2022 February
As the pandemic hit and office workers were sent home, safety and security plans quickly evolved with the changing landscape. Now, as managers are thinking through return-to-work plans and being creative about them, it’s more important than ever to refresh your safety and security plans and ensure you have the technology to back it up.
2022 February
For decades, operators in manufacturing facilities have relied on Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for a visual overview of their process systems to monitor critical status and control information. A properly designed graphical user interface improves situational awareness, reduces workload, and enables the operator to view the entire process at-a-glance so they can focus on mitigating abnormal situations.
2022 January
As IoT technology and applications are increasingly capable of connecting thousands of sensors and allowing for real-time data collection and analysis, buildings will become more efficient and user friendly. From door locks to lights and beyond, there is a host of existing IoT applications that can turn any building into a smart building.
2022 January
The growth of e-commerce is driving warehouse, distribution, and fulfillment centers to utilize larger structures, automated systems, and engineered elevated work platforms that can deliver faster logistics and shipping. To accommodate the growing size and complexity of such systems, industry innovators are now expediting the process of quoting, designing, manufacturing, and installing the systems.
2022 January
The form of buildings as places of shelter or gathering has remained largely unchanged over the course of human history. While we may point to advances in plumbing, heating/cooling, or, more recently, communications, the notion of an “intelligent building” is still a futuristic concept compared to the transformations and breakthroughs we have seen in other asset and object categories.
2021 December
With the growing popularity of outsourcing in facilities management and building maintenance, it’s expected that more and more facility managers will collaborate with vendors to maximize the physical assets under their care. However, such collaborations can only happen with different contracts in place, all managed by an efficient vendor contract management process.
2021 December
Plants and facilities have a duty to protect employees by providing a safe work environment and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required for the job. However, despite various PPE options, many companies fail to supply or specify important lighting tools – namely headlamps. Unfortunately, the lack of suitable headlamps can lead to serious, even deadly, accidents in hazardous locations.
2021 December
Pests can enter a facility in one of three ways: openings in the structure from the property exterior or sewer systems, by employees bringing in pests like cockroaches and bed bugs on personal belongings, and via incoming shipments. Stopping pests must be the focus of any food facilities prevention plan. In the fight against food facility pests, prevention is the best tool.
2021 November
Many businesses are recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supply chain disruptions have made us more aware of our dependencies and the things that we don’t even think about because everything is operating so efficiently. Businesses are looking at their processes and what can be done so that they are more prepared for any disaster or disruption that could have an impact on their business operations.
2021 November
Several manufacturers now make disinfectants. Many of them use the active ingredient benzalkonium chloride, a group of disinfecting chemicals known as quats. Some of these quat-based disinfectants are being used to kill the pathogens that cause coronavirus. This tells us that these products are valuable when it comes to protecting human health. However, as valuable as they are, the use of traditional disinfectants do have drawbacks.