Forging beyond breakdowns Integrating Predictive Maintenance for Facility Excellence

Predictive maintenance utilizes technologies and data analytics to foresee potential equipment failures and pre-emptively address maintenance needs before their escalation to a critical state. This approach enhances operational efficiency alongside reducing downtime, and maintenance costs, and extends the lifespan of crucial assets, says Maneesha Mattas, Director, Facile Facility Management. She got into the façade cleaning business after serving 30 plus years in the FM space.

Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics marks the journey towards including predictive maintenance in facility operations.

Collecting real-time data from equipment and systems provides insights, into the health and performance of assets. This is useful for facility managers to ensure smooth operations. Identification of patterns, anomalies, and early signs of potential failures, allows timely interventions and efficient decision-making.

Predictive maintenance is a positive step toward a sustainable and cost-effective facility management service. It streamlines the maintenance workflow, resource optimization, and risk mitigation. Integrating predictive maintenance into facility management will shape a future where facilities operate seamlessly and downtime becomes a rarity rather than an inevitability.

The challenges of convincing companies to look into predictive maintenance such as façade cleaning which is a high-risk job. A Spiderman scales a multi-floored building with a spider or a crane machine to complete glass façade cleaning. As per industry norms, buildings with five or more floors must have safety bolts which is missing in many buildings in our country. These bolts last for several years and hence are a good investment.

Securing manpower involved in high-risk jobs such as façade cleaning is important to minimize risk. This is unfortunately not implemented in the industry by incorporating safety bolts while constructing tall towers leaving façade cleaning workers vulnerable while executing their cleaning duties.

If a facade cleaning situation facilitates hydraulic cleaning, this is preferred as two ropes are available: main and safety which can be used to move back and forth in case of any issues. A safety belt is paramount while working using the ascender and descender.

The usage of a hydraulic ladder is pretty safe for cleaning surfaces. Equipment with ride-on cleaning is available and this can be used for flat surfaces. This works as a manual handheld device and is useful for large campuses but is cost intensive. An electrical single-disk hand-held machine is convenient to use as it results in faster cleaning.

Birds’ nests and bee hives pose a significant challenge to facade cleaners. Hence, workers must wear helmets, masks and use appropriate PPE kits to protect themselves. A facility management company must take good care of its manpower by conducting regular training and audits. Ensuring the facility manager is always privy to relevant information to take timely action is a key cornerstone for good facility management.