FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
Global logistics company DHL has signed a new three-year deal with Enterprise Asset Management specialist, Peacock Engineering Ltd, in a move that will help the logistics firm manage and maintain its critical asset base at its DHL Express Southern Hub, Heathrow.
The global shipping and logistics giant delivers nearly two billion parcels, to over 220 territories, each year. Behind its success is a team of 380,000 workers and a state-of-the-art logistics network and operations infrastructure.
The 150,000 sq. ft. DHL Express Southern Hub, which supports a network of 47 service centres across the UK, opened in 2016 and is home to over 500 employees. Operating 24/7, it has the capacity to process 28,000 items per hour. As well as onsite green energy assets including, photo-voltaic panels and air source heat pumps, the facility includes automated parcel and mail sorting systems, and x-ray machines, all of which require round the clock monitoring and maintenance to ensure the impact of any potential downtime is minimal on DHL’s world renowned, industry leading delivery service.
The partnership with Peacock Engineering will see DHL move its existing EAM solution, IBM Maximo®, to a new cloud-based version of the cutting-edge software, IBM Maximo Application Suite (MAS). MAS offers a single platform for intelligent asset management, monitoring, maintenance, computer vision, safety and reliability, enabling the company to have a 360-degree, real time view of its asset base, across multiple sites simultaneously if necessary.
The move to the cloud will enable increased asset uptime and better first-time-fix rates, improved operational efficiency, digitised work orders and the ability to store data on and offline. The cloud-based system will also help to negate out-dated paper-based processes, helping to remove duplication and reduce human error.
DHL is also upgrading to the latest generation of Peacock Engineering’s Fingertip add-on mobile solution, enabling its team to benefit from improved real-time data capture, flexible work processes and faster work progression. DHL’s maintenance teams will also receive training workshops delivered by Peacock Engineering’s team of experts.
Kevin Dickinson, SDC Engineering Manager at DHL, said: “We have worked with Peacock Engineering since 2016 and have always been impressed by the quality of service and its teams unrivalled knowledge of EAM solutions, such as IBM Maximo®.
“The partnership will see us upgrade to a new cloud-based version of IBM Maximo, an EAM solution we have been using for several years. By taking our EAM to the cloud through IBM Maximo Application Suite it will enable us to reduce the impact of maintenance through better planning, speeding up works, improve first time fix rates and enable our operations and maintenance teams to have a better view of our assets.”
Alan Cambridge, CEO of Peacock Engineering added: “We are thrilled to be continuing our work with DHL over the next three years. The new cloud-based IBM Maximo Application Suite integration will help bring all of DHL’s maintenance and work schedules at its DHL Express Southern Hub together, in a single EAM platform, helping to speed up fixes and ensure the impact of maintenance on operations is minimal.”
With the current economic crisis resulting in higher prices and more of a squeeze on resources, FMs need to ensure that they have robust building and maintenance services in place to control costs and reduce the need for emergency repairs. When it comes to drainage and plumbing there are also the challenges of dealing with extreme weather, from droughts to flooding, the need to meet stringent regulations and to avoid causing environmental damage.
UK drainage specialist, Metro Rod, has launched a survey which explores the main areas of interest for FMs in maintaining drainage and plumbing, including how they currently assess their supply chains to ensure they’re working with partners that meet the highest possible standards and provide value for money.
The results will be published online so that you can see how you compare to others within the sector.
The survey should take just 5-10 minutes of your time, and as a thank you, you will be entered into a prize draw, where one lucky winner will be picked at random to receive a £100 Amazon voucher.
To take part click here.
