(Article originally published on fnPrime) — Building Operating Management advisory board member Alishia Jolivette-Webber, officer of facilities, maintenance and operations for the Houston Independent School District, knows what it means to protect people. Deep in the trenches of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, it was up to Jolivette-Webber and her staff to keep the district up and running. She and her team were forced to stay in one of the school buildings for seven days because of the storm, but being able to witness the damage, they were able to determine what needed to be fixed first. Because of the hurricane, Jolivette-Webber was able to create a task force and now has a risk plan in place in case of another extreme weather event.
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Initiated in 2008 by Global FM and given renewed exposure by the current global pandemic, World FM Day aims to recognize the vital work that FM professionals contribute to business worldwide, and to raise the profile of the FM profession anywhere they influence the health, safety, productivity and well-being of people who utilize the built environment.
With the pandemic, FM teams have stood at the forefront in making environments and digital platforms available to meet unanticipated demands and have been significantly important in keeping many sectors operating. With a renewed importance being placed on human health and safety coupled with building sustainability and resilience, the FM today has been thrust into the center of the “Return To” conversation.
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Penn State New Kensington’s Digital Foundry at New Kensington has been named one of four new Smart Manufacturing Innovation Centers (SMICs) by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in partnership with the CESMII — The Smart Manufacturing Institute. The additions bring the number of SMICs to seven, including the Feyen Zylstra (FZ) SMIC announced in February. SMICs are standalone, innovative, value-driven centers that further CESMII’s mission in a hands-on and learning-centric way.
Kelly Speakes-Backman, assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), said in the August 2021 announcement: Smart manufacturing makes the American manufacturing sector more productive, energy efficient and competitive on a global scale. DOE’s investments in smart manufacturing will accelerate the adoption of these technologies and processes, while developing a highly skilled manufacturing workforce for the future.
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Fluorescent tube light bulbs, once embraced as an energy-efficient option, use far more energy than today’s light-emitting diode (LED) drop-in retrofit options and are now a needless toxic health risk, according to a recently published study. Laws and rules restricting the use of toxic mercury have generally exempted these mercury-containing bulbs because of a lack of better options, but the study shows that LEDs are now available in all needed shapes and sizes — and cost less to own and operate than fluorescent bulbs.
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In addition to daily on-site keynotes and special programs, NeoCon, June 13-15, will offer 47 virtual CEU-accredited programs from leading industry experts from a cross-section of fields. The sessions will span eight program tracks: Workplace, Healthcare, Education, Facilities, Wellness, Sustainability, Design Skills, and Industry Direction and delve into the topics that are making an impact on the design industry both now and in the future.
The Education track offers five CEU-accredited sessions on designing successful learning environments. Registrants will be able to access each session when it runs live online as well as anytime on demand (for accreditation) through July 15, 2022. Track of 5 sessions: $100.
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Covid-19 has forced a shift in priorities when it comes to cleaning, putting healthy and safe environments first for students.¹ Research also suggests that having a clean campus and new modern buildings are key to attracting new students.² However, current hygiene and cleaning solutions do not always meet the increased demands from everyone — starting with students through to faculty and senior management.
"Operations managers play an important role in keeping everything running smoothly and ensuring a clean and safe campus experience," remarked Anna Königson Koopmans, marketing director Public Interest for Essity’s Professional Hygiene business. "This job can be quite complex considering the many types of facilities on campus, from lecture rooms, shared study areas, restrooms, sport facilities, student dorms and cafeterias, to name a few. With the new Tork Campus Hygiene Package, we want to help operations managers elevate the campus experience and keep students, faculty and staff healthy and safe by achieving consistently high cleaning quality throughout the entire campus."
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The IFMA Foundation, established in 1990 as a nonprofit research and education corporation and a separate entity from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), has just announced that it has expanded the scope of the Eric Teicholz Sustainability Facility Professional (SFP) Scholarship Program to include corporate partners. The goal of the SFP Partner Program is to make additional scholarships available and provide an opportunity for organizations to support a sustainable future, creating a generation of facilities management (FM) leaders committed to environmental best practices. Partner organizations can opt to introduce a scholarship program in a topic area of their choosing or join an existing program, such as the newly launched SFP Partner Supply Chain Program.
Eric Teicholz, IFMA Fellow, graduated with a master’s degree in architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he later became an associate professor and the associate director of the university’s largest R+D facility, the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis.
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New events posted this week
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