RESPONSES TO: Facilities Management vs. maintenance…what you all said

Posted by TIm on January 17, 2010
Stored in Blog

Last week I posted a blog about Facilities Management vs maintenance. By far, this has had the most readership of any of my blogs…and it has received a lot of input from you all….thanks.

Now…I am smart enough to know that most of you, after you read the blog, do not go back through and read the comments…so…I want to share some the comments with you as there are some great insights.

Here are your comments:

I think there is a big difference between facility management and facility maintenance. Good facility maintenance has evolved over the past 30 years and should focus primarily on preventive maintenance. As your preventive maintenance programs evolve you should see a decrease in reactive maintenance. Proactive, preventive (PMs), planning (maintenance planners), systematic (CMMS programs), save over long term and increase life cycles have all migrated to the maintenance side of your chart. The facility manager not only oversees maintenance but also has tons of other responsibilities like facility budgeting, energy, procurements and the list goes on. I know I have over simplified the differences and there are tons of variables based on organizational structure alone.

I agree…I think the key word that was used above is “oversees”. I believe that is one of the primary differences between Management and maintenance.

I think there is indeed a difference. FM can be defined as so much more than maintenance. FM can and should be proactive in looking for ways to staff, save, and service. Keeping up the the best tech ideas, security, “green uses” and more. Also FM staff can look for ways to better set-up, design, and multi-use of its “plant” rather than simply caring out orders or manual instructions. In most church settings these fuctions are a last minute “Hick-Up’ and is not thought out well or processed INTO Ministry systems. In short FM is working “ON” verses simply “IN” a process. Therefore becoming a vital part of any ministry process and it total outcome~!

I LOVE that last sentence….working “ON” and not “IN”. When we focus on working “IN” the maintenance issues associated with our ministry space, we forego the proactive part of working ON…there is a huge difference.

We have been in the management business for 9 years and the business thought that pops into my head is if it gets to the maintenance stage then we haven’t managed it very well.

OUCH!!!! That one hurts….but it is so true. This principle is true in so many facets of our life and work. When working with a church during a construction project, if either party ever felt it was necessary to get an attorney involved or to submit an issue to arbitration or court, then frankly, we had not done our job. Same applies here.

There is definitely a difference between the two terms – mainly in the corporate world but increasingly in the Higher Education area as well. Facilities Management – in Higher Education – is an all encompassing for the entire life cycle of an institutions infrastructure. By inference, this implies strategic oversight, leadership and vision. Facilities Maintenance on the other hand, although critically important to how a campus operates is highly tactical and usually reactive to change. Neither the Management or the Maintenance side work without the other, so the integration of strategic thinking and tactical implementation is essential to allow universities, schools and colleges plan for the future.

Sure there is a difference. Maintenance is just keeping what you have running smoothly and efficiently, but Fac. Management means planning ahead, seeking to improve, managing risks, learning what is available and so forth.

Now…with all that said…there is maintenance that must be done and there will be emergency repairs that have to be accomplished and dealt with. But I am convinced that the more proactive we are in our MANAGEMENT, the less we will be surprised and taken off point by the maintenance and repair issues of the day.

AMEN and AMEN!!!!!

Thanks everyone for your input….great stuff.