When it comes to housekeeping and management of technical services, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) which is spread across 34 acres of beautifully landscaped area faces challenges of varying kinds. Sunil Govind, Director, Facility Management & Operations, BIEC, explains how the systems put in place help achieve smooth functioning.
We would be conducting at least 17 audits for the Facility Management processes this year and the audit results will be shared with service providers to meet the challenges enumerated earlier.
BIEC has 40,000sqm of covered column-less air-conditioned exhibition space (three exhibition halls), a multi-facility conference centre spread over 5,600sqm. There are four Conference Halls, an Amphitheater, VIP lounge, food court of 7500sqm, a machine tool training centre, and large outdoor area. We have an infrastructure to distribute 11MW of power supply.
With the above facilities, BIEC has already hosted exhibitions of over 110,000sqm of exhibit area. It has been able to cater to well over 20,000 business visitors per day on several exhibition days. BIEC hosts events organized by global exhibition organizers and major Indian organisers.
BIEC is the first Exhibition Centre in India to be US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified and in April 2014, our management system has been certified in ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 – Integrated Management System (IMS).
Outsourcing Model
The most important Facility Management requirements at BIEC is meant for service delivery to meet client expectations. The entire gamut of activities, i.e. housekeeping, security and technical services have been outsourced to various service providers. Apart from this, the food court has empanelled brands that open during event days.
Challenges
Our client requirements vary depending on the type and size of events. The manpower requirements (i.e. housekeeping and security) could vary from five to 300 number. Also, the power requirements vary from 100KW to 12MW. The size of events vary from 5000sqm to 50,000sqm and visitor foot fall could be from 500 per day to 20,000 per day.
Manpower
For housekeeping and security services; there is a permanent outsourced team, which takes care of daily cleaning and security services. Apart from this, during the events, based on the requirements; the respective service providers position manpower.
Our major challenge has been sourcing of quality manpower in the requisite number to cater to the above dynamic nature of operations. The cost of the ad hoc manpower has been spiraling due to various factors in the industry. One way we have tried to bridge this gap is through formation of teams of 30/40 staff members, who would form the core of operations. The ad hoc manpower would work around this group giving focus to the entire process.
Another challenge is the limited time between events. We have turnaround times of 12 hours or less for big events. After close of one event; the entire venue is required to cleaned and handed over to the next client.
We have well planned approach to clearing of waste and cleaning which addresses the manpower deployment and waste clearance. We have evolved templates for different events, taking into consideration historical data and assumptions based on type of event and size.
Power
To cater to the dynamic power requirement; we hire diesel generators. This is done through our Electrical Maintenance service provider. Ensuring quality of generators and manpower has been a concern especially with the power crisis in the neighboring states.
We have devised clear SLAs with our service provider looking at quality of power delivery, manpower and the environmental aspects. We have put in place random stack monitoring to ensure the DGs are environmental friendly and have our technical team carry out routine checks of all DGs during operations.
Sustainability
One of the major concerns in the exhibitions space is the environmental impact. We have been working closely with many of the top players in the industry to put certain guidelines to have create awareness regarding the environmental issues and find locally viable solutions. Our focus on the environment led us to go for ISO 14001, which gave us a structured approach to sustainability initiatives.
As part of the ISO initiative, we have set objectives for environmental aspects, which are reviewed on a quarterly basis. Some of the objectives are;
1) Energy savings in HVAC by 5% annually
2) 100% use of Green Seal chemicals in housekeeping.
3) Control of diesel spillage during transfer to DGs
4) Indoor Air Quality Improvement inside the halls during set-up and dismantle of exhibitions
Occupational Health and Safety
Occupational Health & Safety has been area of concern due to the nature of the exhibition industry. The majority of safety issues occur during dismantle period of exhibitions and civil projects. The use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is being emphasized through continuous training. The challenge is with ensuring compliance of our client’s vendors, over which we have very little control.
We have contracts with our clients/organizers addressing these issues, but on ground compliance is a challenge. Recently, we have started engaging the clients on these issues and further cascade the same to their vendors. We have been organizing meetings and awareness sessions with these vendors.
Vendor Service Quality Manual
Over the last two years, we have developed the VSQM document to capture our requirements from the respective service partners in terms of;
1) Quality of Services – general standards, client specific requirements
2) Quality of Manpower – background checks, grooming, training
3) List of Documents – checklist, reports
4) Technical specifications and routines for technical team compliance
5) Vendor Selection process
6) Vendor periodic evaluation
The VSQM factors in the IMS requirements.
Now, we have put in place cross functional audits of all service providers every quarter, with VSQM as guideline. And the audit results/observations are shared with the respective service providers. These audit results are reviewed, along with the service providers, on a quarterly basis with specific emphasis on action taken.
We would be conducting at least 17 audits for the Facility Management processes this year. The VSQM was evolved to address all the challenges enumerated earlier i.e. manpower, power, sustainability and occupational health and safety.
