THE LIFECYCLE VALUE OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

Abstract

As the construction industry focuses its effort on adopting lean principles to eliminate waste during project execution, an argument exists to reorient the industry's lean journey to start with the operations phase. The continued absence of Facility Managers in the design process will prolong the inefficiencies of current project delivery methods. The failure to adapt planning processes to include Facility Management (FM) professionals prevent a total lean transformation of the construction industry. A question then arises about what value-adding activities exist in the operations phase to impact lifecycle costs of future projects. Using insights gained from existing literature, this paper assesses the lifecycle value of the FM industry and applies it to the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry to maximize the delivered value. This paper identifies five interactions between FM and Lean Principles that justify the integration of FM professionals into the development phase of a facility's lifecycle. This paper is limited to the scope of FM and design and does not account for external pressures and requirements caused by contractual agreements, fiscal requirements, or regulatory guidance.