Why is facility planning important




















Whether you have just moved into a new space or are looking to complete a long-needed facilities management plan, our team can help — and can also offer you the advantages of our turnkey real estate solutions for any other services you may need. Want to learn more? Schedule a consult with our professionals today. Facebook Twitter RSS. What is Facility Planning in Real Estate? How to Create a Master Facility Plan for Your Space When looking to create a facilities plan, tenants and owners can be easily confused by all the terms used to describe these services.

This plan takes into account many long-term projects like : Assessments of zoning, regulations and covenants Programming of space use Workflow analyses Engineering assessments and plans Concept site plans or campus plans for larger properties Long-term maintenance plans Phasing plans or the sequence of projects to complete A strategic facilities management plan builds on a master facility plan by adding analyses of what aspects are driving each individual project. They may ask you questions like: What is your plan for emergencies?

What if your utilities fail and your building is damaged? What steps will be taken and how will you ensure your employees can get their jobs done? What is your growth strategy? Do you see yourself growing out of this space? With a robust data-driven SFP process, these gaps are very defensible, providing leverage to make strategic decisions about future growth and capital planning.

Re-stacking strategies allowed the square footage of the warehouse to reduce from 33 percent of the total space portfolio to 11 percent.

Case in point: CRB provided a strategic facility plan for a growing biopharma client. Three major demand drivers impacted the facility gap analysis:.

Reducing the gap by optimizing warehouse space CRB determined that additional space was required to accommodate manufacturing growth. Being located adjacent to the warehouse created an opportunity to leverage an underutilized space for this growth. This provided enough space for manufacturing to add the equipment needed to meet the five-year production forecasts. When the facility gaps are large, you need to revisit the assumptions made about operations and utilization.

In our testing lab example from above, the lab may currently operate from 8 am — 5 pm, five days a week. Because this is the current work culture, it was likely the assumption for the SFP analysis. But what happens if a second shift is added for lab testing? Or even a third shift? Assuming this is a doable strategy and aligns with the manufacturing schedule, it could potentially reduce the testing lab space demand considerably. In this case, the organization may also explore potential outsourcing of select lab tests to reduce in-house lab demand.

The final step in the SFP process is to lay out all the credible strategic facility solutions to address the facility gaps. You may develop solutions to correspond to different operational assumptions.

There may also be a series of options that align with various real estate opportunities. Clearly define each option, and identify the pros and cons. Additionally, develop and consider both capital and operational costs. During this process we develop and consider both capital and operational costs. Once all the quantitative data about each option is defined, it is important to add any qualitative criteria that would influence the viability and success of the strategic planning options.

For example, a facility planning option may work great from a space layout perspective, but the implementation of it may significantly disrupt current operations, making that option very costly. Supply chain and regulatory impacts must also be considered as appropriate. Also, worth noting are impacts to employees. When considering real estate options, for example, employees can be significantly affected if a new facility on a campus is out of a comfortable walking range from their current workspace, or if a new real estate option extends their commute distance.

Once you have identified all the qualitative and qualitative evaluation criteria, you can score and weigh the options. A heat map is a valuable tool to leverage for evaluating and comparing strategic planning options and presenting them to executives and decision-makers. The SFP process is a thoughtful, robust, and necessary step for any organization whose business is growing or changing in some fashion. Whether you are a manufacturer looking to expand into new markets, or a university looking to change the way students learn on a campus, SFP is a necessary first step in the facility planning process.

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These needs and issues may include workforce demographics, manufacturing processes, organizational structure and culture, community and government regulatory requirements, market position, and capacity rates and volumes. All of these combine to define the individual elements of the SFP. The comparison of the current inventory and conditions with the future needs provides the gap that the SP will address.

Several tools see Analysis Tools section may be used to compare, analyze, coordinate, and clarify this gap and the alternatives, scenarios, and recommendations that are made.

Scenarios are tools for thinking ahead to anticipate the changes that will impact your organization. Scenarios can be considered instructive simulations of possible operating conditions. This approach might be used in conjunction with other models to ensure planners truly undertake strategic thinking.

Scenario planning may be particularly useful in identifying strategic issues and goals. The product of this process is not a final, cut-in-stone document. Scenarios will guide decision-makers and provide advance consideration of the potential impacts of different facility decisions. The method successively adds complex data categories until a block layout has been generated, making it a strategy to the tactical tool.

SWOT Analysis is another planning tool used to strategically evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a project or a business venture. SWOT uses business objectives and identifies both internal and external factors that are either favorable or unfavorable to achieving that objective. This technique better ensures that various views and aspects are represented, particularly if the individuals are chosen well.

The downside may be too much input, which may yield inconsistencies. However, done properly, brainstorming provides an opportunity for creative, innovative concepts that might otherwise be overlooked. Strategic Creative Analysis is a process for strategic planning, decision making, and analyzing case studies.

Benchmarking is a very useful SFP tool for comparing and measuring your organization against others, anywhere in the world, to gain information on philosophies, practices, and measures that will help your organization take action to improve its performance. In summary, benchmarking is the practice of being humble enough to admit that others are better at something and being wise enough to learn how to match and even surpass them at it.

Benchmarking utilizes much of the organizational understanding gained in the first step of SFP to compare practices and metrics to recognized leaders. Networking with peer organizations, competitors, and especially for facility organizations, visiting award-winning service organizations provides insight to bring back and adapt to your operations.

Adaptation is the key—recognizing a good process or practice and use it in your specific way within your organization is the essence of successful benchmarking. For SFP to serve as the right mechanism to analyze and improve current facility operations, a proactive approach to benchmarking practices and services of those organizations recognized as industry leaders is needed.

Benchmarking may be undertaken as part of a broader process reengineering initiative, or it might be conducted as a freestanding exercise.

Organizational simulation is a prominent method in organizational studies and strategic management. This tool aims to understand how organizations operate. The organizational simulation can describe the coordination of facility operations based on understanding and analyzing the impact of interrelated facility alternatives and activities.



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