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The facilities management market in Asia Pacific has seen massive growth in recent years. Technological advances, coupled with the rising need for efficient management of buildings, are driving the demand for sustainable infrastructure and cloud-based solutions. The growing focus on energy-efficient solutions and increasing adoption of IoT puts the region’s countries on the right track towards the fulfilment of their own commitments in the Paris Agreement.

 

As an energy utility company focusing on low-carbon energy and services, ENGIE continues to support Asia Pacific’s sustainability progress by providing technology R&D, sustainability consulting, as well as the best-in-class integrated energy solutions and digital solutions.

 

In an interview with Industrial Automation Asia, Yeo Kong Nee, Managing Director of ENGIE Services Singapore shares his thoughts on integrated facilities management:

 

“I believe we are approaching a future where all assets will be connected, making traditional facilities management processes obsolete. Therefore, clients should put together a proper transition plan to ensure a smooth switch with minimal effect on service delivery.”
 
To assist its clients in shifting away from a traditional cost management approach, ENGIE developed a highly integrated Smart Operations & Maintenance (O&M) tool aimed at improving monitoring and maintenance of assets, report workflow, response time and preventive maintenance. 

 

For instance, ENGIE collaborated with a healthcare facility to meet their goal of enhancing their facilities management by integrating its Smart O&M tool with existing building management systems. This enabled automated anomaly detection in equipment performance and the creation of timely notifications and necessary work orders. The tool also captured essential asset information, which was easily accessed via QR code scanning, and KPIs could be monitored in real-time. 

 

In another collaboration with Givaudan, a fragrance manufacturing facility, ENGIE introduced vibration monitoring to detect performance anomalies in their air handling units and chilled water pumps. Abnormal events triggered the generation of inspection orders and prevented costly breakdowns. ENGIE also installed IoT sensors to detect temperature, humidity and indoor air quality, resulting in productivity improvement of 15%.

 

As facilities management undergoes a digital transformation, it is imperative that all stakeholders and operational teams are engaged and actively contributing to the initiative.

 

“The biggest challenge, when it comes to adopting new solutions, is the potential low pick-up rate. To mitigate adoption issues, it is pertinent to secure management buy-in and for management to ensure communication on the importance of the initiative. At the operational level, employees play a key role in the success of the implementation of said initiatives.” 

 

ENGIE’s data-fuelled business models continue to assist companies in understanding the relationship between asset operation and utilisation, and bridging the gap between underutilised data points. With its regional headquarters and hub for ENGIE Labs, ENGIE Factory and ENGIE Impact based in Singapore, ENGIE continues to keep up to date on advancements in cutting-edge technologies developed from within as well as outside of the ENGIE Group. 

 

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