Applications
Current FM technologies have very real limitations from the perspectives of interpreting data that is relevant, real time monitoring, openly collaborative, and data transferrable compared to that of emerging FM technologies that do exactly what current FM technologies cannot do. The following topics will now address the significant and exciting implications and varied applications that this new FM technology will have within our FM industry both today and tomorrow, which we call the FM / IT Nexus i.e. when the elements of Facility Management intersect with the digital world.
Command & Control Centers
Command & Control Centers (CCC) have traditionally been the space within a facility which collects and monitors the data coming from Building Automation Systems (BAS); receiving data from sensors, meters, devices, alarms; feeding it back to the command center where the building operator explores data alarms operating outside operating parameters i.e. temperature, run time, intrusion, etc. within that respective structure or groups of structures. Typically an on-site CCC may hold 1 or 2 employees who while reviewing the incoming data signals, may also be dispatched to assess and often undertake the asset repairs; this is very inefficient, and can be very expensive to maintain this way.
Today the FM industry is on the cusp of a new form of outsourcing. This outsourcing will focus on monitoring and analysis from the data of the connected buildings and machines within the built environment to CCC in another part of the globe where skillset maybe higher (or readily available) and labor costs are lower. There are advantages and disadvantages with outsourcing of monitoring building programs, but other than critical operations like hydro projects,nuclear plants, transit hubs, and high pressure boiler plants, how many facility management departments can afford to constantly watch their building operating parameters? Remote monitoring centers are being established to address the incoming digital messages, and initiate service request orders as required; these individuals are trained to address and swiftly interpret these messages.
Building Energy & Water Nexus
The United Nations Environment Programme reports, “Buildings use about 40% of global energy, 25% of global water, 60% of global electricity, and they emit approximately 1/3 of GHG emissions. Yet, buildings also offer the greatest potential for achieving significant GHG emission reductions, at least cost, in developed and developing countries. Furthermore, energy consumption in buildings can be reduced by 30 to 80% using proven and commercially available technologies.
Asset Tagging
RMS is only as effective as the most granular data point and the protocols which develop the datasets into analytical formats. A facility’s assets require an asset tag or unique identifying code which p
rovides the RMS foundation to build upon. Many facilities have “AHU2” scribbled the pump with felt marker and while this may have served a purpose in the past, technologies and business processes have vastly improved. Asset tags have morphed into labelling systems, then bar codes, RFID, and more recently QR codes.
