THE DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONAL FACILITY MANAGEMENT IS STRONG IN GENEVA, AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE. BILFINGER BERGER IS THE PROVIDER OF CHOICE AMONG DISCRIMINATING GLOBAL PLAYERS.
Global corporations like Caterpillar are always on the move. Employees from around the world commute between offices. Departments are extended or merged depending on what’s happening in the marketplace; entire teams move to new workstations whenever a new project is launched. Caterpillar personnel, who number some 500 in Geneva, are accustomed to seeing their office landscape change around them all the time. Many even move their workstations to a new spot several times a year.
At the European headquarters of the world’s largest manufacturer of construction machinery, Cédric Cassard and two of his colleagues are responsible for organizing relocations — 520 last year alone. Cassard works for HSG Zander, a subsidiary of Bilfinger Berger Facility Services. “The trick is to reconcile the requirements of the corporate head office in the US, the legal standards and the safety rules with what staff expect.” Cassard plans relocations on the computer down to the last square centimeter. As a result, the act of moving furniture, wiring up the PC and reconnecting the phone can all be accomplished in less than 15 minutes.
KEEPING COSTS UNDER CONTROL
Relocation management is one of a total of eighteen different services that Bilfinger Berger handles for Caterpillar in Geneva. The spectrum ranges from gardening and maintaining the air conditioning system through planning and monitoring operating costs for the company’s 29,000- square-meter property. These activities are part and parcel of HSG Zander’s facility management services. “All the way up to administration, we can handle the vast majority of tasks that are not related to our clients’ core business,” says Hans-Peter Bursa, Managing Director of HSG Zander Switzerland. “We lighten the load, quite literally.”
Facility managers are people who “make things happen.” Emilio Abadin, also of HSG Zander, shares this view. He supports a number of clients in Geneva. Not only is he responsible for the Caterpillar building, he also takes care of the Colgate and Lexmark offices. It’s a job with a great deal of diversity. “I sit down with clients on a regular basis in order to find out firsthand whether they’re satisfied and learn what they need. And, of course, I’m in constant contact with our employees as well as with subcontractors and suppliers,” he explains. Abadin used to run his own service company on a small scale but he could “barely speak a word of English.” HSG Zander gave him plenty of training opportunities, particularly in foreign languages. Now he juggles numbers and languages in cosmopolitan Geneva. “I keep an eye on costs, optimize processes and train my people to be always on the ball.” Environmental protection and energy efficiency are also matters close to his heart: “I’m always looking for ways to save energy and water. It makes sense for our clients to invest in these areas.” René Gisiger, HR Manager at Caterpillar in Geneva, is completely convinced of the benefits his external facility managers deliver: “Outstanding construction machines are our business; nothing should distract us from that. HSG Zander ensures the optimal management of our building. Working with them is a win-win situation.”
IN BLACK AND WHITE: ONE-STOP SERVICE
Gigi Chatriant and Radia Benteboula, dressed in their smart blue-and-white uniforms, are there to welcome Caterpillar’s visitors. They are also employed by HSG Zander and every one of their working days is multicultural. People from more than twenty countries all work here under one roof. The two receptionists speak fluent English and French, as well as a bit of German, Hebrew and Spanish. Hocine Meskine and his coworkers in the porters’ office also take the international dimension for granted: “Caterpillar has a great many overseas clients. With all the different time zones, there are always a few dozen people on duty in the building at night, making phone calls and handling international business.” For Meskine that means shift work, as the security post must be staffed 24/7.
Since Bilfinger Berger took over the facility management of the Caterpillar building, it has examined the cost effectiveness of every single service and made adjust - ments to optimize them. “It’s a never-ending process,” says Abadin, as he once again sits down for discussions with Caterpillar’s René Gisiger. Advising and supporting his clients personally is every bit as natural to Abadin as subjecting his team’s performance to regular measurement and evaluation: “How long did it take us to clear technical faults in areas like the heating or air conditioning system? Did we clean the carpets thoroughly? Did we provide value for money with the catering services?” The goal is to enable Caterpillar to see in black and white what services have been provided at what level of quality, and Emilio Abadin himself wants to know as early as possible where there is room for improvement: “To me, facility management means giving our clients what they need before they even know they need it.”
(Text: Gundula Englisch, Photos:Eric Vazzoler
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2010
