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Five FM trends that will save you time in 2024
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In this article, experts from TAP, a leading property management software company, share five current key trends that can speed up your work and improve outcomes in 2024 and beyond…

  1. Improving efficiency through automation in Facilities Management

For Facilities Managers, leveraging technology to enhance efficiency remains pivotal—an evolution that doesn’t mean relinquishing control to robots but rather embracing software capable of automating repetitive, labour-intensive, or error-prone tasks.

For example, TAP’s property management platform is a robust system designed to seamlessly alleviate the burden of manual tasks. Our permit tool streamlines the entire permit process, starting from request initiation, progressing RAMs collection, contractor check-ins, and securely storing the associated paper trail.

  1. Unlocking the power of data in the property sector

In today’s world, data is ubiquitous, and is integral to most industries. In recent years, the property sector has begun to embrace the transformative potential of data and analytics.

The TAP platform not only collects data but also provides comprehensive analytics through an intuitive dashboard. This powerful tool reports and analyses a wide range of property operations, from identifying peak periods to monitoring permit requests on a monthly basis, and even tracking energy consumption.

  1. Empowering facilities managers with proactive maintenance solutions

Preventive and predictive maintenance strategies are aimed at bolstering building performance while mitigating unforeseen repair expenditures. Regular upkeep ensures operational efficiency and safeguards against sudden, unexpected repair costs.

TAP’s helpdesk module and its innovative analytics dashboard is designed to facilitate optimal maintenance planning. This advanced software enables FMs to strategically schedule maintenance during opportune times, reducing disruptions for tenants and capitalising on quieter periods.

  1. The rise of IoT technology

The FM industry is poised to embrace IoT technology to a greater extent in the upcoming years. The Internet of Things refers to connected devices that engage with the physical environment through sensors, facilitating seamless data transfer. Integrating your property management software with these devices wherever feasible can significantly enhance the automation of data collection processes.

  1. Sustainable benefits for commercial property management

The focus on sustainability in commercial property isn’t a passing trend; it’s an imperative that continues to increase in significance. It is also poised to become increasingly pivotal from a building compliance standpoint, with the expansion of ESG reporting and likelihood of more stringent legislation. Energy efficiency is a key focus area both ethically and economically.

TAP’s sustainability module serves as a comprehensive tool, providing an encompassing overview of a building’s energy usage, allowing for the identification of areas that can be improved.

Visit: www.tap-in.co.uk/

$1.5 trillion global economy boost from ‘smart factories’
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Smartfactories could add at least $1.5 trillion to the global economy through productivity gains, improvements in quality and market share, along with customer services.

However, two-thirds of this overall value is still to be realized: efficiency by design and operational excellence through closed- loop operations will make equal contributions.

According to new data from the Capgemini Research Institute, China, Germany and Japan are the top three countries in smartfactory adoption, closely followed by South Korea, United States and France.

The report entitled Smart Factories @ Scale, identified the two main challenges to scaling up: the IT-OT convergence and the range of skills and capabilities required to drive the transformation including cross-functional capabilities and soft skills in addition to digital talent.

The report also highlights how the technology led-disruption, towards an ‘Intelligent Industry’, is an opportunity for manufacturers striving to find new ways to create business value, optimize their operations and innovate for a sustainable future.

Key findings of the study, which surveyed over 1000 industrial company executives across 13 countries, include:

Organizations are showing an increasing appetite and aptitude for smart factories: compared to two years ago, more organizations are progressing with their smart initiatives today and one-third of factories have already been transformed into smart facilities. Manufacturers now plan to create 40% more smart factories in the next five years and increase their annual investments by 1.7x compared to the last three years. 

The potential value add from smart factories is bigger than ever: based on this potential for growth, Capgemini estimates that smart factories can add anywhere between $1.5 trillion to $2.2 trillion to the global economy over the next five years. In 2017 Capgemini found that 43% of organizations had ongoing smart factory projects; which has shown a promising increase to 68% in two years. 5G is set to become a key enabler as its features would provide manufacturers the opportunity to introduce or enhance a variety of real-time and highly reliable applications.

Scaling up is the next challenge for Industry 4.0: despite this positive outlook, manufacturers say success is hard to come by, with just 14% characterizing their existing initiatives as ‘successful’ and nearly 60% of organizations saying that they are struggling to scale.

The two main challenges to scale up are:

·       The IT-OT convergence – including digital platforms deployment and integration, data readiness and cybersecurity – which will be critical to ensure digital continuity and enable collaboration. Agnostic and secure multilayer architectures will allow a progressive convergence.

·       In addition to digital talent, a range of skills and capabilities will be required to drive smart factory transformation including cross-functional profiles, such as engineering-manufacturing, manufacturing-maintenance, and safety-security. While soft skills, such as problem solving and collaborative skills will also be critical.

According to the report, organizations need to learn from high performers (10% of the total sample) that make significant investments in the foundations – digital platforms, data readiness, cybersecurity, talent, governance – and well-balanced “efficiency by design” and “effectiveness in operations” approach, leveraging the power of data and collaboration.

Jean-Pierre Petit, Director of Digital Manufacturing at Capgemini said: “A factory is a complex and living ecosystem where production systems efficiency is the next frontier rather than labor productivity. Secure data, real- time interactions and virtual-physical loopbacks will make the difference. To unlock the promise of the smart factory, organizations need to design and implement a strong governance program and develop a culture of data-driven operations.” 

“The move to an Intelligent Industry is a strategic opportunity for global manufacturers to leverage the convergence of Information Technology and Operational Technology, in order to change the way their industries will operate and be future ready,” he further added.

The report also details that PLM, MES / SCADA and robotics are key components of industrial architecture. However, the main areas of investment for at-scale deployments are IoT and AI, which support data-driven operations, as well as remote and mobile capabilities.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

Technology ‘crucial’ in the battle for greater service sector productivity
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Technology is a ‘crucial’ factor towards greater productivity and employee satisfaction, helping the services sector run more effectively as a result.

That’s the conclusion of a new report by Kronos, Empowering the Employee: How Technology Will Play its Part in Creating a More Efficient Workforce in the Services Sector, which outlines the challenges currently being faced by the FM sector, such as Brexit, the skills shortage and underperformance, with the direct result creating squeezed profits and an air of uncertainty for providers.

The report addresses these issues and suggests the service providers should embrace technology and help stimulate working practices and operations.

However, it claims that the services sector has yet to understand the full potential of technology advancements, such as robotics and workforce management tools.

“The services industry is up against it when it comes to delivering in the face of current market pressures,” commented Gavin England, EMEA industry marketing manager Kronos.

 “Skills shortages mean that businesses are struggling to efficiently move goods and fulfil orders, and the potential impact of Brexit means that there needs to be a major focus on improving operational efficiencies and streamlining core processes, while keeping staff morale high.

“The pressure to increase bottom-line profitability in the face of such challenges is very real, and one of the most effective ways that this can be done is by empowering managers and employees to do their jobs more effectively with the resources they currently have.”