IFAS Make 80% Time Saving On Maintenance Masterplan Creation

Learn how Edmond Selwan was able to reduce maintenance masterplan creation from 2 months to just 2 weeks by using SFG20! Edmond also comments on the ROI users can expect from working with SFG20. 

Can you tell us about IFAS and the type of facilities management services you provide in Saudi Arabia?  

IFAS is a Total Facility Maintenance (TFM) company that’s part of a group called MBL. MBL consists of 25 construction companies and other subsidiary companies. We specialise in hard and soft FM across Saudi Arabia, France and Great Britain.    

What initially prompted you to obtain an SFG20 license?  

There is nothing like SFG20 in Saudi Arabia, but we needed a standard to refer to, because often we go to sites without O&M manuals, manufacturer instructions or other specific tasks we can put into PPM.  

SFG20 is an internationally recognised standard and it’s very well renowned. It's not mandatory in Saudi Arabia, but we chose to follow it. Many of our consultants and clients recommended it. 

 We were reluctant in the beginning, but after we experienced the benefits we realised it was a great investment. 

How has SFG20 benefited your operations and service delivery? 

Time and cost 

It used to take us about 2 months to create a masterplan for a client contract, as we would write all the PPM ourselves. 

By using SFG20, we’ve reduced that to just 2 weeks, a massive time and cost saving of 80%, especially when you factor in that we often run 15 contracts at once.  

Efficiency and Asset longevity 

We are also just much more efficient at carrying out PPM, because SFG20 gives us a proper plan, meaning we are less reactive. 

SFG20 allows us to maximise the lifespan of our assets through their PPM guidance, which leads to cost savings in terms of repairs or replacements.  

Technician performance and headcount 

SFG20 also tells us what skillset is required. This has allowed us to upskill our technicians, which has not only increased their confidence but also given us another competitive advantage.  

SFG20 also tells you how long a task is supposed to take, which allows us to monitor the performance of our technicians and hold them to task timings. This time optimisation is another advantage for us.  

What this also means is that where necessary we can reduce the manpower required for certain tasks, which has led to additional cost savings.  

In Terms of those costs, would you say that you probably save more than you pay for an SFG20 licence? 

Absolutely, or we would stop using it! SFG20 is not required in Saudi Arabia, but the benefits and ROI more than make up for the cost, that’s why we use it.  

Does SFG20 help you in the tendering and bidding process? Does it reduce vagueness in tendering conversations or disputes over what's going to be maintained? Does it provide a competitive advantage? 

Yes absolutely, you said it. Yes, yes, yes! 

A lot of our competitors don't know about SFG20, which enables us to stand out. When we put in a tender that we are using SFG20, we add a sample of SFG20 optimised PPM.  

Our clients are very technically minded, so this always resonates with them and helps us to secure contracts more easily.  

The SFG20 Standard is updated monthly. Is it important to you and your clients to be able to demonstrate up-to-date compliance maintenance procedures? 

Absolutely. It's a must with our clients because they are very demanding. The monthly updates help us to always be on top. 

What do you think of Facilities-iQ? 

Facilities-iQ has really helped us to develop our maintenance master plans faster, thanks to new features like the mass tailoring ability.  

This allows us to apply an update to our maintenance plan across all similar assets at once. This is extremely useful if you have 1500 smoke detectors for example! 

We are also very excited about the integration with IBM Maximo, we are just in the process of setting up it up at the moment but anticipate that it will help us to save a lot of time. 

What advice would you have to any other FM service providers out there who are thinking about investing in an SFG20 licence, is it worth their time and money? 

Yes absolutely, the software is very easy to use, and it definitely saves time and money when it comes to creating a master maintenance plan.  

How would you rate working with SFG20 and why? 

I would rate it 9/10! The people are very nice. The trainers are very good. You are very helpful. When we request a new feature, you add it.