Competitiveness in Facility Management Industry by 2020

Posted on July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 by Akhil DJ

09 Jul

5 Ways to Grow Competitiveness in the Facility Management Industry by 2020

The way we inhabit our workspace is changing and so are the workplace strategies we must have in place to attract and retain talent as well as to drive productivity and performance. Here are 5 ways facility managers must fulfill their customer needs and innovate their practices to stay competitive in the facility management industry by 2020.

Evolve from passive supplier to proactive strategic partner

It’s a competitive world and competition gets more competitive by 2020. It’s now time for all the facility management companies must shift focus from traditional asset deployment and move beyond that such as using workspace more efficiently and effectively. This concept broadens the Facility Management role. HR & IT teams are required to collaborate with each other on strategies for the overall company growth.

To achieve this, all facility management companies need to develop sets of relevant KPIs strategies which help in measuring such as Office environment impact on the productivity of employees, Knowledge scaling up, Capabilities and ability of knowledge creation, client satisfaction, change adaptability and flexibility, cultural impact and maintaining balance and innovation

Focus on Value Creation – Not Just Cost Savings

Traditionally the medium to measure success rate for facility management industry was completely on cost factor,i.e, how to get more for less cost, through cost-cutting. Cost cutting strategy will always continue across the industries having the with the main emphasis on lowering occupancy costs – being a strategic partner will also require finding new ways to create value for the workspace inhabitants and other stakeholders. This is a creation of a path in the process of adopting new wave of thinking and of forward-thinking technologies that allow more mobility or provide better conditions for employee training or creation of a healthier workplace environment that can increase employee productivity, decrease absenteeism and minimize overall stress levels.

Develop Sustainable Solutions

In the corporate real estate industry, the facility management industry has become one of the most important. As majorly facility management services’ focus is responsible for health & safety, energy management, waste management, water consumption & recycling of water and most importantly reducing the carbon footprints. These responsibilities will only expand in the future as it’s a given fact that buildings account for almost 40% of global energy use, sustainability has become an important strategic topic. Since the priority has always been sustainability, the pressure on facility managers will increase to deliver sustainable solutions across all platforms and activities of the organization. The professionals will be forced to rethink all of their existing assets and system into a sustainable framework, including making life-cycle assessments and undertaking life-cycle building management. Training employees in maintaining a sustainable workplace and developing new methods to reduce energy levels, waste and carbon footprint overall, will, therefore, be one of the key ways to gain new market shares and improve the competitiveness of a facility management business overall.

Optimize the Use of Space

Concept Money=space, Space=money is very true. Optimal utilization of Space towards working environment including virtual employees or mobile employees, investing time in the investment of time in any new workspace designed, can only help them in the utilization of the space to the maximum which can result in impressive cost savings. Few of the most methods used to get maximum utilization of value current properties are flexible-workstations, distributed workplace, strategy & mobile workplaces. Facility management companies keen on developing skills and expertise within workplace design in combination with technology utilization will on that basis be well positioned to experience higher demands.

Leverage Technology

Towards 2020, more facility managers will be keen to leverage more technology in their service offerings to stay competitive. The idea of a workplace is nothing but the concept of the virtual workplace. Technology is emerging in facility management quickly because of 2 facts: (a) Its double-edged axe showing where we perform and how best do we perform. The workplace is new and different eg: assigned workplace, home offices, flex offices, shared..etc. (b) Technology changes and updates every day, facility management professionals must make use of this to make effective and efficient workplaces/spaces for employees. Leveraging available technologies in the most optimal way must be decided by facility management.

Solar Panels for Business

Posted on July 4, 2018July 4, 2018 by Akhil DJ

04 Jul

Why Should I Consider Solar Panels for My Business?

Today for all businesses aim at saving energy, saving environment etc. Solar panels are the most important viable option which is available in the market for all the businesses today for the following reasons:

Save Money

It’s very important to reduce overhead expenses in any business. Solar panels help to save money in any business by generating free, green electricity to be used onsite. This lowers the demand for consumption of energy produced from the grid during daylight hours. This helps in saving thousands of rupees every year on energy bills.

Save the Environment

Reducing carbon footprint has become the major matter of concern. Hence generating one’s own electricity from solar reduces your carbon output and could offset most, if not all, of your business’ carbon emissions. Climatic changes have been highlighted as one of the major topic of concern at the moment. Green initiatives add a competitive advantage, to strengthen the relationships with the supply chain management systems and with the clients.

Energy Security

The Indian energy policy is largely defined by the country’s expanding energy deficit and increased in a shift of focus on alternative sources of energy, particularly Solar, Wind and Nuclear energy.

As per the research, India ranks 81^st position in overall energy self-sufficiency at 66% in 2014.

Indian solar power PV tariff has fallen at its lowest to ₹2.44 per kWh in May 2017 which is lower than any other type of power generation in India. Also, the international tariff of solar thermal storage power plants has fallen significantly making it cheaper than fossil fuel plants. Hybrid solar power is a mix of solar PV and solar thermal storage power and this is much cheaper. This doesn’t need dependence on costly and polluting coal/gas fired power generation for ensuring stable grid operation. Solar electricity price is going to set a standard benchmark price for deciding the prices for other fuels such as petroleum products, natural gas/biogas/LNG, CNG, LPG, coal, lignite, biomass, etc. based on their ultimate use and advantages.

Business Finance Options for Solar Panel Installations

Even though the feed-in tariff was heavily cut in January 2016-2017, the ROI on buying a Solar PV system will still get good returns for the business.

Battery Storage Solutions

To leverage additional financial expenses, an integration of solar panel system with an onsite solar battery storage solution will be an added advantage as it provides energy security benefits for your business. Utilization of surplus stored energy got from self-generated electricity instead of exporting surplus energy back to the grid, can help in energy savings, as it cuts/reduces the further dependability on the National Gird. In case of power cuts onsite, stored energy onsite will help in smooth functioning of the business operations without any obstacles.

The Commercial Rooftop Experts with Multi-Sector Experience

Apollo has always maintained focus on installing solar panels on commercial rooftops. This has helped us to expertise in our field. Our clients and industry consist of wide range of business right from small independent retailers to multi-megawatt blue chip manufacturing companies installing solar panels.

Don’t take our word for it – Check our wide range of projects on solar solutions to know how we have worked with the similar industry of yours, and how we have helped them achieve their green, clean energy environmental goals.

High voltage switch-yards and substations

Posted on May 28, 2018July 13, 2018 by Apollo Power Systems Pvt Ltd

28 May

How are Substations and High Voltage Switchyards Helpful?

Substations and Switchyards are significant components in the electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. They deliver the transformation, switching, and protection of transmission and distribution systems.

What is “Switching Substation”?

A switching substation, also known as switchyard, is a substation without transformers that functions solitary at a single voltage level.

Switchyards are used largely for connections and interconnections and are important for transmission, distribution, and collection. Substations may be maintained and operated by an electrical utility or may be owned by a huge industrial or commercial customer. Normally, substations are unattended, depending on SCADA for remote supervision and control.

The purpose of the electric power delivery system is to transport electric power from generation sources to end users. Substations are the vital part of this electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. They also provide the transformation, ties, switching, and protection of the transmission and distribution systems.

Key Elements of a Substation

Switches – These are the devices that connect and disconnect the current path

Protection and Control Equipment – This is an equipment to control substation equipment, send power from one circuit to another, or open or shut down circuits when needed

Transformers – They are the devices that transfer electrical energy from one circuit to another, without changing the frequency. They use electromagnetic induction; which is used to change the line voltage.

Circuit Breakers – These are the devices used to complete, maintain and interrupt currents flowing in a circuit under normal or faulted conditions

Substations use huge transformers to convert a generator’s voltage up to tremendously high voltages for extensive distribution on the grid.

What are the Elements of a Substation?

Substations usually have switching, protection and control equipment, along with transformers. Circuit breakers are used to interrupt any short circuits or overload currents that may occur on the network in the huge substation. Whereas smaller distribution stations may use recloser circuit breakers or fuses for protection of distribution circuits. The power plant may have a substation nearby, but, substations alone themselves usually don’t have generators. The substation may also have other devices such as capacitors and voltage regulators.

Substations can be constructed on the surface in restricted enclosures, or under the ground, or can be located in specially designed buildings. Tall & huge buildings may have few indoor substations. Generally, urban areas mainly have indoor substations. The reason is transformers generate noise and switchgear needs protection from varying climate and pollution conditions.

A grounding (earthing) system necessitates designing. To prevent short-circuit in the transmission system, the total ground potential rise, and the gradients in potential during a fault (called touch and step potentials), needs to be calculated. A ground potential rise can be caused by earth faults at a substation. During a fault, in the Earth’s surface when current flows, it can cause metal objects to have a different voltage than the ground under a person’s feet; this touch potential presents a hazard of electrocution. The substation which has a metallic barrier should be suitably grounded to guard people from the hazard.

The main issues are reliability and cost. A good design tries to strike a balance between these two. It attempts to attain reliability without unnecessary cost. The design should also allow expansion of the station when required.

Apollo’s electrical contracting consists of team of specialized engineers to designs and builds high voltage projects across India. They are pioneers in electrical contracting services for switchyards and substations and high voltage transmission lines.

Contact Apollo for more information.

Advantages of Outsourcing Facility Management Services

Posted on May 28, 2018May 31, 2018 by Apollo Power Systems Pvt Ltd

28 May

Are there any benefits of contracting out Facility Management Services?

Effective and smooth running of business necessitates appropriate maintenance and whether we decide to outsource maintenance services or manage them in-house, a good maintenance is a key. This blog gives you a better understanding and the benefits of outsourcing.

We need to ensure that the maintenance facility provider has all the vital elements they need to carry out their operations effectively.

Here are some fundamental areas a professional maintenance services provider can add value to your business.

Increase Business Competence

By allocating maintenance services to professionals will definitely drive business efficiency. You would be able to more focus on our core area and that will directly improve customer satisfaction and drive your business forward. Core business roles are defined as activities and services that customers pay for or benefit from. Appointing one company for all of your facilities management requirements will let you divert essential resources from non-core areas of your business to core activities that will directly progress customer satisfaction.

Partnership improves productivity, saves money, time and energy and also ensures that the highest standards are maintained for your employees and customers across all your facilities services.

Specialized Expert Knowledge

An external team can provide specialized services such as Electro-Mechanical Installations & Pumping Installations, which might not fall into full-time in-house employees knowledge. Many FM contractors also offer integrated facility services, packaging several options together under one provider. These tied services mean you can communicate with fewer contacts, making the course much simpler and more suitable to manage. Skilled and experienced specialists are continuously reviewing the latest industry best practices, regulations and technological revolutions. They can take care of your premises & carry out every task seamlessly and on schedule.

Reduced Cost

A professional facilities management company will be able to offer a complete service for a complete price, allowing you to budget effectively for a wide range of practical services to maintain the day-to-day running of your business and prevent unnecessary disruptions and at the same time, it’s affordable too.

Staffing Flexibility

Outsourcing will allow actions that have seasonal or recurring demands to take in supplementary resources when you need them and release them when you’re done. Maintenance of buildings and physical assets like Air-Conditioning Systems, UPS, would be an example. This is not required on a day to day basis and so you would not need to keep maintenance engineers employed ‘just in case’.

Simplified Process

Last but definitely not the least, outsourcing services to a team of experts will help to simplify your working practices. You’ll have one contact to call if you require support, and one connection to deal with when ordering and tailoring your chosen services, simplifying the administrative and invoicing process. It’s all about making your life simpler, and more effective.

Inexpensive, well-organized and effective, outsourcing your services can reform the way your business operates. Explore our facilities management services to find out more or get in touch with us today.

3 Key Elements to Check Before an Upgrad of Outlets & Switches

Posted on April 16, 2018July 6, 2018 by Akhil DJ

16 Apr

3 Key Elements to Check Before an Upgrade of Outlets & Switches

Every individual maintains a personal style for their home, keeping in mind safety, efficiency, and functionality. The look of the wall outlets & switches’ components can often make your home look either modern or outdated. Class 1 electrical contractors will always want to help you so that you have the best for your home. Here is a list of activities an electrical contractor will do to upgrade wall outlets & switches, electrical contracting plays a very important role for any building:

1. Outdated Outlets & Switches:

If the outlets & switches are a decade old or more, it’s high time to switch to new ones. It’s important to keep wall outlets & switches updated with the present technology. As this will fundamentally work better, in addition to looking stylish and sleek. A reputed electrical contracting team will always brief about it after analyzing the condition of outlets & switches.

2. Replacements:

In case of damage to wall outlets or switches, it has to be replaced. Especially if cracks are developed in the outer cases of the outlets or due to heat if the outlet has overheated it can cause serious hazards to the house and people staying. Calling an electrician immediately and asking for an upgrade and/or repairs, could save property and life of people staying there! Best electrical contractors will always suggest you on the maintenance, costing and how can you bring down the cost of this too.

3. Installation Issues:

Outlets that are painted over or improperly installed may look bad or not work as they should. An electrician will make sure your new outlets look fantastic and work as they should.

Apollo Power Systems is known for the best electrical contractor in Bangalore. As they would help in the functioning of your industries/offices/home run efficiently, save money, and look great.

Industries & Commercial Organizations.

Posted on April 4, 2018June 11, 2018 by Akhil DJ

04 Apr

Why Solar is the Best Fit for Industries & Commercial Organizations.

In today’s scenario, alternative power is in high demand. A major factor is the prices of conventional power sources have shot up rocket high and the environmental concerns have prompted many businesses to opt for alternative power sources. In India states have adapted solar for industries & commercial organizations. States which taken a step towards this are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan the adaptation of green environment and Adaptability of renewable energy sources for all commercial and industrial organizations have been remarkable as they use solar not only for its stability but it has been a profitable choice for them too. In terms of clean power generation, no restriction and has numerous financial advantages.

According to the study made by Mercom for the year of 2017, there has been increased in solar installations and would have easily crossed 10 GW approximately. This study made in 2017 makes India one of the most important solar markets in the world, after China and the United States; with large-scale projects under the National Solar Policy (NSM or JNNSM) leading in the states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, and Karnataka.

Are you still in confusion, if solar is suitable for your organization? Below are few advantages, which would help you make the best decision:

Reduced Power Costs:

Solar power is the alternative power compared to conventional power. Hence this alternative power is adapted by many for the reason being cost. Conventional power’s prices have shot up significantly and by adapting to solar power, users have always recommended it to others too. As the cost of power per unit is significantly lowered from your current energy costs. Investing in a solar power system is almost like prepaying for your energy consumption at a fraction of the cost. Greater savings is always good for business (big or small).

Return on Investment

The Government of India has been making efforts on its part to promote sustainable energy production and consumption and safeguard the future of the earth. The Central

The Government of India has been making efforts to promote the green and clean environment. And one of the initiatives’ is to promote sustainable energy production and consumption and safeguard the future of the earth. In order to boost and support non-profitable organizations, The Central Government (MNRE) provides 30% subsidy to increase solar production. Solar policy differs in each state, in Gujarat – Solar installation of contract demand load is 50%, in Maharashtra its’ 100%, in Rajasthan its 80% and Madhya Pradesh it has no limits on the solar capacity for private projects. Investing in solar power generates both long-term savings and quick payback. You would attain your ROI within 4-6 years of investment. Accelerated Depreciation Benefit.

One of the major benefits of opting solar power is it provides tax relief! Due to the higher rate of depreciation that businesses can avail under section 32 of Income Tax act. As per the act, the normal depreciation rate for plant and machinery is 15-20%; whereas for solar installations the rate is 40%. This accelerated depreciation accounts for major relief in the upfront cost of the solar power plant by 40% in the first year of operation, 40% in the second year and 20% in the third year. Thus, within a period of three years, a business can claim 100% depreciation for a solar project at effective tax rate (as per government) of 33%.

Fulfilling the Renewable Power Purchase Obligation (RPO) and Becoming Green

An effort has been made to implement green environment by India. And in this effort an amended National Tariff Policy, RPO has been implemented which shows the increase from a minimum of 0.25 percent in 2012 to 3 percent by 2022. Additionally, CERC and SERCs have issued various regulations on solar RPOs making it mandatory for the industries using a conventional source of energy from open access market. Your organization can also leave an imprint in becoming a part of the global initiative to battle against global warming, adhere to your carbon credits and meet your RPO obligation.

Hassel Free Maintenance, Reliable Operation and Power Generation

Any solar power system requires little to zero maintenance post installation. At Apollo Power Systems, we go a step beyond installation, to make our clients satisfied and happy with us, by putting our rich experience of 25+ years in place with our expert team is available 24X7 for any assistance. The technology which we use is best of its kind in the market. Contact us to know more.