Free Report Sample on Facilities Design

Introduction

Facilities design is perceived as an essential element of the overall operations of a business. It is beneficial based on various aspects, such as the maximization of production process effectiveness and fulfilling employees’ needs. The fundamental aim of the layout includes making sure there is a smooth flow of material, work, and information via a given system. A facility is described as space where the activities of business take place. The design and layout of a facility have a significant impact on how work is usually done. It influences the flow of materials, work, and information via the system. The importance of a good facility design involves allowing the integration of people’s needs such as customers and personnel, materials including finishes, raw and in process. It is also important in the integration of machinery such that they develop a single and well operational system.

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Facility Design and Return on Assets

Return on assets is described as a financial measure applied in corporate finance to evaluate the effective utilization of a business’ assets to produce profits through the comparison of the company earnings before interests and taxes to the assets.

A good strategy of asset management has the potential of optimizing operational performance. It can minimize the whole life cost and back the corporate goals and objectives of a business. Active management of assets is important, especially for the practical and sustainable operation of a business. The primary standard involves intervention with maintenance and repair activities to keep assets performances and ensure an extended life.

Proactive management of assets offers a holistic perception of what a firm owns or what it leases, its location, condition, and when the asset will be next replaced or maintained. Asset management simplifies the process of budget planning for the facilities managers and allows practical planned maintenance, and cuts down backlog liabilities. Return on assets can be optimized by ensuring appropriate asset management across its use in the given designation. Several phases help determine how an asset is utilized and managed in an organization to enable maximum return.

Proper Planning

An asset requires proper planning and acquisition. The operating costs associated with an asset normally exceed the initial purchase price in most cases, particularly when considering the staff costs, maintenance, training, withdrawal from service, operation, disposal, depreciation, rehabilitation, and renewal. In the significantly basic level of an asset, if it remains in the good state has the potential to assist a company in deciding whether it requires buying an item. An organization might be in need of an item, where they have various options to acquire it, such as lease, purchase, or hire. When buying an asset, it is important for the facilities professional to define the asset’s service needs, when the service should be done, and the minimum required condition of the asset, and how measuring service levels is attained (Naik & Kallurkar, 2016) The service level needs to consider the likely repercussions of failure and minimum grade of condition.

Good asset management begins with the creation of an asset register that comprises of overall pertinent asset data. The register needs to feed into a software of asset management that covers information regarding the maintenance schedule of the asset. It also assists in planning for any replacement and maintaining a record for auditors and insurance.

Developing an updated asset management plan enables facilities managers ease of analyzing models’ performances over a given period. Life cost analysis includes regular monitoring of asset maintenance and performance over its operation (Kovács & Kot, 2017). It includes the identification of areas where cost savings can be focused on. The approach assists in supporting decisions, including whether it is perceived better to replace the asset with a significantly efficient solution before the end of an asset’s useful life instead of continuing to use some poor initial purchase decisions.

Operation of an Asset

A good facility design takes into consideration the operation of an asset. The operational stage of the life of an asset refers to its most useful and longest period. It includes the period when an asset is used and managed to deliver services that function in supporting integral business. It is important to ensure proactive asset management.

An asset register needs to be in place and establish an asset management procedure to provide that any newly purchased items are added or when they are leased. Besides, there is a need to register the changes in asset condition and perform a constant audit. The frequency of the measures entirely depends on nature and environment where assets are located.

Facilities planning also focuses on the maintenance of an asset that has the potential to improve return on assets of a business. Proactive maintenance is the core activity of an organization. The life of an asset can be extended through the adoption of a well thought through maintenance approach and application of the right maintenance plane. Asset management software includes data that can help facilities managers ascertaining whether investing a certain amount of money towards maintenance costs would have the effect of doubling an asset’s life.

Beside, proactive asset management requires understanding the criticality of every maintenance request, whether reactive or planned. Facilities managers can score the facet by priority to help them appreciate job urgency and create an understanding concerning the features of an asset to make informed decisions.

Facilities design can also improve the return on assets by determining when the disposal is to be done. A good maintenance planning and asset management does not prevent an asset from reaching the end of its useful life and needs disposal. All assets disposed of needs to be recorded on the asset management software or register to ensure they do not appear as part of the portfolio of an organization. The use of an asset disposal form allows asset owners to give details concerning disposal measures for the asset and identify its residual value.

Generally, a good asset management plan has the potential of delivering considerable performance or service and financial enhancements to an organization. A business finds financial management easier with the use of an asset management strategy. Good management of assets means that the usefulness of assets is put into consideration, and maximum use is employed to generate the best output. A business can monitor its return on assets from good facility design.

Methods to Effectively Utilize People, Equipment, Space, and Energy in Facilities

People: Facilities design should take into consideration the stakeholders of an organization such as employees, customers, and shareholders. Designing facilities should establish better designs that improve the wellbeing of all people within the organization. The most common people in an organization are the employees. Facilities managers need to take into consideration certain aspects that affect employees when in their duty in the workplace.

Firsts, organizations need to ensure support and ease of communication. Facilities need to be designed such that communication of employees and other people within the building and the interaction with customers and vendors is done effectively and easily (Schaumann et al., 2020). Support areas need to be put in place to help people perform their duties with ease.

The next approach to effective facility design based on people includes the adoption of a method that enhances employee job satisfaction and morale (Schaumann et al., 2020). Studies depict that employee morale has a significant influence on levels of production. Managers and owners need to keep in mind the factor as they ponder facility design options. Some of the layout designs have the potential to increase employee morale. They include provisions for light-colored windows, walls, and space. Other approaches are less obvious and do not directly relate to the process of production. They may include a gymnasium or even a cafeteria in the facility design. The concern is the cost of establishing such services as managers may feel it has the impact of increasing costs. Nevertheless, the approaches are likely to enhance the productivity level of employees since their morale is improved and surpasses the cost of such facilities.

Safety

Safety is the next approach to ensure the effective utilization of people. The facility layout needs to allow the organization to operate in line with occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) guidelines, alongside additional legal restrictions effectively (Schaumann et al., 2020).

Equipment in an organization requires regular maintenance to maintain it in good working condition. Effective use of equipment requires adding and testing lubricants frequently. Besides, it is essential to check for any signs of wear such as vibration, high temperature, shock, friction, and age. The above factors lead to a breakdown of equipment. Facilities design should guarantee that the environment and equipment will remain clean. Some of the working parts have seals and filters put in place to keep them free of contamination and clean. Regular inspection needs to be done to ensure they remain in good condition. Facilities design should have a plan for repair and maintenance schedules and maintain good records. Equipment requires regular checking for preventive maintenance.

Building managers and owners understand that facility success planning requires proactive management of a seemingly unending number of needs. It requires several choices but executing a few best practices considered manageable. If the building portfolio size is perceived as off-balance with the productivity of an organization, owners are likely to look to implement a space optimization and utilization plan that seek beneficial transformations to assets and property.

Building consolidation, such as merging facilities and dumping the space regarded as unused, can lead to lower maintenance and operation costs (Kovács & Kot, 2017). Building owners can reduce their portfolios since consolidation seems a profitable and productive practice.

Besides, facility expansion can serve in the optimization of organizations (Shanthpure & Shivakumar, 2017). They achieve this nu enhancing productivity with extra locations or use enlarged inventory. Various considerations can help in the effective utilization of space in facilities.

Conclusion

The primary catalyst for change in most cases is to cut costs. Space utilization changes are also linked to expenses. Building owners need to take into consideration such costs alongside the associated savings. The method for effective utilization of space must focus on identifying the specific cost linked to keeping each facility (Shanthpure & Shivakumar, 2017). It is important to understand how the cost change in the event of facility closure. Rarely used areas can be transformed to serve as multi-purpose spaces. Some areas may double eating spaces or meeting rooms. Besides, building owners can consolidate occupants or operations in an attempt to reduce property holdings.