A realistic look at the challenges in-plants face from facilities management companies and how they must adapt to survive.

By Howie Fenton

FMs: Look Before You Leap

Consultant Ray Chambers, Principal of the Chambers Management Group, points out some issues that should be considered when thinking about engaging in-plant facilities management (FMs) services:

• In-plants focus on service, while FMs tend to prioritize profit.

• FM employees may not fit into the culture of the organization, especially in higher education in-plants.

• Few FM firms are able to provide effective management for both offset and toner-based production, and some FM contractors may decline to bid on the offset part of the operation.

• In education settings, FMs lack a clear line of authority between the production staff and university administration for problem resolution. Whom do you complain to when someone makes a mistake?

• FM agreements present significant challenges to the IT infrastructure. Many CIOs in the public sector and in higher education are reluctant to allow any non-employee (someone they can't fire for violating organizational computer use policies) on the network. The security implications are just too great.

FEW INDUSTRY discussions are as contentious as the debate about how a large company or organization should handle its printing needs. It is often impacted by prevailing management trends that swing from owning equipment and managing the staff to using a facilities management (FM) service to hiring a company to outsource the printing. After working with many companies, we have seen each of these options work or fail in different circumstances.

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Howie Fenton Author's page

Howie Fenton is an independent consultant who focuses on analyzing/benchmarking the performance of printing operations. Fenton helps companies use metrics, best practices and workflow strategies to streamline operations. Call (720) 872-6339 or email howie@howiefentonconsulting.com

The FM Challenge