Why a Downturn Is the Best Time to Modernize Your Facilities Strategy

When you work in operations, you see it all. Your organization can’t close up shop at the first sign of a downtown or economic uncertainty. Instead, as someone in facilities management, you need to dig in your heels and strategically figure out how to make current business operations work in the new economic climate.

When uncertainty enters the facilities equation, the first reaction in some organizations may be to cut facilities costs and services, and wait for a “better time” to make operational investments.

However, facilities is one of the areas of business that should be seen as an opportunity center, not just a cost center. The facilities budget represents your business priorities and where you have decided to invest.

Slower economic periods, or times of uncertainty, are actually the ideal time to dive deeper into your facilities strategy and maintain a foundation for growth in the future. In unpredictable times, your organization may consider investing additional time, resources, or strategy in the following areas.

Prioritize preventive maintenance to reduce downtime and operational risk

When your organization appropriately manages asset performance, you are protecting business operations. Preventive maintenance, in good times and bad, is necessary to prevent emergency or systemic problems.

Make a bet on preventive maintenance, and you will be proactively reducing your short-term repair and maintenance costs (not to mention saving staff hours spent on maintenance coordination of work orders, inventory management, and invoice processing).

Cuts to the facilities budget can create higher replacement costs down the line as well. High levels of deferred maintenance can prevent equipment from running its full expected life, creating shorter asset lifecycles. Emergencies will happen, and being “behind the ball” with maintenance leads to costlier emergency breakdown responses.

If completing every single preventive maintenance activity is not an option due to reduced budget, focus your efforts during leaner periods to strategically reduce risk as much as possible:

• Understand which systems have the biggest impact on your core revenue generation. For example, for a restaurant, this might be the equipment used to preopare the product sold. Without these facilities elements working, your business cannot generate revenue.

• Protect your other critical assets next. Make a list of what equipment issues would disrupt your service operations the most. Frequently, these are the largest systems of your facility (like plumbing and HVAC in most businesses) or assets that protect inventory (like refrigeration in food service).

• When prioritizing, for all decisions, consider the cost of something failing. What would the repair or replacement timeline look like? Has the economic climate impacted the cost for parts or unit replacements? Any equipment with a particularly high cost of failure should be designated with a priority maintenance budget.

Don’t forget about your customers or vendors

If there are economic concerns or a downturn, your customers are likely feeling the squeeze the same way you are. Volumes may be lower; sales may stall. The first order of business is to ensure you are protecting the margins that you do have and not losing more business than is necessary. In reviewing the customer experience in your facilities, understand how you can maintain or improve current service standards.

In the same vein, your vendors like suppliers or service providers are also facing their own economic challenges. They may be dealing with inflating material and equipment costs. Keep open lines of communication about pricing and what your current facilities management strategy can accommodate. Even under pressure, healthy vendor relationships are still important for your current business and future growth.

Invest in data visibility and scalable technology

In a tough economic climate, your organization can’t afford to be guessing about your facilities management. You need to inject as much certainty as possible into your operations — built on real-time data and accurate historical information.

If your company’s facilities resources are fluctuating or being cut, you need to be more efficient than ever. Technology like a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can provide value in multiple areas:

• Automate day-to-day processes like checking warranty status or assigning and updating work order tickets

• Support accurate recordkeeping of asset histories and service and parts details

• Help enable strategic decisions about where to invest your resources, like in equipment repair/replace calculations

• Identify opportunities to save on costs by highlighting trends across assets (such as common breakdown causes, regular maintenance requirements, or performance dips across certain equipment sets)

With tools that help you scale operations, you can stretch your facilities maintenance strategy to cover more areas without requiring more headcount or staff hours. In fact, your facilities staff might have more time to spend on other activities that can help the bottom line.

Investment in technology can provide short-term and long-term savings, helping support immediate changes and building the foundation for a successful big picture strategy.

Prepare for the next upturn

In times of downturn, you may consider reducing facilities investments. However, tough times don’t stop the need for day-to-day operations.

While economic uncertainty may mean your organization may not be aggressively expanding, facilities operations are always laying the foundation for future growth. The systems and investments that you make now will have implications for years — prepare for the next phase of your business by streamlining smart operations now.

The best time for modernizing facilities management? Years before the economic downturn. The second best (and more realistic) time? Now!