Maintenance Contractors Research Articles

Factors affecting maintenance cost of hospital facilities in Saudi Arabia

PurposeThe objectives of this paper are to identify and assess the factors that affect the cost of maintenance of hospital facilities.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a literature review on hospital maintenance cost to identify the factors affecting the cost of maintenance and interviewed a selected group of ten experienced facilities managers of both public and private hospitals. 33 factors were identified, and synthesized in seven groups. A questionnaire survey was developed to assess the factors. Responses were obtained on the developed questionnaire survey by interviewing the facilities managers of the full population of the 40 hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 20 of which were public hospitals and the other 20 were private hospitals. The data received were analyzed to identify the level of importance for the factors. The factors were ranked according to their importance index values.FindingsThe most important factors from the perspectives of public hospitals are “transfer of problems from the construction phase to the maintenance phase for resolution”, “lack of coordination between the construction and maintenance group”, and “lack of quality control measures during the installation of systems”. These three factors were all encompassed within the construction group. The most important factors from the perspectives of the private hospitals were encompassed in the statutory requirements and the design phase groups. These factors are “duration of the maintenance contract” and “the method of classifying maintenance contractors”, “errors conducted during the design of the project” and “lack of feedback from the maintenance group to the design team”.Practical implicationsThis paper is of practical significance to hospital project managers and facilities managers, as it will prompt the management of hospital facilities to focus on the most important factors affecting the cost of maintenance and thereby reduce that cost.Originality/valueThis paper is original in the sense that the areas of knowledge and practice encompassed in the identified factors were scattered and not available in one source. The factors were derived from personal interviews with selected facilities managers of both private and public hospitals, as well as from the relevant literature.

Users’ satisfaction survey on building maintenance in public housing

PurposeA building maintenance scheme introduced by the Hong Kong Housing Authority in January 2006 employed contractors and public housing owner's frontline representatives to provide inspection in the public rental housing tenants’ units and arrange corresponding repair works. This study aims to base on the public rental housing (PRH) tenants’ perceptions to measure maintenance contractor service quality performance.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire is used as the assessment tool which is derived based on the SERVQUAL approach to measure public rental housing tenants’ expectations and perceptions on maintenance contractor performance.FindingsThe findings illustrate that dimensions of “tangible” and “reliability” have the largest discrepancy between expectation level and perception level. They are mainly related to the concern of disturbance to PRH tenants brought by maintenance contractors in respect of manpower arrangement. These findings support that there is a need for maintenance contractors to impose more manpower resources to minimize the adverse impacts to PRH tenants.Research limitations/implicationsThe service quality performance survey could provide a reference for conducting the survey continuously which could help develop a systematic benchmark in matching service delivery and expectation for future improvement. The SERVQUAL gap analysis would help identify any gaps between expectations and perceptions among various concerned parties, i.e. services providers (contractors) and direct customers (owner's frontline representatives).Practical implicationsThe service quality gap findings could provide a reference for the frontline representatives to organize and improve services of the building maintenance scheme to be implemented in other public rental housing units.Social implicationsThe paper promotes the awareness of the building maintenance contractors of the service quality to the public rental housing tenants.Originality/valueThe value of this study could serve as a framework for further study in conducting service quality performance survey in other public housings and extend the performance measurement approach to other similar tasks in construction project areas.

Systematic simulation based approach for the identification and implementation of a scheduling rule in the aircraft engine maintenance

In the current situation of fluctuating demands and market driven turbulences, new part manufactures have to deal with many turbulence factors. Companies operating in the MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) sector have to additionally deal with major variations of work load and work contents. In addition, the operational processes of the maintenance contractors are strongly affected by the influence of the customers. The delivery date of the corresponding order is highly influenced by the customer. Besides the information about the actual work load is only completely known when the inspection is completed. Since the planning of the maintenance event and the maintenance operation are hard to handle, the focus of the approach presented in this paper is set on improving the maintenance operation by finding suitable scheduling rules for the job-shop operation of the maintenance. We hypothesize that the use of scheduling rules can improve the maintenance operation. The main question which is answered in this paper is the question if an improvement of the logistical targets of the maintenance system can be accomplished with the use of decentralized scheduling rules. As part of the examination, a systematic simulation based approach for the identification of scheduling rules is defined. Due to the need of different studies, a simulation model is developed. With this model, the different simulation studies can easily be accomplished. The simulation results show an influence of the decentralized scheduling before each of the machine tools. The best results were achieved by the combinations of FIFO/Slack and ESD/Slack with an influence on the target values on-time delivery, work in progress, the throughput, the performance and the throughput time.Further on a tool for the implementation of the identified scheduling rule in a decentralized shop control is described. Besides the validation of the tool in an aircraft engine company is made. The application of a Slack rule during a period with increased workload of 36% showed a nearly constant on-time delivery.

Maintenance contractors acting as service innovators

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how performance‐based contracting functions as an enabler of service innovation by maintenance contractors.Design/methodology/approachA postal survey of medium‐sized maintenance employers was carried out. The questionnaire and findings were mapped and analysed combining existing models of service innovation and service quality.FindingsAs a consequence of the survey, performance‐based contracting maintenance companies implement innovations in their service concept, client interface and service delivery system to guarantee the quality of their services. The maintenance contractors have launched new, improved or better competing services for their own organisation. Existing services are implemented in a new environment incorporating small incremental innovations.Research limitations/implicationsMaintenance companies do not solely address all business innovations as consequences of performance‐based contracting. Performance‐based contracting of, for example, building services may by the different nature of the maintenance strategies and activities lead to somewhat other outcomes.Originality/valueThere is very little literature on maintenance contractors as service providers and service innovators. This paper provides insights in innovations by maintenance contractors as well as the needed additional knowledge and competences of the contractors acting as maintenance‐engineering consultants.

Bike Lane Design: the Context Sensitive Approach

In these days of increasing congestion on roads, bicycles continue to provide a valuable contribution to mobility in Europe. Their relatively small size and low cost enable them to blend efficiently into in the traffic flow while needing less space compared to other vehicles. However, cyclists form one of the most vulnerable groups of road users. So the design of safe infrastructures for all travellers categories, included the cyclists, becomes a primary requirement. To obtain these results, a Context Sensitive Design approach is a very useful tool. In this way, in fact, it is possible to examine a project or existing road, reporting its crash potential and safety performances and detecting its deficiencies, taking into consideration communities and lands which it passes through. In this paper the authors, starting from results collected on a bike lane placed in Rimini, provide useful results for designers, construction and maintenance contractors, in order to obtain safe bike lanes.

Competences of maintenance service suppliers servicing end‐customers

Service‐led construction projects imply major changes in methods and work processes for contractors and a need to reorganize the contracting company. A major change within a performance‐based approach is that contractors act as maintenance‐engineering consultants to clients and as service providers to end‐customers. Offering new services demands additional resources, skills and competences of contractors. In performance‐based maintenance partnerships contractors have the responsibility for the agreed performance of building components and clients’ and end‐customers’ satisfaction during the entire contract period by handling planned and reactive maintenance. End‐customers are particularly concerned with reactive or daily maintenance. Satisfaction is affected by the result of maintenance and especially the maintenance service delivery process. Maintenance contractors need knowledge about concepts such as whole‐life costing, key performance indicators and service levels, and need communication and empathy skills, especially in dealing with end‐customers.

PCBs in Schools: What about School Maintenance Workers?

Driven by environmental and parent activists, government agencies are paying increasing attention to the issue of PCBs in in-place caulk, particularly in school buildings. At the same time, there is insufficient consideration of the school maintenance workers and contractors who maintain and replace PCB caulk, even though they may constitute the school population with the highest exposures and risks. This commentary briefly assesses recent PCB-related developments at the U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New York State Education Department from an occupational health perspective.

Service Quality of Building Maintenance Contractors in Zambia: A Pilot Study

This study examines service quality of building maintenance contractors in Zambia. It argues that improving service quality would help local contractors to enhance their competitiveness in a globalised environment. The study uses an international organisation as a unit of analysis through the perception of the Estate’s Manager in exploring service quality issues. An instrument based on the SERVQUAL approach was used to collect data. The determination of service quality was based on the comparison between the clients’ expected and perceived service quality levels. The findings show that few contractors exceed the clients’ expectations in all dimensions, while the majority fall below the clients expectations in all dimensions. The aggregate service quality scores for all contractors show that clients do not receive the expected service quality level. The findings also suggest that there is a correlation between service quality and customer satisfaction in projects undertaken by the contractors. Contractors therefore need to acknowledge this and improve on their service quality. The paper acknowledges that there are few empirical studies concerning service quality in the Zambian construction industry and therefore contributes to the understanding of quality issues in the industry. The findings provide useful insights into service quality in the Zambian construction industry.

Implementation of Level-of-Service Component for Performance-Based Road Maintenance Contracts

In the performance-based road maintenance setting, the contractor is given the responsibility and flexibility to maintain the roadway system's assets using innovative approaches. Increased control of the contractor and innovative techniques implemented by the contractor should yield a product with a predefined quality. This can be ensured by implementing a systematic performance measurement system composed of performance criteria, performance targets, and protocols for taking the measurements necessary to determine whether the contractor meets such criteria and targets. This performance measurement system should produce appropriate and user-friendly reports that can effectively communicate the results to stakeholders, such as the transportation agency, the contractor, and the traveling public. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has been using a systematic and comprehensive framework to measure the performance of its performance-based road maintenance contractors and to communicate the results effectively to stakeholders. The steps for implementation of the level-of-service effectiveness component of such a framework are presented to illustrate to transportation agencies how the framework works. Although the framework was developed and implemented for VDOT, it can be adopted by any other transportation agency and adapted to meet that agency's own needs.

MULTICRITERIA EVALUATION OF APARTMENT BLOCKS MAINTENANCE CONTRACTORS: LITHUANIAN CASE STUDY

The paper presents the comparative analysis of dwelling maintenance contractors aimed at determining the degree of their utility for users and bidding price of services by applying the method of multicriteria complex proportional assessment. To compare the performance of various maintenance contractors, the data from 15 dwelling maintenance organizations was used. A questionnaire survey of dwelling owners was conducted. Contractors were evaluated by a set of 44 criteria characterizing them from various perspectives. The analysis was made taking into account the standpoints of building owners (clients). The initial weights of qualitative criteria were calculated by expert methods. Then they were coordinated with the calculated values of quantitative criteria using the method of multicriteria complex proportional assessment. Multicriteria analysis of the performance of maintenance contractors allows us to determine the importance of particular contractor characteristics for achieving the aim to meet the needs of different participants of the maintenance process. Santruka Straipsnyje pateikta daugiabučius namus administruojančiu imoniu lyginamoji analize. Tyrimo tikslas — nustatyti daugiabučius namus administruojančiu imoniu paslaugu naudinguma namo naudotojams. Pavyzdžiui išspresti buvo naudoti penkiolikos daugiabučius namus administruojančiu imoniu paslaugu rodikliai. Imones pagal 44 juos apibūdinančius kriterijus vertino daugiabučiu namu gyventojai. Pradiniai kokybiniu rodikliu reikšmingumai nustatyti taikant ekspertini metoda. Kokybiniu ir kiekybiniu rodikliu reikšmingumai suderinti, optimalus variantas ir variantu naudingumai nustatyti daugiakriterinio kompleksinio proporcingo vertinimo metodu (angl. method of COmplex PRoportional ASsessment, COPRAS). Pagal taikyta metoda derybu metu galima koreguoti pasiūlymu kainas, atsižvelgiant i nustatyta alternatyvu naudinguma. Daugiakriterine analize leidžia nustatyti konkretaus rangovo rodikliu reikšmingumus, ivertinus skirtingus daugiabučiu namu priežiūros proceso dalyviu poreikius.

COST SAVINGS FROM PERFORMANCE‐BASED MAINTENANCE CONTRACTING

New procurement approaches combined with performance‐based building approaches should reduce costs, but empirical qualitative and quantitative studies are lacking. Performance‐based maintenance contracts give maintenance suppliers incentives to improve their way of working. Innovative, cost‐effective solutions that meet the performance criteria can be achieved, especially if the principle of whole‐life costing is being adopted. Indirect cost savings are expected as well. It enables maintenance contractors to assume responsibility for certain activities for which they are better equipped to perform than their clients. A calculation model was developed that calculates the net present value of the direct (product) and indirect (transaction) costs at project level for a competitive maintenance tendering approach and for performance‐based maintenance contracts. The findings show that performance‐based maintenance contracts reduce both direct and indirect costs compared to a competitive tendering approach. Essential preconditions are an early supplier involvement and longer term contracts, giving opportunities for maintenance product and maintenance process improvements. Santruka Nauji pirkimo būdai, derinami su subalansuotos statybos būdais, turetu mažinti išlaidas, tačiau trūksta empiriniu kokybiniu ir kiekybiniu tyrimu. Veiklos rezultatais pagristos priežiūros su tar tys skatina priežiūros paslaugas siūlančias bendroves tobulinti savo darbo būdus. Galimi no vatoriški, taupūs sprendimai, tenkinantys rezultatyvios veiklos kriterijus, ypač taikant viso naudojimo laiko išlaidu (angl. whole‐life costing) principa. Tikimasi sumažinti ir netiesiogines išlaidas. Priežiūra atliekantiems rangovams tai leidžia prisiimti atsakomybe už tam tikra veikla, kuriai vykdyti jie turi daugiau priemoniu nei ju klientai. Sukurtas skaičiavimo mo de lis, kuri taikant apskaičiuojama viso projekto tiesioginiu (produktas) ir netiesioginiu (sandoris) sa nau du dabartine grynoji verte (NPV), kai vykdomas priežiūros darbu pirkimo konkursas ir kai sudaromos veiklos rezultatais pagristos priežiūros sutartys. Rezultatai rodo, kad, lyginant su pirkimo konkursais, veiklos rezultatais pagristos priežiūros sutartys mažina ir tiesiogines, ir netiesiogines išlaidas. Būtinos salygos ‐ itraukti i priežiūros vykdyma tiekeja ankstyvuosiuose etapuose ir sutartis sudaryti ilgesniam terminui, suteikiant galimybiu tobulinti produkta ir priežiūros procesa.

MULTI‐OBJECTIVE CONTRACTOR'S RANKING BY APPLYING THE MOORA METHOD

Construction, taking off, maintenance and facilities management of a building is a typical example of consumer sovereignty: the new owner likes to have a reasonable price to pay, to have confidence in the contractor, to know about the duration of the works, the service after completion and the quality of the work. On the other side the contractor has his objectives too, like the satisfaction of the client, diminishing of external costs and annoyances and the management cost per employee as low as possible. In other words it concerns a problem of multi‐objectives. Therefore a final ranking will show the best performing contractor from the point of view of the clients but also from the point of view of the contractors themselves. The MOORA method based on ratio analysis and dimensionless measurement will accomplish the job of ranking the contractors in a non‐subjective way. As an application the largest maintenance contractors of dwellings in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, were approached.

Inspection and maintenance important for equipment and facilities

With proper inspection and maintenance routines, private owners, operators, and contractors can avoid disasters.

Medical Records for Building Health Management

Medical records provide essential information for evaluating a patient's health. Without them, it would be difficult for doctors to make accurate diagnoses. Similar to diagnoses in medical science, building health management also requires building medical records for making accurate diagnoses. At later stages of a building's life cycle, when the budget is limited, organizations responsible for building repairs and maintenance are unable to digitalize building health diagnoses and keep complete medical records of buildings; as a result, maintenance crews usually cannot fully understand buildings' overall health conditions and their medical histories, which may result in erroneous diagnoses directly or public safety dangers indirectly. Using the problem-oriented medical record adopted for the medical diagnosis of human diseases, this paper designs a building medical record (BMR), which allows simple electronic archiving, and evaluates its practicability with a case study of school buildings. The purpose of a BMR is to enable maintenance engineers (building doctors), building managers, and contractors of school buildings to have low-cost access to required information for making complete evaluations and maintenance suggestions for buildings.

CONTRACTOR SELECTION FOR PERFORMANCE‐BASED MAINTENANCE PARTNERSHIPS

Dutch housing associations use new procurement methods such as performance‐based maintenance partnerships for maintaining their housing stock. Such partnerships promise a range of advantages as compared to the traditional tendering of maintenance projects. For contractors a performance‐based approach implies major changes in methods and work processes. A major change within this performance‐based approach is contractors acting as maintenance‐engineering consultants to clients. This requires new activities to be considered, such as providing advice on maintenance strategies, the design of maintenance scenarios, performance measurements and conducting customer satisfaction surveys. The execution of these activities demands additional capabilities from the contractor. The introduction of the Quality Mark for Real Estate Maintenance VGO KEUR is a first step in quality assurance of maintenance contractors in the Netherlands. It guarantees principals that contractors are able to work according performance‐based methods and procedures. A next step in quality assurance should be to establish a clear relationship between maintenance‐engineering and consulting activities and contractor's performance outcome. Rangovo parinkimas eksploatacija grįstų pastatų prežiūros partnerystei Santrauka Vykdydamos pastatu ūkio priežiūra, Olandijos busto asociacijos taiko naujus pirkimo metodus, tokius kaip eksploatacija grįstų pastatu priežiūros partneryste. Tokia partneryste turi daug pranašumu, palyginti su tradiciniais priežiūros projektu konkursais. Rangovams eksploatacija grįstų pastatu priežiūros būdas reiškia reikšmingus metodu ir darbo proceso pokyčius. Esminis su eksploatacija grįstų pastatu priežiūros būdu susijęs pokytis ‐ rangovai klientams teikia priežiūros ir konsultavimo dėlinžineriniu sistemų paslaugas. Todėl reikia pasidomėtinauja veikla, tokia kaip konsultacijos dėl priežiūros strategijų, priežiūros scenarijų rengimas, naudingumo matavimai ir klientu pasitenkinimo apklausų rengimas. Kad galėtu vykdyti tokia veikla, rangovas turi turėti papildomu gebėjimu. Nekilnojamojo turto priežiūros kokybes ženklo VGO KEUR naudojimas ‐ pirmasis žingsnis siekiant Nyderlanduose užtikrinti pastatu ūkio priežiūros rangovu veiklos kokybe. Užsakovams tai garantuoja, kad rangovai sugebės vykdyti veikla, remdamiesi rezultatyviaisiais metodais ir procedūromis. Kitas žingsnis, siekiant užtikrinti kokybe, turėtų būti aiškaus ryšio tarp priežiūros, inžinerines ir konsultavimo veiklos bei rangovo rezultatu nustatymas.

Performance‐based maintenance partnering: a promising concept

PurposePerformance‐based maintenance partnerships promise benefits compared to traditional tendering of maintenance projects. The paper aims to give process models and examples of performance requirements and measurement methods for buildings and facilities managers.Design/methodology/approachCase studies of housing associations' current procurement and outsourcing methods have been performed, including an examination of initiatives for performance‐based partnerships. Purchasers and technical managers of housing associations and directors of medium‐sized maintenance contractors were interviewed, asking about the objectives, expected benefits and drawbacks of maintenance partnering. Maintenance performance requirements and measurement methods for the exterior envelope of housing estates were developed, based on the functions of building components. The maintenance partnering process has been modelled in three partnership forms, based on the case studies and interviews.FindingsThe process models and the decisive maintenance performance requirements for building components are interesting concepts for buildings and facilities managers, changing their orientation from cost of services to value and performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe process models were discussed with clients and maintenance contractor. Its validity is being tested in practice. Clients fear that price competition will be affected by entering into long‐term co‐operative arrangements with maintenance contractors and service providers. Thus, there is a need for studies that investigate the direct and indirect cost savings from performance‐based maintenance partnering.Originality/valueLong‐term performance‐based maintenance partnering for the entire exterior envelope is something new. It focuses on re‐design, construction, and maintenance by the maintenance contractor.

Factors affecting effective communication between building clients and maintenance contractors

PurposeStudies on communication in the construction industry have generally concentrated on the briefing process and the construction process. However, studies on communication problems experienced by building clients' and maintenance contractors' representatives in the field of facilities management are less common. Thus, there is a need for studies of effective communication in facilities management, particularly between building clients' and maintenance contractors' representatives as these provide a valuable contribution to the area. Aims to fultil this need.Design/methodology/approachA maintenance contracting organization and four of its clients were selected for this research. A total of 44 project participants from the building clients and a maintenance contractor were interviewed in Singapore.FindingsThe findings suggested that, for effective communication, project participants have to be continuously proactive, even though communication may initially be ineffective. Reactive responses will result in ineffective communication at a later stage, even though communication may initially be effective.Research limitations/implicationsThe study identified two additional areas for further research that are mainly related to facilities management. These are modes of communication and communication distance between building users and craftsmen.Practical implicationsThe research documented in this paper investigates the factors affecting effective communication between building clients and maintenance contractors. A better understanding of these factors would help to reduce miscommunication and enhance productivity and working relationships.Originality/valueThe study showed that advanced information communication technology helped to overcome some of the communication barriers between the stakeholders in different stages of the lifecycle of a building. However, with building maintenance, proactive responses were encouraged to improve communication between facilities managers and other stakeholders, such as end users.

A multiple criteria evaluation of multi-family apartment block's maintenance contractors: I—Model for maintenance contractor evaluation and the determination of its selection criteria

The paper presents a model that describes the process of selecting dwelling maintenance contractors. The model is based on a multi-criteria evaluation of maintenance contractors, the determination of their utility level for the building's users and a bid price in negotiations that are made according to the results of the multiple criteria analysis. The proposed model could further be applied to plan dwelling maintenance operations. The criteria of maintenance contractor evaluation are selected by taking into consideration the interests and goals of the building's users as well as factors that influence the process of maintenance's efficiency. The correlation of the criteria characterizing maintenance contractors from various perspectives was determined.

The analysis of the influence of external environment factors on the efficiency of maintenance contractors activities

Abstract The article presents the analysis of factors influencing the efficiency of dwelling maintenance contractors activities. The criteria characterizing the activities of maintenance contractors were determined performing the financial analysis of the company. The influence of external environment factors on maintenance contractors activities indicators was determined by calculating their correlation coefficients. In order to verify the calculation results the specialists from maintenance companies and heads of dwelling owners associations were interrogated. They showed the main maintenance problems and factors which influence the efficiency of maintenance process.

THE ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT FACTORS ON THE EFFICIENCY OF MAINTENANCE CONTRACTORS ACTIVITIES

The article presents the analysis of factors influencing the efficiency of dwelling maintenance contractors activities. The criteria characterizing the activities of maintenance contractors were determined performing the financial analysis of the company. The influence of external environment factors on maintenance contractors activities indicators was determined by calculating their correlation coefficients. In order to verify the calculation results the specialists from maintenance companies and heads of dwelling owners associations were interrogated. They showed the main maintenance problems and factors which influence the efficiency of maintenance process.