Proactive or reactive…that is the (maintenance) question

If you engage the services of a facilities management company, then you might well hear the phrase Planned Preventive Maintenance schedule or PPM, but what does this mean? And, how could planned maintenance save you money?

Richard Theobald, Operations Director at Precision FM, discusses the benefits of planning building maintenance and how it can contribute to extending the lifespan of your building’s assets too.

What is a Planned Preventative Maintenance or PPM?

As the name suggests, PPM covers both planned maintenance and preventative maintenance. Planned will often cover the work that needs to be completed in order for a company to remain compliant, so this might cover electrical PAT testing, regular servicing of air conditioning systems, and emergency light checks, for example.

The preventative part covers a range of other maintenance jobs, such as upkeep of the roof or any work needed to keep the building working as it should, with the aim to stop – or at least reduce – the likelihood of reactive maintenance work needing to be carried out.

How does a PPM schedule help clients?

When we discuss how we can help a client, we speak to them about their overall maintenance requirements.  Who we are speaking with from the client side will impact how we approach the suggested plan.

If the client is a building manager or familiar with a maintenance routine, they are likely to talk to us about having a PPM schedule versus reactive maintenance costs. But, sometimes we are discussing options with a Procurement Manager or the Head of IT, so then we’d discuss things more widely about how planning maintenance work and any associated costs would benefit them specifically, and their building.

The first question I often ask when working with a new client is whether they have any service records that they can share.  If they have, then they are likely to have some form of PPM schedule in place that we can review with them.  If the answer is no, then I suggest we have a walk around their site together, to get an idea of what assets they have and then go from there.

Our wide-ranging FM experience means we already have a very good idea of the assets different buildings have. But, we will work with the client to establish a PPM schedule that draws in the different asset categories and types specific to them. The site visit also provides an opportunity for us to review what they don’t have, or what they might not have thought they needed.

Following this discussion and site review, we build a cost model based on the number of physical assets the client has around their site, and this forms the basis of the PPM schedule.

Can PPM help to prolong the lifespan of assets? Can this be quantified at all?

As an FM business, our long-term aim is always to look for ways we can save our clients’ money. We usually outline with them how a PPM schedule can really bring cost benefits when compared to the money they might be spending reactively sorting any maintenance issues.

As an example, if we say that company A is spending around £500k a year on reactive maintenance, once we have reviewed all their assets and what might need adding to a PPM schedule, we can then advise that in order to help keep their building compliant and looked after in the correct way, we would charge them £350k per annum.  There will, of course, always be an element of reactive spend but, the basic premise of the PPM is that if you don’t look after your assets, then they are likely to degrade quicker and need replacing more often, often when you don’t expect it.

For example, replacing a commercial boiler could cost approx. £30,000, but an annual boiler service would be around £500 each time.  With the average lifespan of a boiler being 10 years, a regular yearly service over that period would cost a client £5000. Whereas, if they didn’t do any maintenance on the boiler it could need replacing sooner, meaning a higher cost outlay. Plus, regular servicing could likely extend the overall lifespan of that boiler to perhaps 15 years too.

At Precision FM, we undertake a process called ‘Asset Lifespan Projection’ – essentially, when we start to develop the PPM schedule, we try to ascertain when the asset was installed and establish a rough age of the product.  Therefore, if we know that the client has an air conditioning system that is approx. 15 years old, then it is likely to be nearing the end of its life and will need to be replaced in around two/three years.  This helps our clients when forecasting their capital expenditure, meaning it won’t have to be allocated against reactive spend.

Asset Lifespan Projection can also help guide the client on the environmental impact their assets have, looking at how replacement units may be more energy-efficient, which in turn has a knock-on effect on the savings they can achieve. For example, lighting is just one area where the replacement of older fluorescent fittings to more energy-efficient LED bulbs will have a clear cost-saving alongside the wider environmental benefits too.

Reactive spending is always going to happen, but how can clients forecast this?

Forecasting any reactive spend is always very tricky, there are a lot of factors that can impact this. From human error, where someone makes a mistake and it then needs to be rectified, through to issues caused by natural events such as bad weather – the impact of which can be difficult to predict.

But, if the client can provide us with a data log of common maintenance issues, we’ll review this and see if we can establish any common threads, and advise – if brought into a PPM schedule – how costs might be reduced, and the same issues be prevented from reoccurring.

How is technology enabling Precision FM to help clients with their maintenance requirements?

We collaborate with our clients using a CAFM (Computer Aided Facilities Management) system. Our clients can log issues and we can then track how we are responding. The system also has a job history record, allowing us to see how the assets are performing and, if there’s a recurring issue, how we might be able to offer the client a better solution.  This could be that rather than undergo multiple repairs with multiple call-out costs, it’s more cost-effective to replace the asset entirely.

Our CAFM system, TopDesk, also contains a knowledge base per client where we keep all their repair and servicing records.  This is a much more convenient way for them to access the records when they need them, rather than hoarding paper service books and certificates on-site, which could potentially be mislaid.  Being able to produce the relevant and necessary paperwork during an HSE audit, for example, makes this system a much better solution for clients.

How does Precision FM support clients to ensure they are getting the best value for money?

While we know that cost is always a driving factor for our clients, an important part of the service we provide will always be to outline the ‘value-added costs’ too.  This would include access to our TopDesk software,  access to our supplier database of approved, pre-qualified suppliers, providing parts that are ethically sourced, manufactured, and distributed.  We also have a commitment to helping our clients with their sustainability and environmental targets too.

We pride ourselves on our ability to understand our clients’ needs and this, in turn, helps shape the services we can then offer to new clients too. Our CEO, Brij, is a qualified Mental Health First Aider and this came about because this was an important area for one of our clients, so we too adopted this into our own working practices, allowing us to then be viewed as a preferred, trusted supplier.

We help to show our customers how they are benefiting from working with us as their FM partner. If we work with them to develop a PPM schedule at the start of the relationship, then over the course of a year we can begin to demonstrate how this is adding value to them and their business. Then, when it comes to renewing the contract, we utilise what we have learnt and, acting on the data and insight of how the facility and its assets have been used, begin to suggest efficiency savings.

If you are looking to gain a better understanding of how a planned maintenance or preventative maintenance schedule could help your business, or you are looking at ways to reduce your reactive maintenance spend, then contact the team at Precision FM for more information on 0116 366 6508 or info@precisionfm.co.uk

Our monthly e-newsletters are a great way of staying in touch with everything that’s going on at Precision FM, including our latest news, case studies and information about our wide range of facilities management services. Sign up here.