Facilities Maintenance and Operations

• Introduction
• Relationship to Institutional Mission
• Customer Service and Communications
• Organizational Concepts and Needs
• Organizational Forms
• Materials Management
• Industrial Engineering and Work Control
• Using Contract Services
• Construction and Renovation Projects
• Summary

Introduction

This section was originally written by J. Richard Swistock, and was updated by Gary Reynolds in 2010.

Facilities maintenance and operation are on the threshold of radical change at most colleges and universities. This change is being driven by many of the same forces that are reshaping all of higher education: changing demographics; the demand for accountability; and competition for resources, talent, and students, to name a few. Technical issues that challenge facilities maintenance and operations personnel include keeping up with advances in information technology, maintaining sophisticated building environments to support research activities, dealing with antiquated facilities, and meeting ever-increasing environmental and safety demands.

Responding to these challenges while providing better customer service and becoming more cost-effective in a changing environment will require a new look at traditional facilities maintenance and operations organizations and the way they function. This section suggests organizational changes that may be appropriate.

This introduction was written for the third edition more than 10 years ago and remains relevant today.