Although the term Facility Manager is not yet very common in our environment, little by little there are more companies that recognize the value of having an integral professional for the administration of their facilities. This is the case of Elver Peñuela, Ecopetrol's Non-Industrial Facilities Management Coordinator.
By Alejandra García Vélez
For Elver Peñuela, Ecopetrol's Non-Industrial Facilities Management Coordinator, this company has been his home for more than 15 years, and also the school that has allowed him to learn about the processes that make the Facility Managemenet an essential component of any organization.
Life and profession
But before we talk about their professional experiences, let's get to know our Professional of the Month a little more. Peñuela was born in Barrancabermeja, Santander (Colombia) in 1975. At the end of 1997 he graduated as a civil engineer from the Industrial University of Santander, in Bucaramanga.
In addition to his training as an engineer, the guest of this edition has a specialization in Project Management and PMP (Project Management Professional) certification. As for his professional life, Peñuela has worked in areas such as planning, management of infrastructure projects and maintenance of buildings and non-industrial facilities within the Ecopetrol organization.
The link to the activities of facility management occurs from 2005, when he assumes the position of Coordinator of maintenance and services in the regional Magdalena Medio in the oil company.
As maintenance coordinator he developed functions directly related to the operation and maintenance of non-industrial buildings and facilities, such as office buildings, camps, casinos, security facilities, archive buildings, among others.
Subsequently, and with the creation of ecopetrol's shared services center in August 2011, Peñuela became Coordinator of management of non-industrial facilities at the country level.
This coordination is located organizationally within the real estate and administrative services unit of the company. His duties include managing the portfolio of locative infrastructure projects, as well as the operation and maintenance of all non-industrial buildings and facilities located around the country in 86 locations.
Regarding his approach to the term Facility Management (FM), Peñuela explains that "two years ago we began to ask ourselves what was the discipline at an international level that generated the best practices in the activities we carry out in order to carry out a better management of our facilities, finding for the first time the term Facility Management."
Peñuela also added that thanks to this approach they have managed to develop important advances in terms of the management model they want for the company.
Getting to know the world of FM
The first time our Professional of the Month heard the term Facility Management, it was in conversations with service providers whose parent companies are located abroad.
Immediately, says Peñuela, they associated the name with the tasks that he and his team perform day by day; which filled them with joy, as it allowed them to identify that there is an international discipline oriented to the management of facilities.
Similarly, the more he knew about the subject, the more he realized the importance of the role of the Facility Manager. "It is a profession that I believe will have a strong development in the twenty-first century, since the second cost in organizations after the issue of human resources is the management of facilities."
Day by day
Touching on the subject of his daily work as facilities coordinator at Ecopetrol, Peñuela recalls that the role of the Facility Manager exists to provide support to organizations so that they can be fully dedicated to their main activity. In this order of ideas, the Facility Manager manages all the related and necessary activities that allow the organization to achieve its goals.
Therefore, "the FM deals daily with complex operational issues that could affect the normal development of the main activity of the organization, is involved in the scope, evaluation, analysis and definition of plans, defines and controls economic objectives and cost optimization, meets the needs of its customers and also ensures at all times that buildings and facilities are in optimal and adequate condition", Explained.
Punctually, his work day begins at 7 in the morning with a review of the agenda of meetings and commitments, to then advance in the development of strategic and tactical topics such as the analysis of processes, indicators, resources, work plans, among others.
Next, it carries out the daily review at the national level of the continuity of the services to detect and solve specific problems that may be occurring in some locality, for which contingency plans are evaluated and actions are executed aimed at the adequate provision of services.
"The interrelation with the team of collaborators is carried out throughout the day through communication based on trust and the criterion that the achievement of the objectives depends on teamwork. Additionally, there is constant interaction with the higher levels of the organization in order to make decisions that imply approval of these levels," said Peñuela.
