FMT302 Tutor-Marked Assignment Two January 2025 SUSS : Operation and Maintenance of Building Services, Singapore

Background Information

A major local building owner owns three (3) high-rise Grade A office towers (Tower A, Tower B & Tower C) in the Central Business District (CBD) and a mixed-use development comprising two (2) high-rise residential towers and an integrated retail mall in the suburban area. The building owner is deeply concerned about the increasing operation and maintenance costs attributed to inflation, increasing utilities tariffs, and labour costs.
Except for specialist services for central electrical switch gears, and lifts and escalators, all maintenance and operation activities are undertaken by the in-house teams. Specialist contractors are appointed to only carry out corrective maintenance and replacement works, if needed, mainly for the air-conditioning systems, mechanical and ventilation systems. A contract manager, based at the company headquarter, oversees the procurement of specialist services and contract administration and management, including overseeing the service delivery by the specialist contractors.
The administration team of the respective buildings issues and keeps manual records of purchasing/work orders, including managing tenants’ feedback. Feedback from tenants received on telephone calls are usually not recorded. Among other housekeeping issues most of the feedback are inconsistent air-conditioning supply temperatures in the tenants’ units. The vendor of the water-cooled chillers had on several occasions checked and confirmed not
chiller-related issues.

The Managing Director directed the General Manager of the Facility Management Department to rationalize all services without compromising service standards, reduce headcount by at least 50% and to optimize outsourcing initiatives. The General Manager assigns you as the Deputy General Manager find ways to restructure the in-house teams as and
to optimize outsourcing arrangements. Refer to the current organization structures below:

• Shift Hours: 1st shift (7:00 am to 2:00 pm) 2nd Shift (1:00 pm to 7:00 pm)
• Security officer will manage tenants’ calls after hours and weekends.
• Security officers manage the fire command Centers, 24/7.
• State your assumptions, where necessary.

Question 1

(a) Examine the challenges of the current organization structures, including the operation and maintenance functions.
(10 marks)
(b) Demonstrate your understanding of the operation and maintenance requirements of the major building systems in the context of in-house versus outsourced functions.
(20 marks)
(c) Propose an in-house and outsourcing mix organization structure to streamline the operation and maintenance activities of building services for operational and financial efficiency.
(15 marks)

Question 2

Most of the issues complained by the tenants are related to inconsistent air-conditioning supply temperature to the tenants’ units, i.e. some users complained too cold while some said it is too warm.
(a) Examine at least FIVE (5) possible causes of inconsistent air-conditioning supply temperature in the tenanted units.
(15 marks)
(b) Implement FIVE (5) preventive measures to address these five (5) possible causes of  inconsistent air-conditioning supply temperature to the tenanted units.
(15 marks)

Question 3

The administration team of the respective buildings issues and keeps manual records of purchasing/work orders, including managing tenants’ feedback. Feedback from the tenants received on telephone calls are usually not recorded. The building owner is considering investing on the use of Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to improve
customer service standards and to level up the overall maintenance standards of all the building services.
(a) Appraise the benefits and pitfalls of the Computerized Maintenance Management System technology and justify your recommendation.
(15 marks)

(b) Formulate a training strategy plan to train or coach in-house staff on the use of Computerized Maintenance and Management System (CMMS) software.
(10 marks)