Costa Rica. Some 20 entrepreneurs were grouped under the Costa Rican Association of Facility Management (ACFM) to meet their needs for coordination, education and resolution of common problems.
"It took us a little late ... but it is until now that the quality standards of the facility management industry in Costa Rica are consolidated," said Javier Villalobos, president of the ACFM.
Employees of companies that provide services to multinationals such as ISS, HP, Emerson, Roche, Cargill, Vention Medical and Citi, make up this group since the end of the previous year.
Facility management is an integration of processes within an organization to maintain and develop services that support and improve the effectiveness of the company's core activities.
Suppliers are responsible for managing services of an organization such as the rental of real estate, cleaning, maintenance, surveillance, lighting, air conditioning, heating and hydraulic installations, among others.
Since the 90s they have been absorbing other areas such as food, catering, waste management, fleet management, properties, space planning, relocation, payrolls and human resources.
Occupational safety, furniture, telecommunications and energy management are other new integrated services, which are normally worked under subcontracting.
While these industries already existed in the country, they were dispersed and lacked a formal classification and certification framework.
It is thanks to the ISO-41000 standard that this discipline demanded by the business world is recognized, as well as quality management (ISO-9000) and environmental management (ISO-14000).
"It is a standard that was installed last year due to the growing tendency of large companies, especially those in the free zone regime, to outsource almost all their support services, that is, those not essential in the company's core business," Villalobos explained.
There are associations in other nations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Austria, Singapore, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Panama, Colombia and Brazil.
There are even graduates, baccalaureates and postgraduate degrees to specialize in most of these countries.
In our country, there are growth opportunities for this area highly dependent on construction in free zones and convention centers.
"We seek to disseminate the discipline, share experiences and alliances that improve the competitiveness of this industry in our country," concluded the president of the ACFM.
