By James C. Elledge, IFMA Fellow, CFM, FMA, RPA, RIAQM
Published in the May 2008 issue of Today’s Facility Manager
Q Isthere a step by step guide available that will assist us in theformulation of a capital equipment replacement program? Our facilityhas entered its fifth decade of operation, and none of the originalequipment has been modernized; this includes boilers, chillers,compressors, and the list goes on and on.
Neil Kingston
Director Of Facilities
University Of The Pacific
School Of Dentistry
San Francisco, CA
A Sinceyour equipment is still functioning, it appears that you will need toprioritize your plant equipment replacement program. You will need tolist all of your equipment and then develop a plan based on severalcriteria:
- Age
- Serviceable or obsolete: Can it be repaired within a reasonable amount of time?
- Cost savings: What equipment would provide savings if replaced? Theannual savings can be used to justify the replacement/upgrade.
- “Criticality”: What equipment will cause the most down time to the school if it will not operate?
- Creative financial assistance: Are you aware of any grants, loans, orsubsidies which might be available? Your local utilities may have someenergy incentives which could help pay for the upgrades.
Checkout the tools and resources library available from the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR Web site.
Elledge,facility/office services manager for Dallas, TX-based Summit AllianceCompanies, is the recipient of the Distinguished Author Award from theInternational Facility Management Association (IFMA), is an IFMA Fellow, and isa member of TFM’sEditorial Advisory Board. All questions have been submitted via the “Ask TheExpert” portion of the magazine’s Web site. To pose a question, visit this link.
