Case Study: Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals

Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Streamlines Facility Management Processes with Comprehensive FM:Interact Implementation

Contact Name: Steven Baumgardner
Title: Manager, Engineering Services
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Facilities: 550,000 square feet, 1500 people
FM: Systems Solutions: FM:Interact Workplace Management Suite, Asset Management, Move Management, Maintenance Management
Client Since: 1999
“Before it would take months to manually capture this information, but we’ve now become more strategic with our planning and move updates take less then half the time to accomplish.”
Steven Baumgardner
Manager of Engineering and Facilities
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals

Background:
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, located in Wayne and Montville, NJ, is committed to addressing unmet medical needs through research and development in the areas of oncology, gastroenterology, women's health, diagnostics and neurology.  Bayer also markets diagnostic imaging agents, innovative treatments in the areas of female health care and oncology, as well as specialized therapeutics for life-threatening and disabling diseases of the central nervous system and cardiovascular system.

Facilities and Property Overview
Global Business Units and corporate functions of Berlex, Inc are based in the Montville. The Sales and Marketing functions of Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals are located in Wayne facility along with Operations, Distribution, and Sales Quality Control. The Wayne complex has gone through several rounds of expansion to meet the demands of this diverse company. Between the two sites, Berlex occupies six buildings and over half a million square feet. Roughly 800 employees are located in the New Jersey complexes.

Challenges
Prior to implementing FM:Space in 1999, Bayer had a separate corporate services group that had to manually handle moves and updates to floor plans and maintenance. Keeping up with the intense level of churn proved to be challenging, and it often took anywhere from three to eight people to manually update all necessary information each time there was a move.

Another challenge was the complexity of the floor plans due to the unusual configuration of buildings in the Wayne complex.  Although separate buildings, each wing is tied together by a complex circulation system causing unique challenges for accurate and equitable space chargebacks.

It became apparent to Bayer that communication of information to management and other groups needed to be more accurate and delivered in a timely manner, but because of the manual process, accomplishing these goals was becoming virtually impossible.

Solution
Steven Baumgardner, manager of engineering and facilities, and his Facility Projects Department began searching for a solution that could replace the manual processes with a more effective automated process, keep up with the constant churn in a timely manner, maintain accurate facilities data by linking directly to existing AutoCAD source drawings and provide ongoing updates to all users with the latest facilities information and floor plans. Baumgardner reviewed a number of different solutions, but in the end found FM:Systems to be the only company that could help accomplish all their goals.

Bayer began with an implementation of FM:Space in 1999 to manage floor plans and related space data and quickly began to utilize other FM:Systems solutions. In addition to FM:Space, the company has implemented FM:Interact to share its workplace information enterprise-wide. Bayer uses the full FM:Interact Workplace Management Suite – managing moves, maintenance and assets. “FM:Systems’ solutions are flexible and comprehensive; I’m able to configure the system to meet all our facility management needs,” stated Baumgardner.

Recently, Baumgardner worked with AMS, an FM:Systems Certified Business Partner, to configure FM:Interact’s Asset Management module to track Bayer’s furniture and computer assets. Using QuickscanTM, Pocket PC software created by AMS, Bayer can use PDAs equipped with bar code scanners to scan and identify assets and use FM:Interact to pin point asset locations.

“FM:Interact and Quickscan will make asset tracking affordable for Bayer,” said Dan Lorenz, technical director for AMS. “As a result, they’ll have a better understanding of where valuable assets are located or who to contact if those assets can’t be found.”

Results/Accomplishments
As a result of implementing FM:Systems’ solutions, Bayer now has real-time access to accurate information on workplace utilization, move projects, maintenance, and assets. Previously, it could take months to provide information to management and now Berlex can quickly deliver accurate information.

Since the solution is Web-based, liaisons are able to easily access data and take care of the moves much more efficiently. Baumgardner is also able to appropriately allocate space based on specific needs.  FM:Systems’ solutions have helped Bayer streamline their facility management process, ultimately creating a more controlled space plan.

“Recently, we had to shift 80% of the company, separating them into two separate groups, and we were able to move 90% of the people within four months,” stated Baumgardner. “FM:Interact significantly impacted our ability to reach that ambitious goal.