Insight Blog

Last week, we discussed the value of Six Sigma professionals within the Architecture, Engineering & Construction industry and the attractiveness of certified professionals to organizations that are seeking Operational Excellence. This is also true within the facilities management sector. As healthcare and higher education institutions strive for Operational Excellence, facilities management teams are playing a key role in analyzing processes and enhancing efficiencies, and are applying Six Sigma to their strategies.

Six Sigma is a methodology that supports Operational Excellence. While it has been known as a business improvement concept for decades in the corporate world, it is still in its initial stages of being utilized within facilities management. Its benefits within this sector include:

• Provides a better understanding of projects, whether they are capital construction projects or  facilities-related.
• Improves the safety of the work environment.
• Identifies major wastes.
• Mitigates potential delays.
• Identifies defects and reworks.
• Controls and enhances the quality of work.
• Improves overall investment and benefits.
• Validates results and savings of projects.

As Six Sigma evolves to illustrate its value within facilities management, the demand for certified professionals will only increase, and more specifically for Black Belt and Master Black Belt individuals. These professionals possess advanced Six Sigma knowledge and experience and they are familiar with identifying inefficiencies, developing and implementing innovative solutions and leading those changes.

Jim Lord, Managing Director with Helbling & Associates, has been an executive recruiter since 1998, working within the facilities sector since 2000. He has experience representing healthcare and higher education institutions, preparatory schools, non-profits, and corporations. In a recent interview, he said, “Due to the fact that many organizations are pursuing Operational Excellence and because facilities management is most always at the top of an organization’s balance sheet, Six Sigma has garnered much attention in recent years. Facilities teams work on both sides of an organization’s spectrum. They have to serve internal customers, while at the same time, save costs to enhance the bottom line. By applying Six Sigma, a department can enhance its performance as well as its credibility on both sides.”

Lord went on to say, “I have seen Six Sigma certification become a highly-regarded skill set for various roles as organizations seek to improve the efficiencies within their [facilities] departments. Facilities teams are under extreme pressure to enhance asset management, reduce costs, and increase efficiencies, and they are continually expected to do more with less. Instead of focusing on cost cutting measures, Six Sigma focuses on processes and how to improve them. It allows data to manage decisions, not perspectives.”

One area of facilities management that Lord says can benefit well from Six Sigma processes is preventive maintenance. He says, “It is not abnormal for large universities and hospitals to have 30,000 work orders annually. With that much activity, there is significant potential for inefficiencies. If an institution has someone who can manage out those inefficiencies, there are tremendous savings to be reaped because of the high cost of facilities maintenance.”

Currently, Lord is representing a university to recruit a Maintenance Program Manager and Six Sigma is a preferred skill in candidates. Lord is working closely with the Executive Director of Facilities Operations on the search and that individual is a Six Sigma Black Belt himself. Because of his knowledge and experience with Six Sigma, he believes in the value of securing an individual with the same certification and associated skills. The position involves mapping out processes, identifying inefficiencies and removing those inefficiencies. It also involves improving workforce productivity and work quality by reducing cycle time and optimizing response time to work orders. All of these responsibilities can be enhanced with Six Sigma capabilities.

Six Sigma’s value in facilities management goes beyond preventive maintenance. As Lord explains, “Six Sigma can be applied to energy management, technology integration, green building and sustainability and capital projects. I believe that, as more organizations pursue Operational Excellence in all of their operations, and facilities departments have additional pressures put upon them to increase efficiency and save costs, the demand for candidates who have Six Sigma certification will grow.”

As the business environment is prompting organizations of all sectors to examine their processes and improve their efficiencies, Six Sigma will expand its application within facilities management. Subsequently, the demand for certified professionals will increase for it is these progressive individuals who will act as facilitators in advanced strategies that will move their departments forward.