Practicing Operational Excellence Within Facilities Management

Operational excellence refers to the idea of satisfying the demands of the customer, while ensuring that the organization fully applies all principles and methodologies related to its field of work and utilizes their potential as best as possible. An organization must also strive for sustainability in its growth in the context of operational excellence, and it has become a critical part of the workflow of many companies around the world nowadays.

Facilities management is a field that sees a particularly strong adoption of the idea of operational excellence, and there are many opportunities to improve the way a company operates in this field, and ensure that it gets even better, more consistent results. When an organization is applying operational excellence correctly, it should have a complete overview of the whole system, something which can be of particular importance when it comes to facilities management.

A Systematic Approach to Facilities Management

A commonly seen problem in many organizations today even some larger, well-established ones is that they often have a pretty chaotic approach to their facilities management. While it’s true that this field predisposes to spontaneous decisions and thinking on the frontline, it’s also important to ensure that the whole development is driven by a sustainable approach with a clear final goal.

Considering that facilities management has a strong overlap with the integration of technology within the organization, it makes sense that you would want to pursue a more systematic, streamlined approach to it. This is especially true today, when we have such a huge range of available options when it comes to technological solutions to any problem. It’s very important that the company implements those with a clear view towards the future, instead of just thinking in a short-term mode.

Realizing the Company’s Full Potential During Emergency Situations

Another important area of facilities management business continuity can also benefit strongly from an approach driven by operational excellence. The better the company is prepared for a state of emergency, the better it will be able to utilize its resources during those challenging periods. It’s not rare for some companies to go under as a result of poor emergency preparation in case something happens for a longer period of time. Even if things don’t get that bad for your business, lack of preparedness can still have catastrophic consequences on your operations, making it hard to recover for quite awhile.

And unfortunately, it’s still not rare to see companies taking a very uneducated approach to their continuity planning, and leaving critical aspects pretty much to chance. It’s one thing to see this in a smaller organization that doesn’t devote serious resources to continuity planning, but when it happens in a larger one, it’s a strange sight that leads one to question the overall leadership of that company.

Outside of the Scope of Business

It’s also possible for facilities management to extend beyond the main scope of the company’s work, targeting non-core areas. This is also something that can benefit a lot from a good application of operational excellence, although the specific details are going to vary from one company to another. It’s still important to remember that this is usually an area that benefits a lot from an innovative approach and constant integration of new solutions, which is a direct match to what operational excellence aims to provide within an organization in the first place.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to gain from approaching your facilities management with the methodology of operational excellence. Following these principles at every step of the way can have great results in the overall development of the company, and it won’t take long to see the benefits across the whole organization.