Alexander Redlein, Dipl.-Ing., Dr.t, Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13, Vienna, 1040, Austria
Economic Impact of Facility Management
In the last years due to the recession core processes were optimised to gain cost reduction and an increase of productivity. The support processes, e.g., Facility Management were not analysed in detail by now. But especially the area of Facility Management is of great importance, as 20 % of companies’ costs are caused by buildings and other facilities needed to support the core process. In addition, in German speaking countries 40% of the assets of a company are buildings. As the running costs of buildings in the youngest past, especially energy costs, increased, companies have recognized Facility Management as a management strategy capable to reduce costs for facilities.
By now there was no scientific prove that Facility Management is really capable to improve the profitability of a company. Therefore, a study was carried out. It was based on a large sample of Austrian companies from the private sector. Goal was to identify:
- Cost reduction
- Increase of productivity, and
- Cost drivers caused by the use of Facility Management
Based on the sample and using statistical methods the hypothesis could be proved that if Facility-management is used in an enterprise, the possibility of higher cost savings and higher productivity increases is given. But it was also proved that Facility Management creates more cost drivers.
In a second step, statistical analyses were carried out to identify parameters that influence cost drivers and increase productivity and costs drivers within Facility Management. The results show that savings were possible in most parts through New Biddings, Outsourcing, and Synergies. According to the statistical analysis an own Facility Management department had positive effects on once only savings and resulted in higher savings in the area of Technical Maintenance. The study proved that companies with an own Facility Management department tend to achieve savings within more Facility Services. In addition, companies with a CAFM tool tend toward a higher number of cost drivers because of the collection and maintenance of the required data.
This research defined and proved scientifically criteria and parameters for an economic effective implementation of Facility Management. These results were used in several case studies within the public sector to improve Facility Management there. The results of the scientific study and of the case studies will be presented in the paper.