Asset-Facility Management Blog

People, Process and Technology

1
1 year ago
by Norm Mistal in

I recently came across a white paper from Knowledgestorm published by Mr. Edward R. Flaherty, CEO of TrenStar, Inc. regarding -finding the ROI in your asset tracking initiatives. Flaherty contends that it is people, process and technology as the balance in the implementation of an asset tracking solution. This caught my attention as we have stated in our literature that Centennial has the people, process and technology to provide customers cost effective inventory services.
Mr. Flaherty states that best practices and proven processes combined with technology are the keys to developing successful and sustainable asset tracking and management programs. He continues with “but the real value of a well designed tracking solution is the information it brings to your organization. To truly optimize your investment, you need to be able to capture and analyze the data over a period of time and then be willing to commit to modifying your business processes when the data tells you that there’s a more cost effective or efficient way to operate.
Selecting Centennial Associates, Inc. as a business partner will speed implementation of your asset management solution by providing data collection services to populate your database with accurate information. Leveraging that information will quickly enable the management team to take action where opportunities for business process improvements are identified and shorten the path to generating a return on investment.
In short, it’s the synergy created when you bring together the right people, processes and technology for your particular initiative that will help ensure your success. That’s the first step in getting a measurable ROI.

The Economic Impact of Asset Tracking

0
1 year ago
by Norm Mistal in

You can’t turn on the news these days without hearing about how the economy is affecting one thing or another. I would like to take a radical glass is half full approach and look at how today’s economy could potentially have a positive impact on something – asset tracking. We all know budgets are tight and a lot of new equipment purchases are being delayed. Isn’t that the perfect time to do an internal inventory of the equipment you already have?

Let’s look at the objectives of an asset tracking program. First, it should make a company more efficient – allowing them to know where a specific piece of equipment is and other pertinent information, i.e. maintenance information, etc. Now look at the alternative – companies spending thousands of dollars in manhours alone searching for lost assets; purchasing unnecessary replacement equipment only to find the “lost” equipment later. In addition, unused assets may be an unnecessary tax liability and cause a company to overpay insurance premiums.

Implementing an effective asset tracking program is not terribly difficult. Different technologies are available, i.e. bar code and/or RFID depending on the needs of your specific company. Centennial Associates with MetalCraft labels help companies implement an asset tracking program.

We all need to be careful about how we spend our money these days. Companies with an effective asset tracking program will be ahead of the game when the economy turns around (and, yes, it will turn around). And seriously, who wouldn’t want that?
Reprinted with permission MetalCraft Blog Wednesday, August 19, 2009

February 18, 2010 Experience

0
1 year ago
by Norm Mistal in

This was an exciting week for me personally. As President of the Western NY Chapter of the International Facility Management Association I was honored to be asked to be a member of the Advisory Board for the Master of Science in Facility Management Graduate program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY. This on-line course prepares an individual with the knowledge base to be an effective facility manager in any business or organization.
My entry into facility management was as an engineering technician in an engineering group responsible for providing test equipment and maintaining the facility for a large Division within the big yellow box company here in Rochester, NY. There wasn’t formal training for facility managers in 1979 so you grew in the position through day-to-day experience, you learned by doing. In fact there was not any discipline called Facilities Management. Probably the closest I got to that was through working with the IE’s assigned to work with our group. Over time I gained the skills and developed resources needed to manage facilities projects daily and to develop timely solutions outcomes that satisfied our internal customers. It wasn’t until the mid-1980’s facility management became a career path. With the RIT MS graduate program a full-time student can learn in 20 months or 2 years part-time what I learned over nearly 15 years as a full-time facility manager. True, you never stop learning and after leaving the big box in 1991, those skills learned never go away. Today, I’m still involved with many of the facets of facility management particularly the unique service of building asset databases for facility managers and maintenance mangers who are truly interested in reducing costs using the technologies available to track equipment and costs.
Take a moment and review the program content available in the on-line program. See if it’s for you. Do in 20-24 months what took me the nearly 15 years to learn and many learn better.

http://www.rit.edu/programs/program_detail.php?id=410

February 2010 – Improve use of your CMMS program

1
1 year ago
by Norm Mistal in

New information is always coming across my desk. I found two interesting articles in the on-line FacilitiesNet magazine.

CMMS programs, once implemented, sometimes become over time underutilized whereby the actual return on investment, ROI, isn’t achieved as quickly as was the intention. The following links below discuss ways to maximize, improve overall use of a CMMS program that will increase productivity and reduce costs.

Centennial Associates, Inc., over the last three years, has specialized in unique facilities services providing customers a data collection process that builds baseline inventories of maintainable assets to populate a company’s Computer Maintenance Management System quickly and cost effectively.

If you would like more information on our services, contact us at 585-671-0544.

Getting the most from CMMS – http://www.facilitiesnet.com/software/tip/Getting-the-Most-from-a-CMMS–18327

CMMS: 5 commonly under used functions – http://www.facilitiesnet.com/software/tip/CMMS-Five-Commonly-Underused-Functions–20585

Have a great day.

Go to Top