FACILITIES AND OPERATIONS:

A Q&A WITH WARREN ZYSMAN, PRESIDENT, ALL-RITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.

How reliability-centered preventive maintenance programs contribute to operational success

CSA: A lot of facilities manage-ment is corrective — responding to problems as they arise. But, more so, it’s about being proactive and pre-venting problems from occurring in the first place. What are some

of the top things retailers should look out for when creating a preventive facilities plan?

WZ: Being proactive means having systems in place to preserve func-tionality, encourage safety, reduce the cost of repairs and unplanned down-time, and minimize potential impacts to critical performance. It’s imperative that you look at your entire operation in order to effectively plan your building maintenance program. A retailer should work with their facility maintenance partner to identify the areas where potential problems could arise and then pay close attention to these areas on a regular basis. An evaluation of potential materials used in store construction should be made, followed by a deter-mination of what materials should be replaced that are underperforming. High traffic areas might require using a different or more expensive material to hold up under heavy foot traffic. CSA: What are the primary facility concerns for retail operations directors? What areas might they be overlooking?

WZ: Operations is really the key link between many of the most important

areas of facilities maintenance — building management, risk manage-ment, human resources, budget and purchasing. Creating a reliability-cen-tered building maintenance program involving all these stakeholders will help prolong the life of your building and all the equipment associated with it. This involves determining accept-able levels of failure for each building category; training employees and clearly outlining the specific respon-sibilities for each team member; making sure you have the right tools, resources and safety precautions; and, finally, having the contract sup-port in place that can be ready to go in a moment’s notice. This kind of a cost-effective preventive maintenance program and documentation system will help preserve your budget and raise your net operating income. Ad-ditionally, you will raise your employ-ee performance due to proper train-ing and implementation programs. Everyone will know exactly what they are supposed to be doing at all times without question. CSA: Budgets are obviously a major consideration for retailers. What are some common pitfalls a retailer can make when trying to cut corners?

WZ: One of the things we often hear about is someone making the decision to scale back the scope of a repair due to the cost of the potential repair. This is just putting a Band-Aid on the problem and hoping it will solve itself. Ultimately this will cause greater expense, because the prob-lem will have to be corrected again at an additional cost.

CSA: How can retailers save money on site maintenance while still operat-ing smoothly, safely and on brand?

WZ: It’s crucial to develop an ongoing site evaluation schedule for each store and take the necessary steps to make repairs when a problem is detected early on. This will prevent a more costly repair to be made down the road. CSA: Why is a company that is also a general contractor uniquely qualified to take on facilities management?

WZ: General contractors have already built the store and have the knowledgeable employees who can address problems down the road. They know the site inside and out, from the façade to the foundation. They also have material on hand to make potential repairs that will save a store both time and money. As a contractor, they are uniquely qualified to help develop an ongoing preventive maintenance plan because they’ve been working with the retailer and their specific needs from the beginning.

For more information about All-Rite Construction, visit www.all-riteconstruction.com or call 800-255-7483.

CHAINSTOREAGE.COM / JUNE/JULY 2014 13

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WARREN ZYSMANPresident

All-Rite Construction

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