Warren Zysman, president of All-Rite Construction Company, discusses the importance of preventative maintenance programs for retail facilities. He emphasizes being proactive in identifying potential problem areas and monitoring them regularly. This includes evaluating building materials and replacing underperforming items. Zysman also stresses creating a reliability-centered maintenance program that involves all stakeholders like building management, risk management, and human resources. The goal is to prolong the life of the building and equipment through proper training, resources, and documentation. Finally, he notes that general contractors are uniquely qualified for facilities management since they have extensive knowledge of the site from building it.

1. FACILITIES AND OPERATIONS:
A Q&A WITH WARREN ZYSMAN, PRESIDENT, ALL-RITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.
How reliability-centered preventive
maintenance programs contribute
to operational success
CSA: A lot of
facilities manage-
ment is corrective
— responding to
problems as they
arise. But, more
so, it’s about being
proactive and pre-
venting problems
from occurring
in the first place.
What are some
of the top things retailers should look
out for when creating a preventive
facilities plan?
WZ: Being proactive means having
systems in place to preserve func-
tionality, encourage safety, reduce the
cost of repairs and unplanned down-
time, and minimize potential impacts
to critical performance. It’s imperative
that you look at your entire operation in
order to effectively plan your building
maintenance program. A retailer should
work with their facility maintenance
partner to identify the areas where
potential problems could arise and then
pay close attention to these areas on a
regular basis. An evaluation of potential
materials used in store construction
should be made, followed by a deter-
mination of what materials should be
replaced that are underperforming.
High traffic areas might require using a
different or more expensive material to
hold up under heavy foot traffic.
CSA: What are the primary facility
concerns for retail operations
directors? What areas might they
be overlooking?
WZ: Operations is really the key link
between many of the most important
areas of facilities maintenance —
building management, risk manage-
ment, human resources, budget and
purchasing. Creating a reliability-cen-
tered building maintenance program
involving all these stakeholders will
help prolong the life of your building
and all the equipment associated with
it. This involves determining accept-
able levels of failure for each building
category; training employees and
clearly outlining the specific respon-
sibilities for each team member;
making sure you have the right tools,
resources and safety precautions;
and, finally, having the contract sup-
port in place that can be ready to go
in a moment’s notice. This kind of a
cost-effective preventive maintenance
program and documentation system
will help preserve your budget and
raise your net operating income. Ad-
ditionally, you will raise your employ-
ee performance due to proper train-
ing and implementation programs.
Everyone will know exactly what they
are supposed to be doing at all times
without question.
CSA: Budgets are obviously a
major consideration for retailers.
What are some common pitfalls a
retailer can make when trying to
cut corners?
WZ: One of the things we often
hear about is someone making the
decision to scale back the scope of a
repair due to the cost of the potential
repair. This is just putting a Band-
Aid on the problem and hoping it will
solve itself. Ultimately this will cause
greater expense, because the prob-
lem will have to be corrected again at
an additional cost.
CSA: How can retailers save money
on site maintenance while still operat-
ing smoothly, safely and on brand?
WZ: It’s crucial to develop an ongoing
site evaluation schedule for each store
and take the necessary steps to make
repairs when a problem is detected
early on. This will prevent a more costly
repair to be made down the road.
CSA: Why is a company that is also
a general contractor uniquely qualified
to take on facilities management?
WZ: General contractors have
already built the store and have the
knowledgeable employees who can
address problems down the road.
They know the site inside and out,
from the façade to the foundation.
They also have material on hand to
make potential repairs that will save
a store both time and money. As a
contractor, they are uniquely qualified
to help develop an ongoing preventive
maintenance plan because they’ve
been working with the retailer and their
specific needs from the beginning.
For more information about
All-Rite Construction, visit
www.all-riteconstruction.com
or call 800-255-7483.
CHAINSTOREAGE.COM / JUNE/JULY 2014 13
ADVERTORIAL
WARREN ZYSMAN
President
All-Rite Construction
All-Rite Warren Zysman 12_2014.indd 28 1/6/15 3:07 PM