Operate Intelligently Podcast

Bob and Tony are back for one last podcast in 2014! Last time they shared about how to read your energy bills and all of the basics of how to get started with your energy management. So, for this episode, they thought it was important to talk about what to do next. How do you take the data you have collected and make smart cost saving decisions? How do you share your energy savings with your staff to make sure you are rewarding and recognizing energy saving habits? How do you set goals based on the raw energy data you already have? Have you thought about performance contracts?

Join us for this eleventh episode where Papa Dude and Tony will take on these questions and much more!

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Bob and Tony tackle the basics of Energy Management in the tenth episode of the FacilityDude Podcast. Knowing where to start, what to track, how to read your bill, and everything in between is the topic of discussion this week. Do you know what you are looking for on your bill and how to start making an impact on your energy usage and costs? The guys share some industry examples they have come across over the years of people doing just that by simply knowing what to look for and how to get started. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to get a jumpstart on your energy savings for the upcoming year with some of these basic tips and tricks!

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Tony Butler and Bob “Papa Dude” Bittner are back to help you prepare your facility for the holidays. With all of the lists that you have to make and check off during this season, you don’t want to miss the most important one…your facility preparation checklist! Bob will help you make your list and check it twice to ensure nothing gets left off or forgotten while you are away from the building. Are all the space heaters unplugged? Are you saving energy by shutting down the parts of the building you are not using? Have you followed safety protocols for decorating? Whether your facility is completely shutting down or just running on a reduced staff, here are some tips and tricks to make it a safe and happy holiday season!

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Bob and Tony are back to talk about Key Performance Indicators or KPIs. Knowing what work to track and how that work stands up to industry standards and your peers will go a long way in your ability to show your success and productivity at your facility.

Don't miss the first of this two part series just in time to start planning for 2015!

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Bob “Papa Dude” Bitner and Tony Butler share some turkey talk about winter planned maintenance. They take a look at five areas you should be thinking about this winter when it comes to preparing your facility for this winter season.

1. Employee Training – This can include a review of OSHA regulations, safety procedures and equipment operation.

2. Take Inventory – Make sure you have enough snow removal equipment and that it’s working properly. Also check to see if you have enough salt and ice melt.

3. Inspect for Potential Problem Area – Look for potential issues with pipes that are exposed and sprinkler systems. Also do a full building inspection. Check the air dampers as well as the roof.

4. Planning and Prioritization – When there is a winter weather emergency be prepared with proper scheduling, plan for who does what and what needs to be done when.

5. Review Communications Plans – Make sure employees know where to look for winter weather policies and notifications. Make sure they review these plans to understand what to do in case of an emergency.

Please be sure to leave a review of this podcast and help other facility professionals find this free resource. Please visit the FacilityDude Blog for the latest insights on facility operations and management

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We’re getting into the colder seasons. This change in season means higher gas bills, higher electric bills and more consumption by our facilities to create comfortable environments. Bob “Papa Dude” Bitner and Tony Butler discuss some best practices to help you prepare for the fall and winter seasons.

It’s important that you understand how to manage your utilities. You can’t manage what you don’t know. Take a look at and understand your utility bills. Work with your accounts payable staff to review the utility bills. While they look at the dollars that are spent on utilities, help them understand how you look at utility usage. For example, explain how kBTU usage per square foot is used to normalize energy usage across different buildings.

Papa Dude also points out how benchmarking facility’s utility usage against other buildings with similar profiles. This can help to identify if you have an issue that needs to be resolved. You can also refer to EnergyStar.gov to help you with benchmarking.

Utility Management Best Practices

1. Know your data

2. Know your facility’s utilization

3. Know your facility systems and why utility types they use.

4. Turn off unused equipment. Show the impact of this by publishing utility usage by employees.

5. Look into technology. For example, occupancy sensory, Energy Star certified equipment and building automation.

Please be sure to leave a review of this podcast and help other facility professionals find this free resource. Please visit the FacilityDude Blog for the latest insights on facility operations and management

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Bob “Papa Dude” Bitner and Tony Butler share three ways you can work with your staff to get buy-in and accomplish the work that needs to be done.

Papa Dude takes a moment to reflect on his career and puts into perspective how his work helped contributed to some pretty major accomplishments in human history. These include being part of the teams that set the deepest dive record, kept the smallest baby born alive and developed a major migraine drug. This all going into understand how your team is part of the bigger picture and helping them understand that.

Here are the three points that Papa Dude and Tony make

1. Understand the value of the mission – Do this by creating and maintaining and environment for success

2. Empower and enable your staff - Remove roadblocks, become their trusted advisor and contribute to change instead of resisting it.

3. Draw on their strengths - find their passion and incorporate that into their work

Please be sure to leave a review of this podcast and help other facility professionals find this free resource. Please visit our blog at http://www.facilitydude.com/blog for the latest insights on facility operations and management

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Papa Dude and Tony sit down to discuss how to get buy-in as a facility manager. In part one, Papa Dude and Tony describe three points to consider when working to get buy-in.

1. Develop a common language. A lot of times, your C-suite doesn't speak your language and visa versa. Generally, this is because of a lack of understanding of responsibilities and goals.

2. Lay out requirements in a needs format. Develop a Service Level Agreement with management so that expectations are clear. Help them understand what happens when requirements like fire, life and safety inspections are neglected because of your team being taken off task.

3. Create a mutual understanding. Become a trusted advisor. You're the expert on the ground. If you develop a trusting relationship with the C-suite you are more likely to achieve more of your goals.

Next week, Papa Dude and Tony will discuss how to get buy-in from your team. So stay subsribed for part 2!

Please be sure to leave a review of this podcast and help other facility professionals find this free resource. Please visit our blog at http://www.facilitydude.com/blog for the latest insights on facility operations and management

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Thank you for listening to episode 002 of the FacilityDude Podcast, hosted by Bob "Papa Dude" Bitner and Tony Butler!

In this episode Papa Dude and Tony discuss how accidents don't happen and why they are predictable. They stress three reason why this is the case. The first is that frequently there's an issue with understanding OSHA requirements. Second, facility operations staff must have the proper tools to do their job. Third, involves the proper training of staff. All lead to helping understand why something has happened by analyzing the aftermath of the accident and answering the time old question of, "Why did it happen?"

Please be sure to leave a review of this podcast and help other facility professionals find this free resource. Please visit our blog at http://www.facilitydude.com/blog for the latest insights on facility operations and management

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.