A Little Bamboozling

     In the mid 1980's I worked in the energy management department for a major manufacturing company. We had about 200 various departments that we monitored for electrical consumption and published a fat quarterly report distributed to all.

     In the course of our dealing with the departments we found many who took us seriously as well as some down right against our presence. Most were somewhere in between.

      When we plotted the graphs for the report we knew the managers would thumb through and probably only notice pages with some outstanding anomaly. With that in mind we would adjust the graph settings so cooperative departments who put forth an effort would get a smoother line. Belligerent departments  might also be edited to make their usage graphically more dramatic and more noticeable to the bosses. Nasty little devils weren't we!

       So the presentation to those farthest away from understanding the actual use was manipulated by the presenters. That happened 25 years ago. I was young and played into my seniors who thought this up. It is not on my agenda today.

     It could give rise to the idea that a presentation, even today, could be manipulated in the same manner. The farther away from actual use a decision maker is, the more suspect they should be of "strangers bearing gifts".

Value Vs. Budget

A school district had an underground LP gas storage tank to provide fuel for the High School emergency generator. It was the responsibility of the building mechanic to order fuel annually. A recent retirement put a new person in that position. Unaware of this duty, the fuel level became low. This caused a gas smell on the area of the generator.

When reprimanded for the failure to order fuel the new person was told that this was a significant item and cost the district $3200 each year. It was a line item in the budget and had been for many years. Brought to light at the meeting, the cost appeared quite high. The generator automatically exercised for 1 hour every Friday. The local utility was very reliable and outages were infrequent. Given that the base operation was 52 hours per year and outages did not exceed another 4 hours annually, it was questioned how the generator could consume nearly $60 worth of fuel per hour. An investigation found the tank leaked underground. The leakage accounted for about $2600 of the annual budget.

Many times a budget figure is used as a basis for performance. If “X” number of dollars has been spent, we are in line with the budget and things are OK. We meet the budget and do not really know what we spent the money on. It is important to know the value, to micro-manage, every dollar spent.

Utilities and maintenance are ideal places to capture inefficiencies through micro-management. As with the generator fuel mentioned earlier, the ability to step back and analyze individual pieces of equipment or complete systems can bring dramatic cost reduction.  Most managers can do this effectively if their plate is not full already.

Where Does My Footprint Start?

Wouldn’t it be easy if a products carbon footprint started at your threshold? Ah, here it is my new green product! I am so sustainable. It might not be that easy…………

            I have about 20 FLC incandescent bulbs in my house. They range from 60 to 100 watt. They all work. The word on the street is to replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs and be as green as the greenest on my block. Oh, wait! To be green I am going to throw away 20 perfectly usable bulbs? I feel a heart palpitation. Well, OK, maybe I don’t see the big picture.

            Being conscious of green building practices I always want to know the source of products I buy. So I went online and did a Google search for “manufacturers CFL bulbs”. Global Sources.com popped right up. This should give a good representation. Ummmmmmm, 197 manufacturers from mainland China and 16 from Hong Kong. I check the pull down menu, no other countries are found. Wait a minute, let’s check another site. No luck, I only found a bunch of distributors in the US.

            OK, I’m going to be green so I throw away 20 working light bulbs and have replacements shipped from China. Will they be delivered in a Prius? Nah, the water it too deep. So a steam ship or an airplane is going to bring them to the US and they will be trucked to my local outlet. Haven’t I heard about China using a lot of dirty fossil fuel in their manufacturing plants?

            I need to think about this.

            I did notice a slight draft from the edge of the window by my desk. I’m going to get an old newspaper and fold it over enough to fill that crack. Then I am going to sit here just a little longer and think about how I can reduce my carbon footprint.

     Bernie

Hidden Values & a Compressor Tip

Often boardroom discussions for service businesses focus on customer satisfaction. Our conversations lead to the topic of customers who “get it” and those who don’t. How can our service be evaluated by a customer who doesn’t see non-events as the result of efforts? I am not very good at brazing. For the most part I have been in-house employed and had the luxury of maintaining equipment as opposed to the outsourced service who attends to emergencies. The job focus is very different and different skill sets are required.

     Once I worked at a multi-building site which had five walk in freezers. Mostly due to an unstable power grid we had frequent power outages of significant duration. When I came to work with them there was a budget line item for replacement of at least one refrigeration compressor annually, at about $4,500. In my formative years I had learned what damage these outages can do by breaking crankshafts, pistons, and rods upon a return to power. When the first outage hit I ran to all the compressors and closed the suction valve. Then I could perform a supervised start up and avoid compressor damage. I also provided refrigeration wrenches at all the smaller compressors with suction valves. The building mechanics were instructed to isolate the compressor if an outage of more than 20 minutes occurred. In three years we lost no compressors. Since we avoided failures, the brazing skills, little that they were, never got used.

     Along comes the fourth year and we relocated a walk in freezer. The evaporator was in a difficult location and I was moving into bifocal age. I just couldn’t get the joint brazed. I had to bring in a service contractor to finish the job. All hell broke loose. What kind of mechanic can’t braze!

     I guess if we lost more compressors I could have honed my skills. Maybe I “didn’t get it.” That was about 20 years ago. It is amazing how each experience teaches us something…… and how well we remember.

Bernie

The Root of Most Problems

     Someone did not know what they were selling to someone who did not know what they were buying.    

     Look back over your own history and think about how many times this was the cause of disappointment or headache; or very expensive. The first time this became etched in my mind was when we bought six or eight rooftop heat pumps for a commercial job only to find out the electric heating contactors were not included. Back at that time the $2,000 extra cost was a killer.

    In an equation it shows a need of effort on both sides of the purchase. How many times has a person just given a wave of the hand as if what they want can magically appear OR what they will deliver will easily fall out of the air.

     Another simple concept; digest it for a few moments, decide to make a great effort to live up to your side, and then let a third party throw in "Value Engineering"! Ok, we have a design, we understand the deliverable, now let's detract.
 
     Bernie

A Simple Operations Test

     I have a test.

     Let's say we have scheduled a meeting to discuss opportunities to optimize your building operations for today at 1:00 PM. It is now 12:30 and you take a quick look at the meeting agenda. You see that I had requested an accurate and verifiable report of the occupied schedules for all your Air Handling Units. In the half hour you have available, will you be able to provide the report?

     Sounds pretty simple; most managers I have presented this test to have given the "deer in the headlights" look.

     What could be more important than turning off equipment when no one is there? The verification part is most disconcerting to them. Are the units in "hand"? Are there overrides? Were extended hours for special occasions left in place? Does a controls department handle scheduling? It has not been a cheerful little test for most.

     Last night I presented it to a friend at dinner. He blushed some, then laughed, and said "Can I build a windmill, instead?".

     Bernie

The Upside Down Triangle of Management

     Look at any organization chart or stop a facilities employee in the hall and ask them who holds the top position in facilities. The answer will probably be the Chief Facilities Officer, Vice President in charge of Facilities, or just the Facilities Director. Do you think anyone would answer "the Customer"?

     The Customer is who we exist for. My organization chart puts them right at the top. As a group we exist to support the customer's needs. Who is next? Well, black belt kamasigma friends, the next level is the front line cleaners, mechanics, and technicians who directly serve the Customers. And they are supported by their direct supervision.

     Department head's and Director's job is to support supervision. You can see where this puts the guy who everyone thought was at the top. He has the job of supporting all who support the customer.

     This happens in most situations, although rarely stated in this manner. And over my decades in FM I have seen huge amounts of traffic in the perceived "upward" flow and damned little flowing to the front line to support those closest to the customers. How about that excess in the training budget at the end of the year; or the purchase of used laptops for the field guys? As middle managers we sometimes starve our front liners of the tools they need to service the Customer.

     What flows downhill in the traditional perception? Lots of times really lame ideas which infiltrated the board room and are forced on those who understand the Customer's needs most.

     There needs to be a culture of awareness that puts the Customer at the top of the organization chart and defines the supportive roles of management. The only place it can start is at the "bottom" of the heap and with bravery.

     Bernie