Preventative and Deferred Maintenance: A Reality Check

By ARC Facilities

In the recent webinar, Preventative and Deferred Maintenance: Reality Check. How accurate is your equipment inventory industry experts shed light on the crucial aspects of maintaining an accurate equipment inventory for efficient facilities management.

Led by David Trask, National Director, ARC Facilities, the session provided valuable insights into the challenges faced by facility managers and the role technology plays in mitigating these issues.

One of the key takeaways from the webinar was the importance of maintaining a comprehensive and precise database of all facility equipment. Without this foundation, facilities teams face significant hurdles executing preventative and deferred maintenance.

“Absolutely agree,” said Christine Burkett, Supply Chain Automation VMO, Sam’s Club. “Without integrated asset data a true ROI for any planned maintenance or the impact of the deferred maintenance can’t be determined with any level of accuracy.  Teams must know what the cost associated with deferring maintenance is. Is it downtime, sales disruption, process interruption? How is it impacting the core business. Without the data teams struggle to show the return for preventive or planned maintenance.”

Discussions emphasized the necessity for this information to reside with the building, not just with specific personnel to ensure continuity even as staff members transition in and out of roles, safeguarding against disruptions in maintenance routines.

For an individual site, or even a small campus doing their own maintenance, keeping plans, electrical schedules, fire sprinkler inspections, and creating a live documented process to interact with the physical and stored information builds the knowledge base and protects the business against disruption, explained Burkett.

“In my experience the retail locations suffer high turnover rates and struggle to pass facilities related information along through changes at the individual location level.  Having a centralized system created a singular point all the retail locations utilize to access information, best practices, asset data, and plans,” she said.

Losing institutional knowledge in the wake of staff retirements and departures emerged as another critical issue. Seasoned staff have years of knowledge embedded in their memories and have been around for multiple renovations. While having a “go to” person to remember equipment and building details from 10 years ago is safe and convenient, their expertise departs with them, leaving a significant void and a voice that’s been silenced.

Burkett shared that creating a document trail is something many organizations, regardless of size struggle with. 

“Moving away from single points of knowledge, or individual team knowledge toward a documented knowledge base designed for both individual and team utilization is a massive undertaking. Creating training plans, and cross training need to factor in as well. Creating a level of redundancy across the teams will become more difficult as the current work force ages and retires,” she added.

With about 30% of facility team members projected to retire in the next five years, the time is now to implement succession planning. Facilities teams must implement strategies to capture this knowledge to ensure the seamless operation of their buildings.

The role of technology to bolster facility management practices was a central theme of the discussion.  Innovations like QR codes, AI, and mobile applications offer powerful resources for maintaining accurate equipment databases. These technologies streamline maintenance tasks, promote efficiency, and ensure business continuity.

One speaker emphasized the importance of platforms that facilitate seamless communication and knowledge transfer among team members including critical information like equipment make, model, serial numbers, and installation dates. These details empower teams to make informed decisions about repairs and replacements.  

As the session wrapped up, it was clear that organizations need to be proactive to secure their information and ensure its accessibility to team members and other key stakeholders. The combination of a transitioning workplace and ongoing talent shortages signals more challenging times for facilities management. Embracing technology solutions, like those offered by ARC Facilities, can bridge the gap, and pave the way for a more efficient and resilient future.

In closing David Trask projected the future in one sentence, “A year from now, you’ll wish you’d started today.”