M K Padmanabhan
After perfecting its service model in the southern parts of India and focusing mostly on the healthacare segment, M K Padmanabhan, CEO, Faber Sindoori Management Services Pvt Ltd (FSMS) explains how his company is set to conquer new territories, based on an impeccable track record, intensive training and constant monitoring of every client site.
What have been the milestones in the 15-year journey of FSMS?
FSMS was established in 2007 with less than 75 staff; today, we have over 6,300 happy employees on our payroll. We can establish a complete system and processes necessary for any premium institutions, either in healthcare or non-healthcare sectors for facility management support services. Our services are in line with the updated industry benchmarking standards, including NABH and JCI.
FSMS has trained and developed several support services staff at various locations, and many of them have become small or medium entrepreneurs serving at different locations across India.
In 2008, we established a state-of-the-art Technical Calibration Laboratory for testing and calibration of medical and industrial devices. We are proud to say that Faber Sindoori is the first IFM company in the region to receive ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for testing and calibration services of Engineering and Medical equipment from NABL board.
FSMS is also certified with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. In order to ensure the best industry practices are being instilled in the minds of our committed workforce, we have developed our processes and procedures to comply with standards such as ISO, ASHE, JCI, NABH etc.
How does the company distinguish itself from other IFM companies in India?
FSMS is an organisation where we always give priority to safety and satisfaction of our workforce in their actions, along with delivering quality to our clients in meeting their day-to-day service activities. We guide our team to excel in their services, whereby the client will benefit through our most innovative approaches in managing services swiftly. We do not compromise our service deliverables at any cost.
With our international exposure, the FSMS team was actively involved by government authorities in the development of a framework for outsourcing of Biomedical Equipment Maintenance program under the National Health Mission. We are currently in talks with various state government authorities to establish standard protocols for housekeeping services, which will help the government deliver better patient care.
What is the range of services you offer?
As a one-stop service provider, we manage all support service activities at clients’ premises. Our range of service offers include housekeeping services, biomedical engineering maintenance services, facility engineering maintenance services, pest management services, energy saving services, testing and calibration services for medical devices and testing equipment, sanitisation and cleaning services for facilities and computerised maintenance management and information system for support service functions at healthcare and non-healthcare facilities.
How has the company grown over the years?
Back in 2007, the support services concept was new in India and convincing clients was challenging. Slowly, FSMS managed to get a few premier clients like Apollo Hospitals, GMR Hyderabad Airport and Taj Group hotels. From 2012 onwards, our growth has been very consistent with an average of 25% each year.
How does your extensive work in the healthcare segment help you become the FM partner of choice in other segments?
Being an IFM company with a vast experienced workforce in domestic and international projects, our attempts to expand operations to non-healthcare sectors has considerably increased based on the market demand. Our well-structured practices in the delivery of support service activities in healthcare have given us the confidence to promote similar services in non-healthcare facilities like shopping malls, IT/ITES and large building complexes.
Safeguarding occupational and workplace health is a focus area for you. What are the various ways in which you accomplish this?
Our strength is our dedicated and committed workforce. It is the duty of the company to ensure that the staff has been given adequate safety awareness briefing. From day one, management was very categorical about ensuring a safe work environment. Our team follows this culture at every site. We have dedicated safety officers at various locations to ensure that all our staff strictly follows the best practices to avoid incidents and hazards.
What role do audits play in improving your service delivery?
We have a team to take care of service enhancement audits at various levels. The auditors are placed at various locations and these technical experts have made a strong impact in increasing our operational values by taking timely corrective measures.
Collection of periodic audit data is also used for organising a structured training program for our staff to improve their job knowhow. Such work practices have made our team members become independent in delivering the required service standards to their respective clients. Many of our service executives and supervisors who joined us during our initial days have grown to the level of senior managers through continuous job enhancement programs.
Going forward, what are the client segments into which you would like to expand? How do you intend to achieve this?
In the past, we were focusing more on the healthcare sectors in the southern region. We are seriously moving ahead with expanding our businesses and operations in northern and eastern regions, where the requirement to enhance service standards is high. In addition to healthcare and airport facilities, where we are currently present at large, we are now focusing on expanding to IT/ITES, government office buildings, manufacturing industry, pharmaceutical segments, shopping malls and large gated community housing sectors. We are actively participating in conferences/seminars in these regions to meet clients and understand their requirements.
