SMS Assist informs how technology can overcome the skills gap

Our Vice President of Operations, Josh Lessack, was featured in Facility Executive Magazine. In his most recent article, Short on Staff? Turn to Tech, Lessack shares how facility executives can use technology to get around the challenges associated with a declining supply of skilled technicians.

As the amount of HVAC technicians in the field shrinks due to the aging baby boomer generation, the technicians in the field are raising their prices due to their high demand. This causes a slight problem for facility executives who are under constant pressure to keep their costs in line. To overcome the budgetary and logistical challenges presented by the “skills gap” affecting America’s skilled trades, facility executives can harness today’s technology to experience the following benefits:

• Forecasting: Internet of Things (IoT) has opened the doors for sensors that can observe and measure the health of an HVAC system, enabling predictions of when equipment might fail and, in turn, triggering the ordering of preventive maintenance before costlier fixes are needed.
• Transparency: Facility managers receive high-level transparency of their facilities when they combine forecasting tools with a centralized management platform. This combination forms thousands of reliable data points that provide facility managers with transparency.
• Work Order Avoidance: Using asset readings and historic performance metrics allows facility executives to determine if all the aspects of a site’s scheduled maintenance are necessary, so the equipment with signs of wear and tear can receive proper repairs.

If you are interested in reading further, you can find Lessack’s entire article from the February 2018 issue of Facility Executive Magazine, here.