IFMA Announces Community for Hospitality Market

The International Facility Management Association announced the formation of the Hospitality Facility Managers and Engineers Community, a new community of practice focused on the hotels and hospitality industry. IFMA’s communities of practice are organized special interest groups that unite members of specific industries not represented by IFMA councils. The new community will provide a network for hospitality professionals to connect with one another, share resources and take advantage of continuing education opportunities.

“I see the group as an avenue to discuss problems that engineers may face and make new contacts that could be beneficial in the long term with larger projects,” says Bill Masefield Jr., FMP, engineering manager at the Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston, Mass. “This is an opportunity to share experiences with other managers and build a community that will help professionals connect with others all over the globe.”

 

Ganguli Awarded Pinnacle Award for Lifetime Achievement

The (OS1) Users Group announced that Ashoke K. Ganguli has been selected to be awarded the prestigious Pinnacle Award for 2008. The Pinnacle Award is recognition for “Outstanding Contributions to the Cleaning Industry and the (OS1) Program.” It is also the only award in the cleaning industry that is recognized by representative benchmarking organizations managing cleaning operations on a peer review basis.

The nearly 175 organizations and several hundred leaders who have attended Janitor University have been polled and selected Ashoke Ganguli, by secret ballot, to honor his industry-wide contributions.

Ganguli is the Director of Auxiliary Services at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He directs the operations of the longest running (OS1) cleaning program. His program has won several cleaning industry and environmental cleaning awards. Under his leadership the (OS1) Boot Camp Program, the Retuning Management program, (OS1) 3rd party audits and the (OS1) Floor Care program were developed and beta tested for all program users. In 2004 Ganguli and the Auxiliary Services department hosted the (OS1) Users Symposium. In 2007 the Auxiliary Services department opened a state-of-the-art computer assisted (OS1) training facility for custodial operations. Ashoke has two Masters degrees from the University of Massachusetts and is a graduate of Janitor University.

Ashoke was presented the Pinnacle Award at the Cleaning Industry Awards Banquet during the (OS1) Users Symposium in Durango, Colorado on August 18, 2008. Presentation of the award was given by last year’s honoree, ProTeam founder Larry Shideler.

Survey: Rising Fuel Surcharges

Facility managers are feeling the pain of rising fuel surcharges and they’re not alone. In an online survey conducted by DC VELOCITY in April, 88 percent of the 206 respondents reported that they had seen increases in their fuel surcharges in the previous three months. On average, respondents said they were paying fuel surcharges of 23.8 percent above current freight rates.

Among other findings, the survey indicated that there’s little uniformity in the way fuel surcharge programs are structured. Close to half (52 percent) of the respondents reported that their fuel surcharges were adjusted on a weekly basis. Another 35 percent said their surcharges were adjusted monthly, and 12 percent said adjustments were made on a daily basis. Only 18 percent of the respondents said their fuel surcharge programs contained a cap.

One obvious way to control fuel surcharge costs is to reduce shipments. And in fact, 24 percent of the respondents reported that they had deliberately cut down on the number of shipments they made in order to rein in fuel surcharge costs.

Asked what other techniques they were using to control freight costs (and by extension, fuel surcharges), respondents cited a variety of strategies. The most popular answers included consolidating loads or implementing an internal efficiency program (28 percent), and negotiating prices or shopping around for better rates (18 percent). Other responses included changing routes, redesigning the supply chain network, using software and passing on the costs to customers.

Not all of the respondents were equally enterprising in their responses to the problem, however. A full 20 percent admitted that they were doing nothing at all to control their surcharge expenses.

 

 

 

USGBC CONSIDERS CHANGES TO LEED

Developers of commercial buildings would have to abide by a new set of rules to get LEED certification under changes being considered by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The new rules would streamline the process for achieving LEED certification and put greater emphasis on saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.

“The credits were re-weighted to encourage people to go after those requirements that are going to change the building’s performance,” said Judith Webb, a spokeswoman for the USGBC in Washington, D.C.

A 30-day public comment period on the proposed rules ended in late June. Another comment period will begin sometime in August. The changes would ultimately have to be approved by the 16,000-plus members of the USGBC. That vote could occur in October.

If approved, the new rules would take effect in January 2009.

BACKGROUND:

LEED certifications are available in eight categories: new construction, existing buildings, commercial interiors, core and shell, retail, schools, health care and homes. Another category, for neighborhood developments, is in the pilot stage.

Under the proposed changes, the maximum points available in each of the seven commercial categories would be 110 (the changes would not affect the home category).

In order to attain certification for new construction, a project would need 40 points. Silver would require 50 points, gold 60 points and platinum 80 points.

Under the current system, the maximum for new construction is 69 points; LEED certification is awarded for 26 points.

More information is available at www.usgbc.org.




POSTED ON: 8/1/2008