At its core, facilities management protects the company, its people, and its assets. An improperly maintained facility places your operation and organization at risk. Unfortunately, executives and leadership do not take notice until it's too late when there are disruptions in their service to customers and operations.

No Facility is One-Size-Fits-All

OpenWorks has the industry expertise to craft unique solutions for individual locations. We’ve found that most other companies employ a blanket approach due to their business model. Because of how OpenWorks is organized, it can change its offerings for its client's needs. Not just flexible but open. Hence the name, OpenWorks.

A major food distributor serving national quick-service restaurants almost has its operations shut down by the FDA.

A food distributor delivering high-quality fresh, frozen, and wholesale products to large restaurant chains almost disrupted their entire operations, which would’ve cost the company millions of dollars.

The client left OpenWorks for another vendor offering a traditional cleaning service model. However, the new traditional cleaning service vendor responded to a homogenous bid even though the distributor's locations provide distinctive needs.

Each site has details and intricacies that need to be understood and addressed by the company and each service provider. The new janitorial company's services needed optimization for each site's specific nuances across all temperature zones. But it was lacking.

Our client's distribution center has frozen food, dairy products, and meat. Cleanliness is a critical factor as sites like these are subject to FDA inspection consistently. Packaging violations, food leakage/seepage, and slip/trip and fall hazards can quickly shut down an operation not managed compliantly. And OpenWorks understands that.

After avoiding a catastrophic near miss, our client returned to OpenWorks and has been enjoying cleanliness, eager service providers, and 100% support from us.

A Multi-Location Dialysis Center Fails Audits and Patient Trust Falters

When one of our clients, a top clinical dialysis organization, moved to a lower-cost “aggregator,” it saw rippling effects on its operations, patients, and P&L.

The client, serving 26,000 patients at over 400 facilities, hired a lower-cost service provider that outsourced to a patchwork of small, individually owned janitorial companies. As a result, there was limited standardization and oversight.

Due to the aggregators' limitations, the dialysis organization and its centers suffered more significant variability and increased operational and patient risk.

• The aggregator was challenged to find service providers for many locations during the pandemic.
• The local mom-and-pop shops weren’t providing service up to expectations and adhering to regulatory guidelines across all sites.
• They weren’t using medical-grade disinfectants and EPA chemicals, ensuring the safety of ill patients with compromised immune systems.
• Clinic managers were burdened with facility issues. This took their focus off the patients, as the caregiver’s and staff’s sick time increased.
• Due to short staffing, patients became frustrated with long wait times to get treatment.
• Individual clinics failed scheduled and surprise audits resulting in fines and affecting margins.
• Through surveys, the center found that patients did not feel “safe” and “comfortable” getting treatment at these locations.

The lower-cost facility provider offered a 10-15% savings. But in the face of brand damage, productivity losses, regulatory fines, lost patients, and the cost of multiple potential site shutdowns, those “savings” ultimately hurt the organization.

This is why they returned to OpenWorks.

Facility Management IS Risk Management

Facility Management requires individuals knowledgeable of the industry and site-level experts who can craft unique solutions to unique problems. OpenWorks does both. FM impacts more than just employee retention or budget, it can affect a variety of operations and risk.

We recently completed a White Paper about associated risks and invite you to read it. Download the whitepaper today to avoid risk you don’t want or need.