory within an organization, from the time it is received to the time it is consumed by maintenance work. It involves knowing what inventory items are available, how many are in stock, where they are located, and their condition (when applicable).

Why MRO Inventory Control is Important

Proper inventory control helps maintenance organizations in 4 key areas.

Inventory Accuracy

Through inventory control, maintenance organizations gain an accurate picture of how many units of an inventory item are in stock. Knowing these quantities helps identify which items are over or under stocked, thereby affecting replenishment decisions.

Maintaining accurate inventory levels also improve the maintenance planning process. When working from accurate stock counts, maintenance planners can schedule maintenance activities according to what parts are currently available or defer maintenance, if necessary.

Productivity

Poor inventory control affects the production of finished goods or the delivery of services. If parts needed for a repair are out of stock, organizations incur unnecessary downtime costs related to asset downtime and idling employees.

In addition, tracking the location of inventory items, along with their quantities, ensures maintenance technicians spend less time searching for parts and more time performing maintenance work.

Procurement and Reordering

Inventory tracked through inventory control activities provides valuable information for making purchase decisions. Continuously counted MRO items reveal an item’s usage and inventory turnover rates, which is used to determine ideal stocking levels. From this, organization’s can set an appropriate reorder point and avoid over or under ordering.

Held Inventory Costs

When done correctly, MRO inventory control helps reduce the amount of money tied up in inventory by allowing organizations to operate on the least amount of inventory that is sufficient to meet maintenance needs. Strict inventory control reduces the number of obsolete items held in inventory, reduces over or under ordering, and minimizes the need for costly expedited shipping if stockouts occur.

Reducing the total cost of inventory keeps the maintenance budget in check, frees up money for other projects, and maximizes an organization’s profitability.

Components of Inventory Control

MRO inventory control involves knowing what items are carried in inventory, their quantities, their location(s), and conditions.

Tracking Inventory Items and Their Quantities

In order to control inventory, organizations need to know what items are in stock and their quantities. There are multiple ways in which organizations audit their stocked inventory:

One way is to utilize cycle counting, where small portions of inventory are counted at a time. Compared to a full physical inventory count, which requires significant manual labor and temporary suspension of inventory activity, cycle counting is less disruptive, requires less labor, and can be performed any time.

Another way to identify and count inventory items is to use an inventory tracking system that stores inventory records and automatically updates stock levels as parts are consumed. Though this approach is more timely and accurate, data entry errors and unaccounted for transactions can lead to inaccuracies from time to time. To remedy these issues, organizations perform occasional physical counts to validate inventory accuracy and implement a barcode system to reduce data entry errors.

Further Reading: What is a Barcode System?

During the identification and counting process, organizations may also identify obsolete inventory which can be scrapped, sold, or otherwise disposed of. Doing so reduces clutter and frees up space for storing necessary inventory items.

Tracking Inventory Item Locations

The inventory control process includes tracking where all inventory items are located. Depending on the size of the organization, inventory items may be stored in one or many locations.

For example, there may a single stockroom, or there may be multiple stockrooms within a facility. Within each storage location are a number of aisles, racks, shelves, and bins. Further, inventory may be kept in other storage locations including cabinets, shelves, carts, vending machines, and cribs.

Location data can also impact how to organize the maintenance storeroom. In an effort to make it easy for maintenance staff to locate parts, inventory items may be organized by type or by the asset(s) on which they are used. Other aspects of an inventory item, such as its weight or size, may dictate the storage solution.

When an inventory item’s location and quantities are known, organizations are better able to assemble kits, repack items into smaller or larger units, and move groups of items from one storage location to another.

Tracking Inventory Item Movement

In addition to tracking MRO inventory items’ stocking locations, the inventory control process also tracks changes in location. For example, it is common for technicians to maintain a “personal” stock of MRO items in a rolling cart, tool chest, or vehicle. If this stock goes unaccounted for, inventory accuracy suffers and leads to increased inventory costs.

Tracking inventory item movement is also important when it comes to tools. Technicians must know whether the tools are available before maintenance work can begin and “check out” tools from a central tool crib (or other storage location).

In either case mentioned above, thorough inventory control tracks where items are currently located and who is in possession of them.

At times, inventory items are moved from one storage location to another. For example, an organization may decide to move a quantity of filters from the main stockroom to another storage location to reduce employee travel time. The organization should track the new location of the filters and the quantity stored there in the inventory management system.

Tracking Inventory Item Condition

Just because inventory items are in stock does not necessarily mean they are fit for maintenance, repair, or operations. The condition of the location in which inventory is stored impacts the integrity of the items stored there. For example, humidity causes moisture to collect on the surface of parts, leading to corrosion and degradation. Damaged parts do not perform to specification, potentially causing more harm than good.

Inventory Control vs. Inventory Management

By now, you may notice some similarities between inventory control and inventory management, and that is true. Both functions involve tracking and managing stock, though there are some key differences.

Earlier in the MRO inventory control definition, it was established that inventory control tracks and regulates inventory that is currently in the facility. In our article What is MRO Inventory Management?, inventory management is defined as “the process of procuring, storing, using, and replenishing the materials and supplies used for maintaining assets at the lowest possible cost.”

As you can see, the scope of inventory control is smaller than that of inventory management. Inventory control is most related to the storage aspect of inventory management, and ignores purchasing and replenishment. It is concerned with stock that is already present in the facility.

By comparison, inventory management involves all aspects of inventory, from tracking item specifications, monitoring usage and forecasting demand, making strategic purchase decisions to replenish stock, and managing vendor relationships. It is concerned with what is currently in the facility, as well as from where and when new stock is ordered. Many inventory management decisions are informed by inventory control.

MRO Inventory Control Tools

Historically, inventory control has been managed with spreadsheets, printed paper files, and modules in accounting software. However, a better and more comprehensive way to manage and improve MRO inventory control – and inventory management – is computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software.

A CMMS offers robust maintenance inventory management software capabilities, and allows organizations to maintain visibility of all inventory items across the facility. A centralized system provides real-time inventory data and quick identification of an inventory item’s location, quantity, specification, cost, and more.

In regards to ordering and replenishment, CMMS software offers many benefits over manual systems. CMMS software automatically updates inventory count as inventory is consumed by work orders. Through maintenance reports, organizations can use inventory data to set appropriate reorder points and be notified when it’s time to reorder stock. Some CMMS platforms include purchasing functionality, providing an end-to-end inventory management solution.

Control Inventory More Effectively with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select makes it easy to control your MRO inventory by allowing you to identify inventory items, track stock quantities, and track and manage inventory storage locations. Request a demo today to learn more about FTMaintenance Select.

Effective maintenance management relies on high-quality maintenance data. However, human error causes inaccurate data to be entered into computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software, compromising the usefulness of the information stored within it. Because of this, organizations often implement a barcode system to ensure accurate data entry and lookup. This article provides an overview of the many applications of barcodes in maintenance management.

Applications of Barcodes in Maintenance Management

Barcoding is a versatile technology that enhances many day-to-day maintenance management activities. The sections below describe common applications of barcodes in maintenance environments.

Asset Tagging

Asset tags are barcode labels that uniquely identify physical assets and are directly applied to asset exteriors for tracking purposes. In an ideal scenario, asset tags allow maintenance staff to walk up to an asset, scan the barcode, and perform some action using their CMMS. For example, the system might allow users to look up asset details, view maintenance records, or create a work order for the asset.

Asset tags are useful for organizations that have a large number of assets to maintain. Scanning barcodes reduces human error, ensuring technicians access and record accurate maintenance data for the specified asset.

Because asset tags are affixed to the asset, barcode labels must be able to withstand extreme temperatures, moisture, debris, and vibration without being compromised or lost. Incomplete or missing information invalidates the value of the barcodes. Organizations must choose the barcode printer and labeling materials that best suits their needs.

Read more: What is Asset Tagging?

Tool Tracking

Durable assets like tools are also commonly tracked via barcodes. This is because, unlike equipment assets which are largely stationary (except for vehicles), tools are mobile, shared among staff, and change location often. Barcoded tools allow the maintenance department to monitor exactly which tools are checked out, their current locations, and how many are available in inventory for use.

Tool movement is tracked through a check-in/check-out process using barcodes, similar to borrowing books from a library. When a tool is needed, technicians scan the barcode to check it out, reserving it for use. When the tool is returned, it is scanned back in to its storage location.

Read more: What is MRO Inventory Control?

MRO Inventory Management

Organizations typically stock hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands (or more) of MRO items within a stockroom. The sheer volume of unique inventory items makes it necessary to avoid misidentifying inventory items when completing work orders or replenishing the stockroom.

When applied to stockroom racks, shelves, and bins, barcode labels are useful for identifying the items stored there. This is useful for verifying parts pulled for maintenance work, adjusting part quantities when making kits, and performing physical inventory counts. Stockroom employees save time by scanning barcodes instead of manually typing numbers into the CMMS.

Alternatively, barcodes might exist in a master binder that lists all inventory items along with their corresponding barcodes. When the location of an inventory item is unknown, employees can look up its location in the CMMS by scanning the barcode information into a search field. The system then identifies the exact aisle, rack, shelf, and bin location of the item.

Read more: What is MRO Inventory Management?

Purchasing and Receiving

Barcodes are a useful tool when used with a CMMS’s purchasing and receiving functionality. When new inventory items arrive and need to be received, employees look up purchase order records by scanning a barcode on the physical PO form. From there, employees then update the status and quantities of incoming purchase order items. Having barcodes in place makes this process much faster and easier, especially when several items are received at once.

Organizations that track vendor item numbers are able to scan the barcode labels on incoming items and match it up with inventory records in the CMMS. Then, organizations are able to generate barcode labels that follow the organization’s internal numbering scheme for tracking and stocking purposes.

Barcoded Documents

CMMS software with barcode capability can generate barcoded paper documents, such as purchase orders and work orders. When these records need to be looked up and updated in the CMMS, all users need to do is click into a search field and scan the barcode. This is a huge timesaver when many items are received at once, or when a batch of work orders is ready to be closed.

CMMS Ease of Use

Depending on the CMMS, barcodes can provide shortcuts to valuable information. For example, clicking through multiple screens takes much longer than scanning a barcode. After the system recognizes the asset (or document), it can take the user to the record details or present the user with a list of options for what to do next.

Even if scanning a barcode only reduces user interaction by one click, those clicks add up over time. After all, the less time a technician spends clicking around in the CMMS, the more time he can spend actually performing maintenance work.

Benefits of Barcoding Technology in Maintenance Management

The applications of barcodes span nearly every major facet of maintenance management. Fortunately, many CMMS software solutions include barcode technology, thereby making it easier to incorporate barcoding into your maintenance process. As this article demonstrates, there are many advantages to barcoding:

• Reduced Human Error: Barcode scanning allows information to be entered into a CMMS using a scanned code instead of manual entry, thereby preventing mistakes and improving the accuracy of maintenance data.
• Increased Productivity: Once fully implemented, a barcode system allows maintenance workers to quickly locate information or take additional action using the CMMS. Wireless scanners and mobile barcode scanning allow employees to stay productive.
• Better Decision-Making: When using accurate data, maintenance organizations are able to make smarter decisions about asset maintenance, inventory purchasing, maintenance schedules, and more. This leads to more efficient operations and lower maintenance costs.
• Improved Return on Investment (ROI): Over time, organizations will be able to grow into using more advanced features of their CMMS. Combining powerful CMMS software with a barcode system provides additional long-term value to the organization, increasing the CMMS ROI.
• Increased User Adoption: Employees are more likely to adopt a system that is easy to use. Barcode scanning provides an easy data entry method for employees of all computer skill levels.

Improve Your Maintenance Operations with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select barcode capability allows for comprehensive management of your assets and inventory, and integrates seamlessly into your maintenance work order management processes. Contact us today to learn more about the FTMaintenance Select barcode system.