The First Facility Management Blog

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has formally recognized the Green Building Initiative (GBI) as an accredited national standards developer, thus making the GBI the first green building organization permitted to develop and maintain American National Standards (ANS). The GBI is also in the process of establishing Green Globes - a Web-based environmental design and rating system for commercial buildings - as an ANS.

In an era of non-stop business and organization change, designing and renewing organizations has emerged as a critical skill set for leaders in many industries. The Conference Board’s 2005 Organization Design and Renewal Conference will be held September 29-30 at the Westin New York at Times Square.

More and more companies believe that designing, refining, and renewing organizations represents a critical skill that executives must possess to win in the competitive marketplace. Designing organizations includes changing structures but goes much further to include business processes and the alignment of variables such as people and rewards required to fully implement a strategy.

This meeting, intended for executives charged with leading or supporting organization design initiatives will include the following sessions:
“Organization Design: The Transformation of Home Depot” will be addressed by Dennis M. Donovan, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, The Home Depot, Inc.
“Globalization and Organization Design” will be examined by Coleen A. Smith, Vice President, Global People Development and Staffing Education and Training, Employee Relations and Best Place to Work, Colgate-Palmolive Company.
“Organization Design and Mergers and Acquisitions” will be addressed by Jack Leary, Vice President, Employee Relations and Chief Learning Officer, United Technologies Corporation.
“Aligning the Organization to Achieve A Global Growth Strategy” will be explored by Ann R. Henry, Vice President, Global Operations, HP Financial Services; Madeline Rosenberg, Director, Global Workforce Development and Organization Effectiveness, HP Financial Services; Alan Checketts, Organization Design and Effectiveness Consultant.
“Building Internal Organization Design Capability” will be examined by Bridie Fanning, Vice President, Human Resources, GE Consumer Finance; and Kreig Smith, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Consulting, Aligna Solutions.
“Creating a Customer-Centric Organization” will be discussed by Shari Ballard, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Best Buy Co., Inc.
“Organization Design and Culture” will be presented by Andy Esparza, Vice President, Global Human Resource Services, Dell Inc.
“Enterprise-Wide Organization Design” will be addressed by Eric Hansen, Director of Organization Development, Staffing & Planning, Hallmark Cards, Inc.
“Linking Organization Design and Business Strategy at The Cleveland Clinic” will be presented by Bob Llamas, Chief Human Resources Officer, Cleveland Clinic Health System.
“Leadership and Organization Design” will be presented by Jim Shanley, Staffing, Learning, Leadership Development Executive, Bank of America; John Beeson, Principal, Beeson Consulting, Inc.
“Introducing Organization Change,” a panel discussion moderated by John Fulkerson, Fulkerson & Associates, will also feature Eric Hansen, Director, Organization Development, Staffing and Planning, Hallmark Cards, Inc.; Ann R. Henry, Vice President, Global Operations, HP Financial Services, Howard Levine, Vice President, Human Resources, Merck Research Laboratories; and Jim Shanley, Staffing, Learning, Leadership Development Executive, Bank of America.

To register, please call (212) 339-0233, or e-mail y.burnside@conference-board.org.

As everyone anxiously await the arrival of Hurricane Rita, we desperately need a little break from the tension.

Here’s a link to the Early Office Museum. Check out the history of the office and some of the other exhibits. The antique office photos are very interesting.

Photo source: Metlife Archives, courtesy of the Early Office Museum

The USGBC is seeking candidate nominations for the upcoming Board of Director elections. Nominations will be accepted between now and September 30, and the election ballot will open on Tuesday, November 8.
Board seats are open in each of the following member categories:
•One Seat: At-Large
•One Seat: Building Product Manufacturers/Building Controls Manufacturers/Building Operations and Maintenance
•One Seat: Contractors/Builders
•One Seat: Financial Institutions/Insurance Companies
•One Seat: Professional Firms
•One Seat: Professional Societies/Trade Associations
•One Seat: Real Estate/Real Estate Service Providers
•Two Seats: Nonprofit and Environmental Organizations
If you are interested in submitting a nomination, please click here and go to the member news section (in My Resources) for more information and the online application form. If you have any questions, please e-mail elections@usgbc.org.

Turner Construction Company, praised for its pioneering work in sustainable building, will be joining with the National Building Museum to co-sponsor the first-ever green conference promoting leadership in sustainable construction for both the K-12 and Higher Education sectors. Entitled “Greening the Schools,” event will be held at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, on October 24, 2005.

The conference will explore the changing design and building trends of sustainable construction in education and encourage innovative ways to create and implement sustainability in high performance and energy efficient schools.

Keynoter Randy Croxton, FAIA, Principal of Croxton Collaborative Architects in New York City, an award-winning educational facility planning and design firm, with over 25 years of experience in sustainable design, will address recent trends in the growing industry of environmental design and construction. Additional speakers include Edwin Pinero, Federal Environmental Executive from the Office of Federal Environmental Executive and Stephen Kellert, a Yale University professor in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

The two panel discussions titled “Building Green at the K-12 Level” and “Building Green in Higher Education” will include innovators and distinguished leaders in the field of sustainable design, building, and policy-making. The panelists will offer their views on sustainable construction, environmental responsibility and the future of green building and design in the U.S. education community.

Registration for the conference begins at 12:30 p.m.

Meteorologists explain the randomness of hurricane targets: just because an area was hit once doesn’t make it any less (or more) vulnerable to future strikes of lesser, equal, or greater magnitude. Florida experienced this phenomenon last year with three major storms in rapid succession; right now, the Gulf Coast states are hunkering down to prepare for the same thing at this very moment.

While the movement of storms is relentless and random, response and preparation can be managed and controlled. The question remains: have first responders learned anything in the aftermath of Katrina now that Rita is bearing down? Let’s all cross our fingers and hope for anything but a repeat performance.

Once again, facility managers anywhere within Rita’s striking range are urged to read TFM’s August article by Bill Begal entitled, “Surviving A Rough Hurricane Season.” Begal will be providing follow up coverage including his personal account of Katrina damage in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

Anyone who manages a facility with massive square footage, or who has attended a huge trade show for that matter, can relate to the wasted time and footsteps that traversing a large building many times during the day presents. With more than seven million square feet of meeting and exhibit space, the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, FL was looking for a way to increase productivity and lessen the stress for its team of event coordinators. Specifically, they wanted to respond more quickly to the needs of visiting show managers, and cover more ground during the crucial set-up and take-down periods.

A solution to the problem was found in a pair of Segway® Human Transporters (HTs), self balancing, battery powered transportation devices manufactured by Segway LLC. Julie Smith, supervisor of event coordination at OCCC, says the machines have been a big hit with her staff and her clients. “Because of the size of our facility, responding to a customer inquiry in the next building used to take a considerable amount of time and energy,” says Smith. “With the Segway HTs we can now have an event coordinator there in a couple of minutes, and he or she will arrive composed and ready to help.”

In addition, some show managers are so impressed with the use of devices that they have been renting some of their own. “We have a Segway HT rental operation right here in the Convention Center and many show managers rent one or two machines for their own use during their event,” says Smith.

The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) announced the launch of its updated version of 3E Plus®, an insulation thickness computer program that calculates the amount of insulation needed to use less energy, reduce air emissions, and improve process efficiency. The 3E Plus program quantifies energy, environmental, and cost savings yielded by increasing pipe, duct, and vessel insulation levels in commercial buildings and industrial facilities.

Users will find that 3E Plus version 4.0 is easier to use and more flexible than previous versions. The new version provides users with more guidance and easier data labeling, and the capability to create and save new default entries. A key change is the ability to calculate in both metric and inch-pound units.

In addition, insulation jacket options have been expanded and PVC pipes are now included in the program standard options. 3E Plus Version 4.0 also makes it easier to calculate the effects of multiple layers of pipe insulation. Users can take advantage of 3E Plus for all types of insulation covered by ASTM C 680 and can add data from any type of insulation outside ASTM C 680.

Finally, the program can automatically calculate insulation thickness tables for multiple pipe sizes and temperatures. This was previously a manual process that involved thousands of calculations.

“The new version of 3E Plus includes important new features and enhanced capabilities based on the needs of users,” said Charles Cottrell, vice president of technical services for NAIMA. “We have an active user base that has provided invaluable feedback on how they use the program and what other tasks they needed to accomplish with the program. This new version answers those needs and helps clearly show the value of insulation.”

Core Functionality of 3E Plus includes the ability to:
•Determine economic thickness of selected insulations based on return on investment for chosen fuel cost, installed cost, tax rates, and maintenance.
•Calculate the amount of insulation needed for personnel protection in various design conditions.
•Calculates the reduced air emissions from various levels of insulation thicknesses.
•Calculate the thickness of insulation needed for condensation control.
•Determine surface temperature and heat loss/gain calculations of individual insulation thickness up to 10 inches.
•Solve for outside insulated surface temperatures for all types of insulation applications at different process temperatures and various configurations.
•Calculate bare vs. insulated heat loss efficiency for horizontal and vertical piping and for flat surfaces.
•Perform calculations for various flat surfaces (ducts), selected pipe and tube sizes and all standard pipe sizes from 1/2″ to 48″.
•Calculate heat loss/gain and outside insulated surface temperatures for any insulation material provided the thermal conductivity, associated mean temperatures, and temperature limit are entered by the user.

3E Plus has been used as a tool in several US Department of Energy programs through its toolkit, “Decision Tools for Industry.” The National Insulation Association (NIA) uses 3E Plus as a core element of its Industrial Energy Appraisal program course, and is launching a new seminar focused solely on 3E Plus in October.

“3E Plus provides specifiers the information they need to design and build more energy efficient systems,” said Ken Mentzer, NAIMA’s president and CEO. “NAIMA created 3E Plus to illustrate how improving system insulation can reduce emissions, and save money by decreasing the energy used to operate a commercial or manufacturing facility. With more than 10,000 registered users, NAIMA has enhanced 3E Plus to make it an even better tool for specifiers.”

A day of educational seminars for facilities management professionals will take place on Tuesday, October 18 at the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center. The Building Construction Technology Education Center (BCTEC) will host two different training seminars: one on facilities management and long range asset management programs, and the other on the use of design/build in building envelope restoration and construction documents.

These sessions are designed to prepare facilities professionals to manage the daily problems they encounter. The cost of these training seminars is $50 per session. To register or find out more information, call (800) 745-7832 x 121.

For the past day, businesses and residents in the Tinton Falls area–hometown of Today’s Facility Manager, the TFM Show, and Business Facilities–have been suffering the inconveniences associated with a major water main break. Water was completely out most of the afternoon on 9/19/05, and people are now being asked to boil water before drinking it.

Those of us in the office have been making jokes about the situation, particularly in light of the excess water brought about by Katrina and now Rita, although it was a rather uncomfortable afternoon for many. As for the boil alert, some people are taking time to stop by and pick up bottled water to drink.

Still, there is a larger question associated with hygiene, safety, productivity, and other facility related issues. Have you ever come across a situation like this in your facilities? If so, how did/would you handle it?