2. COVER STORY
By NaoMi MillÁN, associate editor
E
xcellence requires a touch of grace: pro athletes seem to defy the laws of phys-
ics, artists breathe into life the sublime, scientists are able to see beyond to
what is possible.
It takes commitment to a vision, in- deavor. A resolution that being short on
genious thinking and strategies, talent budget doesn’t prevent largesse in in-
and doggedness. novation. And decision making driven
You might not think facilities man- by sustainability, not as a buzzword or
agement is an apt arena for these kinds as a PR move, but because it just plain
of attributes to flourish, but as the five makes sense.
winners of the 2011 FMXcellence Though the exact parameters of
award show, there is no limit to the each organization’s projects might not
feats of achievement possible in the be directly exportable to all facility
field. Best of all, no Spandex required. management departments, their strate-
The winners are varied in geography gies for leadership and problem solving
and facility type: Western Michigan certainly are.
University in Kalamazoo, Mich.; PNC
Financial Services Group in Scran- Green Means Go
ton, Pa.; Hays Consolidated Indepen- Being green has, begrudgingly by
dent School District in Buda, Texas; some, become de rigeur. But by mov-
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in ing beyond a few green touches here
Charlotte, N.C.; and the Department and there to adopt a systematic ap-
of Central Services, State of Oklahoma proach, sustainability can rise as a way
government. And yet certain themes to showcase true leadership in facilities
bind them. A vision of facilities man- management and garner benefits for
agement as a strategic quantifiable en- the larger organization.
Building Operating Management/August ’11 23
3. Take what occurred in the State of going to get.” efforts since then have yielded an 18
Oklahoma government’s Department Making sustainability and energy percent decrease in total campus en-
of Central Services (DCS), office of fa- efficiency the frames in which deci- ergy consumption, even though the
cilities management. In response to a sions are considered has yielded more building square footage increased by
constrained budget and rising energy immediate benefits. From fiscal year 17 percent.
costs, several years ago the facility 2008, when the office of facilities man-
agement established an energy unit, calling in the experts
through fiscal year 2010, electricity Initiatives like systemwide adoption
savings alone equaled over 8 million of sustainability don’t succeed without
kWh, an 18 percent reduction in the leadership. But they also don’t succeed
more than 2 million square foot port- without the right team in place. One of
folio of state-owned buildings. the ways the State of Oklahoma’s of-
At Western Michigan University, fice of facilities management was able
Peter Strazdas, associate vice president to achieve its many gains was through
for facilities management, says it was a fundamental restructuring of the
less a point of policy and more of a organization and specializing job de-
revolution that brought sustainability scriptions. In addition to the office of
to the fore on campus. And facilities management’s energy group,
the facilities department units for finance and purchasing were
decided to be leaders in the established. Instead of having teams
change. dedicated to a building, facilities man-
“We elected to participate agement functions were centralized
with the students and the fac- with in-house specialists being sent out
ulty in this cultural transfor- to buildings as needed.
mation to a more sustainable Hiring for and using existing in-
campus,” Strazdas says. “We house expertise not only provided
found a common vision between significant efficiencies but also cost
our facilities’ needs to be more savings. For example, the building
management department instituted sustainable and some of the students’ automation system is now serviced
a sustainability plan. This plan was cultural needs to be more sustainable in-house by Cherry and a team he has
meant to be a department initiative but on campus.” trained. In the last three years, they
was so well-received it was rolled out to What really turned the tide was the
the entire agency. It touches everything renovation of the College of Health and
they do. Human Services in 2008. With a new
“The sustainability plan is anything university president who wanted to
from how we purchase motors to how focus more on LEED certification, ac-
we purchase chemicals,” says Craig cording to Strazdas, the facility became
Cherry, facilities operations manager, the first LEED-EBOM Gold building
DCS. “It is the roadmap for everything in higher education in the world. The
we do now.” And what they’re finding focus on existing buildings had only
is that decisions driven by the sustain- begun in earnest in 2008, so there was
ability plan end up being the right thing a bit of education for the staff. “We had
to do long-term for the good of the or- to transform a lot of oper-
ganization. ating practices, processes
As an example he points to a boiler and materials and educa-
replacement. The 55-year-old boilers tion for the staff in that
were still hanging on, but were ineffi- building,” Strazdas says.
cient and were getting harder to certify. “The transformation was so
Once it became crucial to replace the successful in that one building
boilers, they decided to go with highly that it cascaded across the oth-
efficient condensing boilers. Though er 150 buildings on campus.”
they had to pay more upfront than for Of course, not every build-
a direct replacement, operation and gas ing on Western Michigan’s
usage are much better now than they’ve campus is LEED-EBOM certified, but have not had a single outside service
ever been. “We looked at the long-term it ramped up changes in the way the 8 call for building automation. This al-
effect, and we do that on everything million square foot campus operates. lows them to spend that money on
now,” Cherry says. “It’s not just what’s The move to sustainability began in infrastructure for the BAS to improve
the best price. We’re looking at lifetime the late ‘90s, with the construction of and expand the system.
usage and what’s the best benefit we’re the Parkview campus, and collective The synergies extend beyond main-
24 Building Operating Management/August ’11
4. tenance and operations. With contract take place in four waves, with around consultant also allowed PNC to throw
officers who are more closely versed 400 sites per wave. Every two months, all kinds of “what ifs” at them. What
in facilities management, contracts a new wave would kick off, with the if they changed from neon tubing to
are negotiated without costly scope whole process starting in August 2009 LEDs? The consultant was able to do
overruns. For example, 20 chillers and wrapping up in June 2010. Pulling the necessary research and analysis
had previously been on full-service it off required coordinating thousands amid everything else going on in the
contracts because the people setting of people, from bank personnel to sign conversion. Working with the consul-
manufacturers (10 of them) to trades- tant led to a cheaper-to-manufacture
men like carpenters and painters. sign using LEDs. What’s more, some
Zurinskas had always worked with signs were redesigned with less metal,
a sign consultant, but facing the enor- and sign contracts were awarded in
mity and complexity of the task pushed a manner that created advantageous
him to upgrade to a firm he considered pricing.
a “Cadillac” in the field: Monigle As-
sociates. “I didn’t need that kind of double-dipping impact
horsepower to do the conversions we One successful strategy among the
had been doing,” Zurinskas says. “But FMXcellence winners was making
when we came across National City’s an initiative work double-time, in ef-
acquisition, I knew I fect stretching resources for more re-
had to bring in a larger sults. At Western Michigan, Strazdas
firm to help coordinate called this “double-dipping.” When he
this thing.” They helped thinks of what projects to pursue in
with creating a timeline a coming year and where to allocate
and keeping Zurinskas’ funds, three things are taken into con-
team accountable for meet- sideration: the return on investment,
ing necessary deadlines. the impact on energy consumption
This allowed PNC to form and whether it will also address a de-
the task groups and focus ferred maintenance need.
on the “internal horsepower” But the king of the double-dip
up the contracts hadn’t understood they needed for the job. is Hays Consolidated Independent
the actual scope of need. Last year, the For example, with two big banks School District in Buda, Texas, and
contract was rebid to cover just annual coming together, getting informa- its ingenious funding mechanism for
and recurring maintenance, with repair tion down through the internal chain energy efficiency. A 2003 audit found
work on an on-call basis. Cherry says to avoid confusion was challenging.
they’ve saved $100,000 in the first year With any large acquisition, Zurinskas
and expect to save more in subsequent says, there are often concerns, rumors
years. and miscommunication coming from
At the other end of the spectrum, at outside the project team. To avoid
PNC Financial Services Group, pro- this, frequent bulletin board progress
viding excellent facilities management updates were posted. Prior to the sign
required recognizing when a project conversion beginning in each market, a
was beyond in-house capabilities and notification was sent out describing the
creating a smart partnership with an general sign conversion process, what
outside vendor. to expect and how to address issues.
PNC has been growing steadily over Finally, individual site installation no-
the years, with acquisitions rolling in tifications were sent the week
every other year. When the National prior to actual scheduled work
City acquisition was finalized in 2008, beginning at each site.
John Zurinskas, vice president and Not only did all these ef-
group regional manager with PNC Re- forts allow for the mammoth
alty Services, knew merging the two conversion to go off as planned,
organizations’ real estate portfolios but they actually managed a 16.5
was going to be a challenge. Zurinskas percent savings compared to what
had many conversions under his belt, the sign conversion process had
including a large one comprising 320 previously cost, Zurinskas says. This the school district needed to do two
buildings. But the National City acqui- was in part due to the economy tank- things: institute an energy management
sition was far bigger: 1,640 branches ing, making for sharper competition program and figure out a way to fund
nationwide, including 26,000 signs. among the sign manufacturers. But replacing the maintenance vehicle fleet.
PNC decided the conversion would the in-house capabilities of the sign And then came the ah-ha moment —
Building Operating Management/August ’11 25
5. and operation, Hays CISD. everything is about efficiency. The first
To determine a baseline for savings, position hired with the energy savings
existing campuses were given an energy was an evening coil cleaner. Cleaning
budget equal to their electricity costs in the coils in the evenings removes the
fiscal year 2002-2003 for their build- interruption to the school. And coils
ing; facilities constructed after that cleaned in a timely fashion mean equip-
were budgeted at $1 per square foot ment is running efficiently. The evening
for electricity. Savings due to energy maintenance program has grown to a
efficiency initiatives staff of 13, doing everything from coil
enacted under the cleaning to campus delamping, without
energy management needing overtime or weekend hours.
program have returned
$250,000 to the schools, Working Hard for the Money
set aside $450,000 to A great boon for the Hays program
guard against electricity is that the savings are protected by
rate increases, and allowed school board policy, so the $450,000
why not use one to fund the other? the district to hire person- in the fund balance will not be touched
They didn’t stop at funding a new nel, including two energy manage- for other cash-starved needs in the dis-
fleet, but broke down the potential ment technicians whose salaries are trict. This might seem nothing short
energy cost savings to give some mon- fully funded by the energy savings they of miraculous to some facility manag-
ey back to the schools, fund energy achieve, says Herrin. ers, who see the savings their depart-
efficiency initiatives, hire new staff “Everything they do, every time they ments generate quickly swallowed by
and even set money aside to cover en- touch a piece of equipment, not only the needs of the larger organization.
ergy rate increases, says R.C. Herrin, is it repairing something, but it’s using Though they acknowledge this is of-
executive director of maintenance less electricity,” Herrin says. At Hays, ten the case, the FMXcellence winners
Kärcher Classic Hot Pressure Washers
USE 25+% LESS FUEL
Saving you $1,000 or more per year in fuel costs! Get a FREE $50 Gift Card
with your purchase from an authorized Kärcher dealer through August 31st.
Scan this code with a QR reader on your Smart Phone to see Kärcher’s innovative
heating technology in action. Visit KarcherCommercial.com/SaveFuel to find an
authorized Kärcher dealer and redeem your FREE $50 Gift Card!
26 Building Operating Management/August ’11 ▲ free info: Circle 416
6. say establishing what needs to be done funding is not cut.” could, says Strazdas. But why would
with the savings is an important part At Western Michigan, they take en- they want to slow down a successful
of success. ergy savings dollars and roll them into program, he says, adding that it’s the
“This type of funding vehicle, the next year’s energy conservation mea- facility manager’s job to make sure the
way it’s successful is if you don’t ask for sures. So far, the university administra- larger organization understands the
more money to fund these projects,” tion has not moved to claim the sav- benefits of energy savings programs.
says Herrin. “But it can only work if ings for other purposes, though they “Every year, you’ve got to keep leaning
on the horn,” Strazdas says. “We have
continued to regularly toot our horn
relative to the success of our energy
conservation measures. And the regu-
larity of tooting our horn is probably
the reason why the dollars have not
gone elsewhere.”
It’s a similar situation at Charlotte-
Fa c i l i t y S e r v i c e s Mecklenburg Schools, in Charlotte,
N.C., where Philip Berman, executive
director for building services, got the
district’s financial department to agree
for the last four years to return budget
underrun funds back to his depart-
ment, to the tune of $5 million, which
he was able to put back into low-hang-
Flat Mop ing fruit projects, like lighting retrofits.
These savings were garnered, again,
by a adopting a systematic approach
to energy efficiency and sustainability
Obviously, it’s a picture of a flat mop. measures through an environmental
(a real one would have made stewardship charter, with buy-in from
a soggy mess of your magazine) the Board of Education and superin-
tendent. The charter was approved as a
cost-neutral project; to support it, Ber-
man pursued alternate funding such as
grants and rebates.
In the hands of our cleaning Berman provides quarterly reports
specialists, you’ll be amazed at to the school system’s executives, giv-
what a flat mop can do, ing him a forum to spread the word
from a name you can trust. about his team’s work. “As they saw
us being successful each year, we told
Varsity...We clean it. them what we had to do to continue
the success,” Berman says, adding that
facility managers have to market their
success to safeguard their initiatives.
“You can’t just sit back. You have to
say what you’re going to do, do what
Visit trustvarsity.com you said and then communicate what
and register to win you did.”
a Kindle™ reader! As the winners of this year’s FMX-
cellence award show, achieving excel-
lence in facilities management is pos-
sible through leadership and ingenuity,
and really stretching the boundaries of
what is possible with the resources at
hand. As Berman says, “There’s a dif-
WE CLEAN IT. WE FIX IT. WE BUILD IT. ference between a manager, a supervi-
TRUST VARSITY FOR JANITORIAL • MAINTENANCE • CONSTRUCTION sor and a leader.”
Email comments and questions to
1055 South 3600 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 | varsity-usa.com | (888) 878-6844 naomi.millan@tradepress.com.
28 Building Operating Management/August ’11 ▲ free info: Circle 418
