Case Study: Chemical Manufacturing and Agriculture
Facility Data Leveraged from FM:Interact to Decrease Expenses and Make the Facilities Team a Strategic Resource for the Corporation
Facilities:
Total Portfolio
Delaware Headquarters
Eight sites, consisting of more than 130 buildings and 5,372,000 rentable square feet
Sister Company Facilities
10 sites in United States with more than 2,200 people and 300 global sites housing more than 6,500 people
Europe, Middle East, Asia
20 sites in 12 countries with more than 5,200 people
- Canada: three sites
- Asia: one site
- Latin America: two sites
Client Since:
1994
“With FM:Interact there is no questioning the accuracy of our data. For facilities professionals, having access to accurate data is powerful. We can justify shutting down a building or consolidating office space, and if someone asks a question, I know I have the answer readily available. This information helps us make decisions that cut expenditures significantly, making us more competitive in our market.”
Manager, Space Planning and Relocation
Background
The Company puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, The Company offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel.
The Company’s Facilities and Real Estate (FS&RE) team provides competitive real estate, facilities and workplace solutions to The Company globally in the areas of property portfolio management, site operations and facility management, business support services, workplace innovation, capital programs and projects, and strategic space planning. Recently they championed a movement for global standards for all of The Company’s facilities.
Facilities and Property Overview
The Company’s Facilities and Real Estate team is responsible for managing a large, global portfolio consisting of approximately 340 sites.
The portfolio breaks down into:
- Eight sites, consisting of more than 130 buildings, 8,500 people and 5,372,000 rentable square feet at Company headquarters in Delaware.
- For the Sister Company’s division, the FS&RE group manages ten sites in the United States consisting of 2,200 people and 300 sites globally housing 6,500 people.
- In addition, FS&RE oversees 20 sites with 5,200 people throughout 12 countries in Europe and the Middle East, three sites in Canada, two sites in Latin America and one site in Asia.
Challenges
The global nature of The Company’s business was the catalyst for looking for an integrated workplace management system (IWMS). Previously, The Company used several different systems, many of them manual, highly customized software products, or even internally developed systems, to manage their facilities, and it often took days or weeks to consolidate the information worldwide. The Company realized that to compete with newer companies, it needed more visibility into its space portfolio, and wanted a single, centralized Web-based system that could easily integrate with other enterprise systems. The new system had to be flexible enough to accommodate all the different locations around the globe, but easy enough to use to make users comfortable.
Solution
In 2005, the Company’s FS&RE team started the search for an extremely robust and accessible tool to manage its space on a global level. Its requirements included greater efficiency, better accuracy (automation versus manual updates), global functionality with broad licensing, Web accessibility, and affordability. The new system had to interface with existing applications as well as those planned for the future. In addition, FS&RE wanted a tool compatible with AutoCAD for the United States and that would integrate well with the requirements from other regions and countries.
Based on testimonials from existing customers, in 2007 The Company and its Six Sigma team selected FM:Interact. The manager, space planning and relocation for The Company said, “It was the best solution for our business requirements, and user-friendly enough to handle all the different nationalities involved.”
The implementations went smoothly. “We had all the right FM:Systems people to connect directly with our people, and the conversion was transparent. It didn’t take long for the various offices to configure the system and migrate data from existing point solutions.”
Terri Hart, vice president of consulting for FM:Systems, directed the project. “What made this project so successful was the teamwork between The Company and FM:Systems,” said Terri. “While each region had their own IT manager, the same group from FM:Systems and from The Company were there to oversee everything, making sure all efforts were coordinated effectively.”
The next implementation was in the Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) regions. The manager, space planning and relocation for The Company, adds, “The EMEA facilities team was phenomenal and provided very detailed input on their needs, specifications and processes. They’ve implemented in countries I didn’t know we had a presence in!” Canada, China, Mexico and Brazil were next to implement. Throughout the international rollout, The Company has developed a global network that it can easily tap into to ask questions, share information and solve problems.
Results/Accomplishments
Space Managed Globally from One Centralized Location
Prior to FM:Interact, gathering data was an arduous task. Many times it was conducted manually, with many systems to consult. Now that The Company’s FS&RE group is using FM:Interact to manage their space, access to information has spread across the globe. Not only do FS&RE employees have facilities data at their fingertips, but The Company’s business and regional leaders have a broader view of information outside their respective areas. A business leader in any region can see the workspace available and needed, get a head count and view floor plans for office and labs around the globe.
Dramatically Cutting Expenses, the Facilities Team becomes a Strategic Resource
With FM:Interact, The Company now can track and report on critical workplace information such as space costs and use worldwide, enabling facilities managers to view their entire portfolio and get real-time data from any location. Having quick access to this information has helped The Company’s facilities team deliver competitive real estate solutions that have generated income, reduced energy use, and saved on maintenance costs – thus cutting operating expenses and contributing significantly to The Company’s bottom line.
Also, the data realized from FM:Interact helps project the total cost of ownership (TCO) of running The Company’s FS&RE functions globally. Being able to project TCO over the next few years enables FS&RE to guide business decisions such as whether or not to sell a site, build a new site, own versus lease, or outsource resources or keep them in-house.
Now the FS&RE team is a more strategic resource for executive management, and they’ve earned a seat at the company decision-making table. The manager, space planning and relocation, for The Company said, “With FM:Interact, our facilities team can contribute to the bottom line by bringing information to the table that helps our executives make critical and informed decisions about our space. We’ve helped cut The Company’s expenditures significantly.”
Quick Access to Reliable Data
“With FM:Interact there is no questioning the accuracy of our data,” said the manager, space planning and relocation for The Company. “For facilities professionals, having access to accurate data is powerful. We can justify shutting down a building or consolidating office space, and if someone asks a question, I know I have the answer readily available.”
In addition, The Company has been able to shorten the time required to respond to business queries regarding footprint, head count and the potential shrinking or expansion of either. Internally, FM:Interact has allowed a broader range of users to have data literally “at their fingertips”, through Web servers, versus specialized applications and CAD hardware. “Anyone who wants quick access to their site’s facilities data can use FM:Interact. With the push of a few buttons we can now see and provide data and floor plans. The data itself is simple, but gathering it into useful reports to share, compare and act upon quickly is now the norm. Satisfying our employees’ workspace needs is primary for my group. Space and relocation are what we do; period. FM:Systems tools allow us to respond quickly and easily.”
Looking forward, The Company has purchased the FM:Interact Move Management Module and is anxious to begin migrating its current move processes into this module. “Handling the entire move request process with just one tool will be phenomenal - a real time-saver. Since we anticipate having a new building to replace a site we recently sold here in Delaware, the use of the Move Management Module will play a tremendous role in the relocation of 2,200 people.”
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