Dr Sarel Lavy, Associate Professor and Associate Department Head - Construction Science, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, in conjunction with IFMA, USA conducted a five-day workshop on ‘Sustainable Facilities Management’ at the Noida campus.

A five day workshop on ‘Sustainable Facilities Management’ was organized for MBA REUI, MBA IM and PGDFM students at the Noida campus from 5-9 March 2018.  The workshop was conducted by Dr. Sarel Lavy, Associate Professor and Associate Department Head - Construction Science, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, in conjunction with International Facilities Management Association, USA.

Day 1: Introduction to Facilities Management by Dr. Sarel Lavy

On the first day, Dr. Lavy lead the session where he gave the students an introduction to Facilities Management (FM); how the sector has evolved over time, in North America; the history of FM development, along with the instances which lead to the recognition to the FM industry. He also introduced the students to the life cycle of a typical project, from the perspective of a FM professional.

DAY 2: Sessions with IFMA India Members

The second day of the workshop was dedicated to Guest Lectures by experts from Indian FM industry, including Mr. Deepak Ohlayan, Vice President, Global Facilities India, Dell International Services; Mr. Aneesh Kadyan, Sr. Director, Operations, CBRE; Mr. Arun Khanna, Director – Real Estate, United Health Group; and Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Managing Director, IFM, West Asia, JLL.
 
The session with Mr. Ohlayan focused on ‘the growth and transformation of facilities management in India ’, while the one with Mr. Aneesh Kadyan centered on ‘financial management in the facilities management.’ Mr. Arun Khanna, in his session, guided the students about how they as young professionals can enter the FM market. The fourth session, with Mr. Sandeep Sethi, focused on the role of automation and information technology in the delivery of the facilities service of high quality.

DAY 3: Session on Strategic Planning in Facilities Management by Dr. Sarel Lavy

Day three was a day-long session with Dr. Sarel Lavy, focusing on four key modules, namely - Sustainable operations and maintenance; Performance measurements and KPIs; Life-cycle cost analyses; and Strategic planning in FM. Dr. Lavy also briefed the students about the different engineering economics terminologies like NPV and time value of money. The students were also engaged in a detailed exercise on life cycle cost analysis using excel models.

DAY 4: Field Visit to NTT Data Center and DLF Cyber City

To give the students an opportunity to see their theoretical learnings from the workshop being implemented in real life, the fourth day was dedicated to site visits. Students were taken to NTT Communications Corporation data center and DLF Cyber City Gurgaon.

The visit to the NTT Communications Corporation data center gave the students the opportunity to learn about the crucial role that facilities management plays in data centers as they deal with the data of high profile customers. The students also got to know about the concept of n+1 redundancy, different energy reduction measures the NTT data centers take to reduce energy consumption. The students also took a tour of the entire facility, including the DG rooms, UPS rooms, Panel rooms and more.

On their visit to the DLF city center, the students learnt about the different business models DLF follows and their strategy to capture the market by providing the facility with the best of the services. The students also picked up insights like how the mixed used development of a property can do wonders for developers. 

DAY 5: Student Presentations and Assessment

On the fifth and the final day of the workshop, the participants were asked to prepare the project assigned to them, and present it. The five day workshop concluded with certificates being awarded to the participants at the end of the day.