The First Facility Management Blog

This excerpt by Michael Warshaw comes from the April 1998 of Fast Company.

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. That’s the message from Blaine Pardoe, author of Cubicle Warfare: Self-Defense Strategies for Today’s Hypercompetitive Workplace (Prima Publishing, 1997). Need a feel-bad antidote to our feel-good talk about the upside of office politics? Then look no further than this book.

“Politics is a necessary evil,” Pardoe says, “and often it’s just plain evil. Unfortunately, it’s also how things get done.” Pardoe, 35, is an unlikely candidate for such tough talk. He is director of technology-education services for Ernst & Young LLP, the giant consulting firm. During the day, he manages training programs for E&Y professionals. In his spare time, he writes science-fiction novels as well as other books. “Office politics is like wrestling with a pig,” Pardoe jokes. “You’re going to get dirty - and the pig likes it.” In an interview with Fast Company, Pardoe offered his five principles for dealing with the downside of office politics:

1. You can’t win unless someone else loses.
2. Just because you don’t get what you want doesn’t mean you’re getting the shaft.
3. Politics is about power - and power is measured in weird ways.
4. The past is prologue.
5. Don’t believe everything you hear.

To read more about these principles, click this link.

On Friday, November 18, 2005, FacilityBlog announced MIT’s intention to create a $100 laptop for students and teachers around the world. The original description says,

The $100 laptop, first announced by [Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of the Media Lab at MIT] at the World Economic Forum in January 2005, is an ultra-low-cost, full-featured computer designed to enhance children’s primary and secondary education worldwide. It is a joint project of the Media Lab and the nonprofit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) association, which aims to equip the world’s school children and their teachers with a personal, portable, connected computer.

Some photos of the first prototype have just been posted. To see them, click this link.

And for those interested in an inexpensive, full sized computer, the attention is on YellowSheepRiver, a Chinese company that released its Municator–a fully functional Linux based PC that will sell for $150 U.S.–earlier this past March at CEBIT Hannover.

This description comes from Ryan Paul of Ars Technica…

The Municator, which comes with 256MB of RAM, uses a unique 64-bit CPU with an instruction set based on a subset of the MIPS architecture. Designed by a Chinese company called BLX, the the cheap chip is clocked at 400 or 600MHZ and supposedly provides performance comparable to that of an Intel P3. Unlike MIT’s laptop, the Municator is not designed to be a mobile computer. Rather than using an LCD display, it features support for S-video and VGA which will enable it to interface with televisions and monitors. For storage, the Municator comes with a 40 GB external USB drive and support for an optional external optical drive. With four USB 2.0 ports and built-in ethernet support, the Municator is quite capable of supporting other external devices and connecting to the Internet. According to the YellowSheepRiver Web site, integrated WiFi and a lithium-ion battery pack are also available options.

While early reports suspect chemicals triggered the huge blaze, authorities are unsure of what caused a fire in the cargo section of Istanbul’s Ataturk International airport today. Air traffic in the area has been blocked, and thousands of people have been evacuated from the facility and the surrounding environs.

A short circuit may also be the source of the fire, which began in the cargo section where fuel depots are located.

Benjamin Harvey of the Associated Press reports,

A firefighter atop a tall ladder poured a stream of water on the fire, and a plane flew overhead, dropping a payload onto the flames — apparently fire retardant chemicals. But the flames rose above the building.

The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford, in Istanbul, adds,

The authorities were struggling to bring the enormous fire under control. She said planes were not being allowed to land and were circling overhead.

She added that there were fears that the flames may jump to the main passenger terminal just a short distance away.

The most recent twist in the immigration debate will take a direct hit on employers, that according to a the vote in the Senate on Tuesday (May 23). According to the pending legislation, employers will be fined up to $20,000 per unauthorized employee, should the bill pass.

This explanation comes from Associated Press, by way of CNN.

Employers would have to check Social Security numbers and the immigration status of all new hires within 18 months after money is provided to the Homeland Security Department to expand the electronic system for screening workers. The amendment passed 58-40. Opponents said the verification system would take years to implement and complained that workers deemed illegal could still hold on to jobs until their appeals are exhausted.

Employers who don’t use the new computerized system could be fined $200 to $600. The system would include information from the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and the Homeland Security Department.

The $20,000 fines for hiring illegal immigrants once the new screening system is in place would be double the present level. Repeated violators could be sentenced to prison terms of up to three years.

The House passed a bill in December that would impose fines on employers of undocumented workers ranging from $5,000 to $40,000. But, unlike the Senate bill, the House measure would require employers to screen all employees — an estimated 140 million people — instead of only new hires.

This selection comes from Bob Rosner of ABC News.

I once ran an online contest asking a very simple question — what is your biggest complaint about work? The responses flooded into the Web site and were not at all what I’d expected.

I was totally prepared for a ton of responses about low pay, disrespect, poor working conditions, etc. But actually, more than half of the responses all touched on the same topic — people who steal food from the company refrigerator. I couldn’t make this up. At first I thought that they’d all come from the same company. But as I read through them I realized they all had different details.

Don’t believe me? There was another study that asked what about the biggest complaint at work … The No. 1 response? It’s too cold. Wanna guess the second most common complaint? Yep, it’s too hot.

Granted, this study was done by the International Facility Management Association, but it does point out the power of the little annoyances at work.

What is the moral of this story? Management tends to focus on the big stuff in those rare times when it focuses on employee morale. Issues like bullies, food thieves and temperature are not the kind of stuff that most managers think of when they focus on employee satisfaction. Yet these are the very issues that are wearing down your people.

To read the rest of this post and to participate in the related survey, click this link.

For industries that rely on steam as an integral part of their process, more horsepower is not always needed to meet increased demand - even when existing boiler capacity just cannot keep up. As is true of many manufacturing facilities, when steam demand fluctuates up and down throughout the day, the ability to ramp up quickly to meet that kind of demand just isn’t there.

That is where their boilers are letting them down. They may have all the capacity in terms of the horsepower that they needed. But their boilers just aren’t capable of a fast response to the kind of up and down demands they’re subjected to.

The question is, do you add another boiler to increase capacity or replace all the boilers with a different kind of steam producing technology that would basically have the same capacity? In these situations, the two most critical factors in calculating the best answer to this question are recovery time and energy efficiency.

Unfortunately, growing companies succomb to the inefficient solution of adding more and more capacity when what they need is better technology. To address this problem, Miura Boiler, Inc. has developed boilers that can be turned on and off like light bulbs so they are always operating at peak efficiency for greatest energy savings and fastest response to fluctuating demand. They are designed for steam starved, volatile demand processes.

The fuel-to-steam boiler efficiency of Miura boilers remains consistently high (85%+) at all steam loads from 35% to 100%. Since steam load is constantly fluctuating, Miura’s consistent efficiency provides consistent energy savings. A major contributing factor to their 85% fuel-to-steam efficiencies is Miura Boiler’s ‘low water content’ water-tubes’ surface serration that optimizes heat transfer.

Antex Electronics, manufacturer of satellite and Internet appliances, has entered into a partnership with Private Label Radio (PLR), a division of DMI Music & Media Solutions, in which the two companies will provide two restaurant chains with their own brand-specific radio networks.

Making this network possible is Antex’s Media Director 2 (MD2), an audio server and software management system that will manage the delivery, storage, and processing of PLR’s customized programming. Using Antex’s Internet-capable MD2, Private Label Radio will program brand-specific audio content from its Pasadena, CA-based headquarters for restaurant locations nationwide. The programming will include in-store music, promotional messages, crew training, and other corporate communications.

“This is a great example of how the Media Director 2 can provide businesses with an opportunity not only to entertain, but also to communicate with their customers and employees,” said Dave Antrim, president of Antex Electronics.

Linked and controlled by a central server running Antex’s system management software, each MD2, located in each restaurant site, downloads content and playback instructions at set times during the day. Once downloaded, the instructions are automatically integrated into the system and the content is stored into the unit’s 40 GB hard drive. At the appropriate time, the MD2 initiates playback of the music or other content. The Media Director 2 also includes additional features, such as a programmable volume level and lockout control.

In addition to using the system for customer entertainment, the system is also an effective tool to communicate new promotions and menu changes to its customers, as well as for broadcasting human resource and training announcements to its employees. The programming flexibility of the MD2 also creates ancillary revenue streams for businesses, as it can be used to broadcast sponsored messaging from outside companies.

OIAB is a portable inflatable office/meeting room. There is no complicated door system to attach–the structure simply pulls open to allow people inside while a clip fastening closure provides added privacy, when needed.

The whole structure is stored when not in use in a plastic bucket, in the base of which is a low noise emission fan system that keeps OIAB inflated. To install the structure, simply pull the fabric out of the bucket, lay it in position, and plug it into a steady power source. The OIAB will then inflate in approximately eight minutes. (OIAB must be connected to a constant power source to remain inflated.)

OIAB comes in two standard sizes, which can be supplied approximately three to four weeks from order time, depending on the quantity required.

Will this be the next big thing?

Over the next two years, 148 GE Industrial manufacturing plants and warehouses worldwide — 110 in the Americas, 36 in Europe and two in Asia — will undergo extensive lighting retrofits that could cut annual lighting energy costs at each facility an average of 50%. Based on extensive energy savings analysis conducted at 65 of the 148 facilities, the retrofit will allow each location, on an average annualized basis, to reduce energy consumption by 1.4 million KwH and realize approximately $86,000 in energy cost savings.

Estimates for the completed 148-facility retrofit include reducing energy consumption by 210.5 million KwH and saving $12.8 million in energy costs, annually, when compared with the older lighting. Another forecasted environmental benefit tied to the 148-facility retrofit is the production of 155,700 fewer metric tons of CO2, which equates to the ongoing elimination of pollution from nearly 30,000 average-sized cars or the good that comes from planting over 70-square miles of trees.

Rising Energy Costs Spur Initiative
In August 2004, Jack Fish, vice president of global manufacturing, GE Consumer & Industrial, asked his team to devise a plan for cutting energy costs by 20%. He wanted to counter forecasted energy price increases that were sure to affect the profitability of GE Consumer & Industrial’s Appliances, Lighting, Lighting Systems, and Electrical Distribution operating units. Conversations with plant managers and lighting executives kept returning to lighting retrofits, which the lighting unit had been promoting externally among customers as the fastest way to slow down energy meters, and thereby cut wasteful spending on energy.

“An overall cost-of-light calculation used by the lighting business sealed the deal,” notes Fish.

The calculation points out that as little as 4% of the overall cost of light may be attributable to the cost of lamps; 8% is commonly traced to installation and maintenance. The majority, as much as 88%, relates to energy consumption. (These percentages are approximations. Actual costs will vary based on local electricity and labor rates, the nature of the facility, the type of lighting installed and other factors.)

“Very few GE Consumer & Industrial plants were using energy efficient linear fluorescent lamps,” reports Fish. “We simply weren’t taking our own good advice. Now, though, we’re on track to achieve a 50% reduction in lighting energy consumption at these plants. That’s two-and-a-half times our initial savings target.”

Word of Savings Travels Fast
Initially, about 50 GE Consumer & Industrial plants were identified for retrofits. Soon thereafter, however, due to the same performance attributes that attract energy conscious customers to GE lighting products and solutions, interest in the plants initiative mushroomed across GE Industrial locations globally.

The retrofit now encompasses Consumer & Industrial, Plastics, Advanced Materials, Security, Sensing, Inspection Technologies and GE Fanuc. In many of the plants targeted for retrofits — 10 plants are converted as of January 2006 — older technologies such as standard high-pressure sodium or standard metal halide lamps are the previous lamps of choice.

In addition to the projected reduction in energy consumption by 210.5 million KwH and the $12.8 million in energy-cost savings enabled by the 148 retrofits, based on the averages established through GE’s energy-savings analysis at 65 of 148 locations, GE plans to pursue an accelerated tax deduction incentive allowed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.