FACILITY MANAGEMENT ARTICLES
New Signal Towers Brighter & Simpler
Signal tower lights play a critical role in protecting the safety of people and equipment in manufacturing and process control environments. They are relatively simple devices but they have been difficult to configure, order and stock because of different options to meet a wide range of applications. Now, ordering signal towers is much easier and fewer spare parts are needed.
How Facility Operations Optimization Delivers Value
Facility management has evolved to become much more than a practice for managing buildings and the infrastructure contained therein. They are expected to recommend, coordinate, and actively implement best practices. Facility operations optimization is one of the practices that FMs can utilize to enable them to make strategic and sustainable improvements in their facilities.
Flexible Openings Benefit Patients & Providers
Healthcare design can present difficult challenges to facility managers and architects alike. Not only does the building have to be accessible navigable, but it also has to accommodate the demands asked of medical professionals. One way for facility managers to help create a more supportive healthcare environment is to choose doors that benefit both patients and providers.
CASE STUDIES
Hospital Location Embodies Philosophy
Pacific Medical Centers moved into Providence Health’s Gately-Ryan Building in Renton, WA. The building’s ease-of-use and efficiency goals extend from its layout to its design features, starting with one of the most frequently traversed thoroughfares – the doors. Often overlooked, doors can provide a key element to optimizing a space while also supporting occupant comfort.
Cooling Emergency Turns into No-Cost Upgrade
For a rural county school district in Kentucky, it started with an emergency failure of a cooling tower used with the school’s HVAC system. The old tower had required significant maintenance over the years. However, the district was hoping to delay the expense of having to replace it along with another metal tower utilized by the high school that was also nearing end-of-life.
Integrated Security System Offers Flexibility
AAU is the largest private school of art and design in the country. Since there are so many buildings and thousands of people coming and going each day, keeping track of that many was a major challenge. The campus comprises administration and classroom buildings, as well as residence halls, dining facilities, and computer labs. Effective security can often be a challenge.
New York Plumbing Pro Chooses Tools Up to the Task
When Murdock Plumbing & Heating confronts clogs in inside lines, they grab their “one-two punch.” That’s what owner Robert “Bob” Murdock calls his arsenal of two hand-held drain cleaners from General Pipe Cleaners: the innovative Kinetic Water Ram® and Super-Vee® power drain cleaning machine.
Smart Indoor Air Quality Monitoring
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, no school’s air quality data was available in Quebec. The province planned to implement a technology solution that could deliver the best possible learning and working environment to students and school staff. Milesight and Assek Technologie worked to create a province-wide IAQ solution leveraging Semtech’s devices.
Theris Flex Valves Solve Efficiency Challenge
The UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville ranks as one of the nation’s best according to U.S. News & World Report. As part of an on-going building assessment process, the FM team evaluated patient rooms to better ensure accurate airflow controls. As a result, upgrading problematic Variable Air Volume boxes throughout patient rooms emerged as a top priority.
PRODUCTS IN ACTION
Triplett Highlights IRTC400 Thermal Imaging Camera
Triplett Test Equipment highlights the IRTC400 Thermal Imaging Camera, ideal for finding leaks and hot spots in facility applications. The imager has a temperature range of -4 to 752°F, a built-in LED worklight, and user programmable audible and visual high/low temperature alarms, making the imager customizable and ready for use in any environment.
Quick Fitting Expands Stainless Steel Products
Quick Fitting, a leading manufacturer of quick connection technology for plumbing, electrical, industrial, municipal, and OEM applications, announces the expansion of its industry-leading stainless steel products. The products’ new larger sizes make them suitable for a variety of commercial capabilities and industrial applications.
’Tis the Season for Clogged Toilets
A house full of family and friends, a mountain of food on the table, football on the TV, and water running across the bathroom floor from a clogged toilet. ‘Tis the season. When you get the call, there’s nothing better to have in your truck for just this emergency than a closet auger.
New Cementex Arc Rated Face Shields
Cementex, the safety tool specialists, highlights the Cementex 17 Cal/cm2 Arc Rated Face Shield (AFS-180) with hard hat. The AFS-180 features a molded shape to provide minimal distortion with exceptional Visible Light Transfer (VLT). This face shield will be included in the Category 2 Contractor, UltraLite and Feature Series PPE kits.
Ask the Drain Brains: Choosing the Right Cutting Tool for the Job
Choosing the right drain cleaning machine for the job is only half the battle. But if you don’t choose the right cutting tool as well, you’ll make the job twice as hard and take twice as long to get the job done. Choose the right tool and you’ll get the line clear the first time.
AD Systems Addresses Acute Care Setting Needs with DualSwing™
AD Systems announces the launch of its newest product offering, DualSwing™. Designed for use in acute care settings, the smoke-rated DualSwing door system features a large primary door and a smaller auxiliary leaf that can open to accommodate patient beds, CT scanners, MRI suites, Cath labs and other large equipment.