By Bryan Christiansen
A big expansion of your facility is a good sign — it’s usually an indication of business success and company growth. An expansion project is an ideal option when an organization requires more space to function properly due to its growing activities, but would prefer to remain in the same location.
Yet, such growth can become a challenge. For a facility manager, the challenges that come with a major expansion revolve around issues associated with organizing larger spaces, the additional workforce, equipment, and maintenance involved.
Although these challenges may be considered “good” problems, they still demand a proactive step-by-step approach to make them manageable. If not, you could quickly lose control of the situation — and nobody wants to see this exciting period ruined by constant technical issues.
To be prepared is to know what to expect so here are some challenges you are likely to face after big expansion, and how to tackle them.
Maintaining Daily Operations
No matter how large your expansion, your customers and clients will not be impressed if they do not get the products or services they need on time. It’s therefore paramount that regardless of whichever internal activities are going on, all systems that directly impact service delivery must remain functional.
But, a big expansion will likely require extensive reorganization or restructuring of the existing workspace, so it’s important to think the process through thoroughly to avoid disrupting any particular unit. For example, in a building with a lot of computers and other office machines, overlooking a little detail like having enough electrical outlets or internet ports could cause a lot of inconvenience.
Therefore, in the first few days following the expansion, one of your main concerns will be how to maintain daily operations with minimal disruption. Note that despite your best efforts, you may not be totally free of little interruptions at first….
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Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO at Limble CMMS. Limble is a modern, easy to use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate, and streamline their maintenance operations.