Pride: Thinking you have nothing left to learn about your assets

Pride as a deadly sin refers to a narcissistic pattern of behavior from asset maintenance executives that are unable to acknowledge a need for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) improvement. Pride can be as small as ignoring maintenance team suggestions for work order improvements or tunnel vision that is developed by overdeveloped egos that are blind to the need for change and use better, more efficient tools such as an EAM system. Recognizable by increasing labor costs, employee turnover, greater capital repairs and a Can’t Do Attitude.

Greed: Poor asset maintenance to save money

The easiest of the seven deadly sins of asset management to identify. Just look at the headlines behind many of the tragedies of major disasters. The Gulf Oil spill comes to mind as a perfect example of how safety, preventive maintenance, and common sense were swept aside to save millions of dollars in operational costs. Greed can also be identified as a short-term mindset. For example, a facility under cash flow pressure decides it is easier and faster to slash headcount for quick relief versus addressing the operational inefficiencies. Recognizable by red hands and unemployment lines.

Sloth: Slow to adopt technology for asset management

Sloth can be best be described as a resistance to change. Many facility and plant operations have performed asset maintenance functions the same way for decades. When this occurs new ideas such as integrating technology that can automate manual maintenance processes go largely ignored. It also means that swift adjustments to remain competitive cannot be implemented without resistance. Sloth is one of the main reasons organizations must bring in turnaround specialists. Recognizable by the slogans We have always done it this way and If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Envy: Failing to improve maintenance management

Envy is the most difficult asset management sins to identify, yet it can be a complete show stopper. Envy leads maintenance managers and staff on a path to make the boss happy but not necessarily make good decisions for the useful lifecycle of an asset. The result is asset neglect, unplanned work orders
and major capital replacements. Eventually it all backfires when an asset fails unexpectedly causing substantial downtime and major capital dollars to fix. Recognizable by brown noses and no established preventive maintenance program.

Lust: Neglecting maintenance to obtain new assets

Lust is when management spends more time pursuing new assets instead of taking care of the ones you have. New toys always look shiny and fun but are often not needed when current assets are properly maintained with an EAM system. Extreme lust is allowing assets to fail in order to get a new replacement. Lust often surfaces after trade shows and product demonstrations. Recognizable by too many maintenance magazines on the table and excessive downtime.

Gluttony: Terrible asset energy efficiency

Poorly maintained equipment becomes a glutton for more energy to function as the asset must worker harder to achieve the desired operating levels. The increase in energy use can normally be avoided through proper asset maintenance. When assets become energy hogs two things will happen. First, utility costs will go up which is important when energy costs account for 30-50 percent of operating expenses, Secondly, assets will fail sooner due to the extra stress in achieving operating targets. Gluttony increases operating expenses and shortens the useful lifecycle of assets. Recognizable by high energy costs.

Wrath: Bad asset capital budgets

Wrath can be defined as what will happen when shareholders and owners realize you are not effectively managing the lifecycle of assets. Clues to owners that something is amiss include unbudgeted capital expenditures, unplanned downtime, an inability to identify where your assets are, what their condition is or their asset maintenance history. The worst sign of all is when the shareholders have to explain a tragedy that has occurred due to a lack of asset management or neglect (example: BP and Gulf Oil spill).

Bonus Sin: Apathy When good asset management isn’t on your radar

Apathy is when you know how to make your maintenance operations better but simply do not care enough to do something about it.

Enterprise Asset Management Can Help

No one person or organization is perfect and there are countless barriers to great asset management. The good news is there is help. An Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system is a software solution that can manage the complete work order lifecycle as well as provide the tools for long term capital budget planning. A properly implemented EAM solution can help automate time consuming work order lifecycle processes freeing up valuable time for preventive maintenance and inspections.

More importantly, an EAM system creates a databank of asset information that allows management to track an assets complete history from purchase to retirement. Included in the asset database are a total history of work orders, work requests, who did the work, what the results were, condition of assets, location and everything else needed to make intelligent operating decisions. EAM eliminates the excuses for not taking care of assets. Better asset management and maintenance will mitigate the seven deadly sins.

For a free consultation, please call us contact us at Solutions@lesco.net or call 1-866-947-5044.

Source:    http://blog.mintek.com/Enterprise_Asset_Management/bid/47132/seven-Deadly-Sins-of-Asset-Management/

Your business is growing and perhaps you now have assets spread over multiple locations. You know that you need to do something, but you are not quite sure what to do. Your belief is that you are too small for a full Computer Maintenance Management Software (CMMS).

There is a solution. Systems come in all shapes and sizes. Your company size has become less of an issue compared with the question of how to stay competitive in the marketplace and still enable management to perform the duties that the core competencies require.

Do you…

• Have facilities that need constant repairs?
  
• Have multiple locations?
  
• Have trouble finding your latest invoices?
  
• Have a warranty item that needs repair?
  
• Track what you spend on repairs?
  
• Have a “sticky notes” work order system?
  
• Spend more on reactive maintenance than planned projects?
  
• Know of an issue that could result in a lawsuit?
  
• Know how to evaluate your current facilities?
  
• Wish to do the job you were hired to do and leave the facility maintenance management to someone else?
  

If you answered yes, it may be time you consider outsourcing your company’s maintenance program while maintaining control over cost and reducing your risk.

Contact LESCO to discuss your options today!

LESCO’s Mobile Maintenance Program

LESCO has a legion of trained Maintenance Technicians in 20 states. You can get the same quality service and value based pricing from Texas to Connecticut today and soon in California.

Our uniformed professionals are equipped with the trucks, tools, cell phones, laptops, GPS units and parts inventories to make your repairs.

Our technologies give us the ability to instantly dispatch our Technicians and provide you with immediate updates on the status of your service issue. You will never be without the answers you need to make decisions or communicate with your customers, tenants or investors.

• 20 years of premium service
• On-time guarantee
• 5,000 building portfolio
   

Hurricanes, tornadoes and floods can come upon us quickly and with little warning. By the time the emergency whistle blows, it is probably too late to make the necessary plans to protect your buildings’ assets and to mobilize to make efficient repairs.

After the storm, contractors, materials and perhaps the needed fuel and electricity to drive them will be scarce and expensive.

LESCO effectively partners with our clients to have a program in place before the emergency creates the chaos seen in the aftermath. We survey the properties, inventory the supplies that could minimize damage (like plywood and sand bags) and have the trained manpower properly stationed.

LESCO’s programs include:

- Pre-stocked, strategically placed warehouses

(plywood, tape, generators, chainsaws, safety equipment, drinking water, wet vacs)

- Pre-cut window protection for isolated locations

- Vendor partners to secure generators and fuel

- Post-storm photo documented assessments to assist with insurance claims

- Emergency repairs

    - Debris clearing and management

    - Construction services

Our years of experience and wide areas of coverage led to LESCO receiving a special recognition from Wachovia Bank in 2005 for “Outstanding Hurricane Preparedness and Recovery.”

Have concerns about potential disasters and your properties? LESCO can help design a Solution.

For decades U.S. businesses have looked overseas to locate their manufacturing, assembly plants and call centers. The reasons for this were:

• Low wages
• Large labor pools
• Receptive business environments
  

This trend may continue for some segments, but we have recently seen a reverse in this strategy and services coming back to the U.S. This new trend is called “on-shoring.”

Some reasons are a dramatic increase in the wages of emerging countries and the weak dollar traded against foreign currency.

However, more important than cost is the impact on service and a company’s reputation. Customers look at the corporate social values and how they relate in countries with human rights violations and other sub standard labor practices. Firms that continue to operate in those countries may face the ire of the consumer. “Buying American” is very popular today. Labor rates in smaller U.S. markets remain low; and you may be able to buy American, increase customer satisfaction, and maintain your costs.

Some companies that have recently moved back to the U.S. are HP, Monster.com, Dell, AT&T and Expedia.

Here are some ways to make on-shoring work for you:

• Understand the true costs associated with your goods and services. Look further than just labor and include the cost of shipping, management, and loss of service.
  
• Research all the possible alternatives to include outsourcing to a U.S. firm in a smaller market.
  
• Analyze the impact of off-shoring on your corporate image in addition to the bottom line.
• Even in these troubled times, coming home can make sense to the overall corporate strategy.
  

When considering on-shoring your Call Center, look to LESCO as your solution to increase your service level and achieve a higher measure of customer satisfaction.

Live voice operators 24/7 with an American accent on quality.

LESCO operates Call Centers in Spartanburg, SC as well as a Beta site in Gaffney, SC. We serve corporations like Wells Fargo/Wachovia, Whitney Bank, Compass Bank, YMCA, Flagship Real Estate, Health Care REITS, Coca-Cola, and Novant.

Managed cost, real value…right here at home.

7-Eleven Fails at Maintenance on Undercover Boss. Is it Salvageable?

I was watching Undercover Boss last night. The premise of the show is simple a C-level executive goes undercover and performs multiple jobs in his company to see how everything is going.

I watch the show thinking its normally just a commercial for the businesses that participate, but last week a Hooter’s employee behaved irresponsibly (and should have been fired). This week they followed Joe DePinto from 7-Eleven.

Joe was in one store that had non-functional lights on the sales floor. His maintenance crew said that was a priority level 5 (monthly only). Joe stepped outside and called the COO to have it fixed. It’s too bad every 7-Eleven employee can’t do the same thing. Yet, that wasn’t what bothered me the most.

What bothered me the most… when they wanted to log a maintenance call. They literally called a maintenance support line and discussed the ticket with someone who logged it. Most employees of 7-Eleven are technically savvy. I’m sure many of them even have smart-phones. Why don’t they use a simple web-based work request system?

Seriously… a phone call to a corporate maintenance line?

Understand that the research shows that companies who can take care of their facilities perform better. Utilize a modern CMMS system – perhaps something web-based with mobility that would allow you organize and effectively manage work orders, requests, and inspections. Individual stores should have email notifications of work requests. They should have the ability to log-in and see how many open work requests they have. Minimizing labor costs by stating something is part of a monthly schedule may be valid, but can corporate even track what is scheduled at 7-Eleven?

With more than 5,900 stores… there are savings to be had, but an improvement in overall store quality should also be a target. 7-Eleven Management if you want to manage your facilities better it time to professionalize your operations.

Tell us what you think?

Comment from LESCO went as follows:

I also agree in the importance of a modern CMMS system. However, I do not agree with the fact that we need to exclude “phone calls to a corporate maintenance line.” One of the attributes of a great CMMS system is that it has many different portals for information gathering. We find that a phone call can be the MOST effective. It is through the live interaction with the caller that the true nature and severity of an issue can be determined. A ceiling leak may not be a roof problem, particularly if it has not rained recently or if it is the bottom floor of a three-story building. It is hard to ask all the pertinent questions through a web-based form. There are, however, many times that a web based form may work, as in the painting of a damaged wall or mounting some shelving. The feature that separates most effective call centers is the quick answering of a call by a live person.

One of life’s most irritating moments is when you have to call a help desk only to find yourself put in a telephone queue and wait on the line for an inordinate amount of time. The caller should efficiently communicate his issue, to the call center, in about 3-5 minutes. The call center should then manage the process to remediate the issue and follow through. The initial caller should receive a call back, as quality control, when the work is completed. As well as status updates during the repair process.

Let the employee do what he was hired to do. Before responding that this would be great if it could really happen on a large scale, my experience comes from working with a company call center that services multiple customers in over 5,000 locations across the United States. All calls are answered by a live person within four rings; no caller is queued on hold, and all that happens, guaranteed, 95% of the time.

So yes, it can be done!

Natural disasters have occurred throughout time and will continue unabated long after we all finish our lives. Damage from natural disasters can range from entire cultures being wiped out to devastating structural damage and enormous repair and replacement costs. Everyone knows that you can’t beat Mother Nature. However, you can do some things to mitigate the impact of storms and other non-total devastating events. The cause of the event is not an issue. The concern is how can we prepare for the worst. Some events that could have been prepared better for include:

• Hurricane Katrina – August 2005. With over 1800 dead and an estimated $150 billion economic impact, hurricane Katrina demonstrated the awesome power of mother nature. Katrina also brought to light shortfalls in the preparations made in advance of the storm and reactions after the storm. The concern for the levies breaking is not the issue here. They were simply inadequate for a direct hit of this magnitude. However, To help minimize damage businesses could have made sure facilities were weathertight with regard to water and wind damage. Preventive maintenance should have occurred on all items of value much like the weatherproofing of equipment stored for the winter.
  
• The Storm of The Century – March 1993. Affecting most of the eastern seaboard of the US, over 300 lives were lost. Tornadoes, thunderstorms, heavy snows, blizzard like snow drifts caught many business and people unprepared. Best results for businesses were those that had emergency shutdown procedures and had done preventive maintenance on equipment and assets that were exposed to the elements.
  
• Earthquake – San Francisco, CA 1906. Millions of earthquakes occur every year but most go unnoticed because they are very small or occur in remote areas. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is a notable exception. 80% of the city was destroyed, over 3,000 people dead and damage was estimated at over $6.5 billion (modern day). In an any area known for seismic activity, inspection and preventive maintenance can identify structural weaknesses, loose joints, weathered or corroded bridges and other items that can be shaken apart if not adequately maintained.

 

Learned Lessons

We live in a fragile world at the mercy of Mother Nature and in a never ending battle to protect our assets from the elements. Compounding the struggle is man’s ability to make matters worse. Accidents happen every day and fortunately very few turn into major catastrophes. What can we do to better to prepare ourselves and the businesses in order to minimize the impact of a disaster or perhaps prevent a disaster? A few solutions are:

1. Proper Maintenance and Inspections. Make sure proper maintenance and inspections are being performed on all assets not just the expensive ones. Too many of the disasters were the result poor inspection practices and poor maintenance.
   
2. Make Maintenance a Requirement and Not An Option. Too many companies cut back on maintenance when revenue are down when in reality a good CMMS based solution will increase your efficiencies and lower your labor cost. In addition, methodical preventive maintenance such as waterproofing and tightening down assets susceptible to wind damage means more time to prepare for natural disasters.
   
3. Listening and Training. Not all disasters can be attributed to mechanical failure alone. The Katrina disasters are great examples of what can happen when employees, consultants and other parties raise concerns about asset integrity or potential problems.
   

   George Santayana:
   

   Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
   

   Contact LESCO to discover how we can help.
   

Source: http://blog.mintek.com/Enterprise_Asset_Management/bid/32942/How-Remembering-Historical-Disasters-May-Save-The-Future#Natural Disasters

LESCO views sustainable practices not just as part of a healthier world around us, now and for future generations, but as the means of protecting and enhancing your investments. As a cost leader in our industry, we view sustainable practices as an important part of achieving long-term returns on these investments and a service to future generations of facility managers and owners.

Real ways LESCO supports sustainability:

• We propose lighting upgrades on every building we service
• The bulbs and ballasts we use are recycled.
• We maintain a 400-acre preserved forest containing over 400,000 trees.
• Our employees are educated on energy conservation and recycling in our daily operation.

We implemented a program that is part of a global mission called “Plant-a-Billion” where for everyone who signs up for our newsletter or responds to our blog, a tree will be planted

While many view sustainability as a responsible choice, LESCO has made it our way of doing business. The return we see on this investment is in the real, long-term results that benefit both our clients and our communities. LESCO focuses on these two specific areas in order to achieve sustainable solutions for our customers and to maintain our cost-effective, investment-focused approach.

History

In 2000, after years of underrepresentation in federal contracting, Congress passed the “Equity in Contracting for Women Act of 2000″ to allow contracts, in industries historically underrepresented, to be reserved for competition by women-owned small businesses.  The bipartisan bill was signed into law on December 21, 2000.  The act established a procurement program which allows federal contracting officers to restrict competition for certain contracts to small businesses owned and controlled by women.  The act required the SBA Administrator to conduct a study to identify the industries in which women owned firms are underrepresented and prepare appropriate regulations to implement the program.

After the Bush Administration stalled the implementation, and then SBA Administrator Hector Barreto told USWCC leaders, “This Administration has no intention of implementing that program,” the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce brought suit against the SBA for failure to implement the laws of the United States.  The Court found in favor of the USWCC even stating that the SBA, “…had sabotaged, whether intentional or not, the implementation of the procurement program…” and concluded that “a deadline is in order.”   The SBA continued delay tactics throughout the remaining years of the Bush Administration.

“Federal contracting officers will finally have the tool they need to bring fair access to federal contracts for women-owned small businesses,” said Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.  “Opening the doors to opportunity will enable women-owned firms to grow their revenues, sustain their employees, create new job growth, and support our U.S. economy.  I thank Administrator Mills for her strong leadership on this matter.”

The SBA has provided a sixty-day comment period on the new proposed regulations.  Sometime after the comment period, the SBA should publish a final set of rules bringing an end to a decade of delay.  The USWCC has provided a report detailing the industry codes included with the program at www.uswcc.org/wfpp .

“This comes at an important time in Women’s History Month as the USWCC is celebrating with the first annual National Women Contractors’ Week, March 16 – 18, 2010 (www.uswcc.org/nwcw ) including detailed agency spotlights of Health and Human Services and U.S. Army, awards and one-on-one meetings with dozens of federal agency representatives,” continued Dorfman.  “We will include a detailed session on the Women’s Federal Procurement Program, certification and positioning to secure increased federal contracts.”

The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce(TM) is the leading advocate for women on economic and leadership issues. The USWCC creates opportunities and change for women by building a strong community voice, advocating for members, and providing programs and benefits to support the economic growth of women across America. The USWCC is a not-for-profit 501(c)6 organization founded in 2001; its headquarters offices are located in Washington, D.C.  Contact the USWCC at 888-418-7922.

SOURCE U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce

In addition to their focus on providing outsourced facility maintenance solutions to commercial clients, LESCO has developed two dedicated service lines with specific audiences. Their new websites provide detailed information on their capabilities, codes, licenses, and relevant experience as appropriate for each audience in order to better explain why LESCO is leading much of their 22-state footprint in both cost and quality. LESCO’s environmental services site features their mold abatement and water damage repair services, green building practices, and LEED certification advising. To learn more, visit the new website at enviro.lesco.net.

Their government services site focuses on their niche role as regional, woman-owned, small business that can provide sustainment, restoration and maintenance services; property investment services; and specialty construction services in 22 states. The new website is located at gov.lesco.net.

As a means of adding further value to their clients, and as an extension of their current social media presence, LESCO has announced a blog located on their main website, www.lesco.net. The blog will provide readers with the latest news in facility maintenance, waterproofing, restorations and helpdesk technologies.

The work was completed by their agency of record, PECULIAR, a Greenville-based fullservice marketing, interactive and design firm.

About LESCO Restorations, Inc.
LESCO Restorations is a leading provider of facility maintenance, waterproofing and restoration services. As a woman-owned company for 35 years, LESCO’s service area covers 22 states. For more information, you can visit LESCO on the web at www.lesco.net, reach them by phone at 866-947-5044 or connect with them on Facebook (facebook.com/lesco) or Twitter (@LESCO).