Importance of facility management in the shopping mall

Question:

Select a local Organisation and Explain how the Facilities Management Contributes in sustaining the Organisation’s profit with its facility Operations.

Northpoint City, suburban shopping mall was opened in 1992 in Singapore. It is one of the first major shopping mall of the country. It is situated neat most of the major transportation mediums and several leading brands such as Cold Storage, Harvey Norman and Timezone are situated in the shopping center. In 2001, the shopping center initiated a refurbishment program in which all the interiors and flooring of the organization are replaced. In 2008, a new annex was opened in the shopping Centre which increased the floor area of the place. Presently, it is one of the largest shopping mall in the country (Today, 2017). The shopping mall is the host to several brands and requires efficient management of all the resources. The facility manager is the personnel who manages all the issues and situations regarding the infrastructure, sanitation, cleanliness and security. In the public places like shopping malls, facility management is very necessary as a large crown accumulates at a single place. The amount of waste generated is equivalent to the number of people arriving at the shopping mall; therefore, it requires efficient facility management practices.

Northpoint City is a part of the service industry; therefore, it provides unique solution to the customers. The value proposition of the company is its dependability on the customer-oriented solutions. It is necessary for the organization to operate efficiently and address the needs of all the customers entering the shopping center. The building management system should be able to operate efficiently and cater to the needs of all the outlets and the shoppers who enter the shopping Centre. The company should have a building automation system, a security management system and an energy management system for the operations. It is one of the largest building in the vicinity and requires efficient management of the building resources. The facility manager must be able to provide adequate number of security persons, cleaning staff and other frontline staff to handle the operations of the building in an efficient manner (Atkin & Brooks, 2014).

The facility management department of the organization can collaborate with the HR (Human Resource) and other department to maintain an adequate supply of the employees. The facility manager also has to actively interact with the accounts or the finance department in developing the payroll of different employees. The basic fundamental of the facility management is to increase the productivity of the organization and support the company’s performance.

Challenges faced by facility managers in Northpoint City

The facility management has recently developed as a business disciple. However, it is essential in the operations of the organization and running the business enterprise smoothly and efficiently. The facility management is encompasses all the back-stage or the supporting functions. The basic function of a facility manager is to assure that the organization has adequate infrastructure to meet its day-to-day operations. Other than that, the facility manager also assures adequate supply of front-line staff in the organization (Best, Valence & Langston, 2007). The mission and the objective of the organization is to provide convenient shopping facilities to the customers. The facility management department of the organization increases the convenience of the customers inside the shopping center. They assure that the place is clean and hygienic before the shoppers enter the shopping center.

The facility management also enhance of the employees by building efficient teams and designing work environments to increase the productivity of each and every employee. The shopping centers are the major contributor to the economy; therefore, the investment in these enterprises in increasingly done by the government. With the development of shopping malls in Singapore, the importance of facility management in the organization has increased. Currently, the organizations are including facility management at the initial stage of the building development or designing to increase the overall efficiency.  The investment in the facilities management is focused to minimize the operational cost and increase the efficiency. The facilities provided to the customers in the shopping centers include parking space, restrooms, heating, air conditioning and the ventilation facilities. The facilities mentioned above the necessary and plays a crucial role in attracting tenants and visitors to visit the shopping center. The facility manager assures that all these facilities are available to the customers in an easy and accessible manner (Appleby, 2013). The safety and hygiene in these places is also a crucial aspect of the facility management in these operations.

The operations of the building requires substantial investment to accommodate and support several activities. The facility manger has to take into account several competing needs related to the organization’s performance. The facility management also has a role in establishing optimal working and business environment for the organization (Wang, Wang, Wang, Yung & Jun, 2013). There should be proper application of facility management techniques for designing cost-effective and providing value-based services to the customers.

In the shopping center, the facility management techniques entails several range of services such as real estate management, health and safety contract, building maintenance and utility supply. The utility supply includes seamless supply of electricity and water in the premises. The consumption of water or electricity is very high in such places (Andersen, Andersen, Jensen & Rasmussen, 2014). The facility manager should understand that there should not be reliance on a single source and there must be two-three suppliers for the basic amenities. Other services such as cleaning and security is also a part of the facility management.

Building management system, security management system and energy management system for efficient operations

In the traditional shopping centers, in-house management focuses on arranging the facilities for the business organizations. However, it is not a cost-effective option. There are several issues in in-house facility managers. The organization has to pay a high amount for the same services. Therefore, outsourcing these services will be a better option for the organization. There are several issues unclean areas, leak in ceiling and faulty air conditioning (Pheng & Rui, 2016). The successful FM personnel need to adapt the working to suit the overall objectives of the center achieved.

It is the responsibility of the business enterprise to optimize the use of space and manage the location in an efficient manner. The business entity is aligned and committed to the process of the business operations. All the employees of the facility management need to maintain the good reputation of the organization. The mission of the facility management is to contribute to the objectives of the organization and cater to the satisfaction of the client. In the shopping Centre, all the team members have a different role which is focused to increase the efficiency. The facility management of the organization is multi-faceted in its approach. It is important to effectively communicate with all the stakeholders and manage relationships with different stakeholders such as landlord, managing retailers, subcontractors, local authorities and the emergency services (Payne, 2009). The facility management had always been present at the public places or large shopping malls. However, differentiation and nomenclature of this industry has recently been conducted.

In the recent times, the intervention of the facilities management is in the earlier stage of Shopping Centre Design and it is often a part of their construction process of the center. The facility management is integrated as a part of the people, place and potential approach. According to this approach, the workplace is designed in such a manner that it ergonomically meets the daily operations and productivity of the organization.

Recently, in the shopping center, the approach of total facilities support has been taken. According to this approach, the cost-containment strategy is applied. It is a new method of enhancing the efficiency of the service delivery, controlling the service charge and creating new revenue stream for the building. It achieved the economy-of-scale by determining a single service provider for the services. The service provider will control all the day-to-day operations such as the maintenance, security and cleaning. Other services which can be sold or outsourced to other businesses are included in the facility management (Kassem, Kelly, Dawood, Serginson & Lockley, 2015). Currently, facilities management offers integrated and operational management approach for the shopping centers, agents and the property owners. The model is focused to identify the efficiency, increase the benefit and utilize the money gained through the facility management in the organization’s operations.

Cost-effective options for efficient facility management

In the facilities management, partnership is an integral part which increases the efficiency in the bottom line or the front line operations. The managers can focus on maximizing the revenue for the tenants and increasing the revenue stream for the service provider. In the current times, the importance of the facility management in the shopping center has been realized and it is considered as an important part of cleaning, security, mechanical and electric support in the organization. However, regarding the operations in the shopping Centre in Singapore, there are several challenges which creates issues in the successful operations of the organization. The most important issue is creating a healthy and safe environment in an environment wherein a large number of public is present at any given time. The facility management also has to match the support service with the daily footfall which varies with time or season (Rondeau, Brown & Lapides, 2017). It is also a challenge to manage the different funding and dual operations which equally focus on the asset enhancement and replacement as well as focus on the repair and maintenance of the organization.

The facility management in the retail environment is subject to certain constraints. It is important to recruit talented candidates who can address the public access facility and maintaining the critical services which may affect the operations of the organization. Moreover, in the retail environment, there is huge pressure regarding the cost-containment. In shopping centers, footfall is considered as a major factor in evaluating the facility management operations required. If the footfall is high, more waste will be generated and more facilities will be needed to be cleaned. It can be deduced that the facility management methods are efficient in improving the security, safety and the hygiene of the organization. The facility manager needs to implement the contingency plan so that the operations of the organization do not hinder. The organization has some buffer in the staffing process so that the staffing shortage never occurs.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that in Singapore shopping centers, the facility management is perceived as a solution for the operational matters rather than the strategic matters. The shopping centers are considered as the custody of the property manager and property owner has the responsibility to ensure that there is high investment value of the organization. Other than that, it is considered that objectives of the various stakeholders are achieved with the help of facility management. In the present times, the operational cost in the shopping centre is constantly under pressure due to low profitability of the industry. However, there is an opportunity to change the infrastructure and the space delivered with the help of facility management. The property owner or manager should seek novel ways regarding how the property should be managed so that the organization can save in the non-core activities of the organization. However, if the facility manager s outsourced these activities, then it only provides short term solution. On the other hand, a long-term solution can only be provided when the facility manager improves the services, enhance their quality or reduce the anticipated cost.

References

Andersen, P. D., Andersen, A. D., Jensen, P. A., & Rasmussen, B. (2014). Sectoral innovation system foresight in practice: Nordic facilities management foresight. Futures, 61, 33-44.

Appleby, P. (2013). Sustainable Retrofit and Facilities Management. Routledge.

Atkin, B., & Brooks, A. (2014). Total facility management. John Wiley & Sons.

Best, R., Valence, G., & Langston, C. (2007). Workplace Strategies and Facilities Management. Routledge.

Kassem, M., Kelly, G., Dawood, N., Serginson, M., & Lockley, S. (2015). BIM in facilities management applications: a case study of a large university complex. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 5(3), 261-277.

Payne, T. (2009). Facilities Management: A Strategy For Success. Chartridge Books Oxford.

Pheng, l.S. & Rui, z. (2016). Service Quality for Facilities Management in Hospitals. Springer,

Rondeau, E.P., Brown, R.K., & Lapides, p. (2017). Facility Management. John Wiley & Sons.

Wang, Y., Wang, X., Wang, J., Yung, P., & Jun, G. (2013). Engagement of facilities management in design stage through BIM: framework and a case study. Advances in Civil Engineering, 2013.

Today. (2017). Singapore’s largest mall in the north to open in Yishun this year. Retrieved 2 December 2017 from https://www.todayonline.com/business/property/largest-mall-northern-spore-open-yishun-year