Although I’m on the “youngest” end of the spectrum, I’m a Baby Boomer, an old schooler, but I consider myself pretty tech savvy (although my kids will tell you different). For years I’ve talked to FM Professionals about getting Facility Management knowledge out of the retiring FM populations heads before that knowledge disappears altogether.

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. They are currently between 57-75 years old (71.6 million in the U.S.) In the third quarter of 2020, about 28.6 million Baby Boomers reported that they were out of the labor force due to retirement. This is 3.2 million more Baby Boomers than the 25.4 million who were retired in the same quarter of 2019. The majority of Baby Boomers will have passed 65 by 2025.

How does that relate to the FM profession though? Some studies show that in the next few years, nearly half of the facility management (FM) workforce will retire, leaving a relatively short period of time to capture and transfer valuable knowledge.

There are many extraordinary FM folks that that have been maintaining our equipment for their entire careers, in particular, those in the field. They all have a tremendous wealth of knowledge and information and can probably tell you about every part in a generator and how they have maintained for its entire lifecycle. That data needs to be captured.

The workforce now coming into the FM profession expect that the data they need is instantly available. They don’t know anything other than apps. “What do you mean it isn’t available? Isn’t there an app for that?”

So how will you gather that valuable knowledge and put into a format that all can use? Our mobile apps are designed to do just that. As these field techs perform their PM’s and Corrective Maintenance tasks, they can scan assets and record their notes utilizing our O&M, Inspections, or FCA mobile apps for TRIRIGA. They can input the notes that no one else has – “this boiler has been here for 20 years and we have kept it running, but it now needs XYZ.” Whether they are performing day-to-day activities, routine equipment inspections, or a more comprehensive conditions assessment, our mobile apps provide a user-friendly tool for them to capture critical information to more effectively maintain the facility.