Facilities Operations 2022 Annual Report

Annual Report 2021 2022

Caltech’s iconic Engelmann Oak tree in its prime, circa 1930s

Caltech Facilities Operations

The Caltech Plaza built on the site of the former Engelmann Oak tree, completed 2021

Table of Contents Introduction

p 01

02 Growing Together

p 02

03 Sharing Successes

p 03

04 Innovating in Operations

p 04

05 Facilities Operations Performance

p 05

06 Acknowledgements

p 06

01

Message from Facilities Operations The 2021–22 academic year saw the return of students while the campus continued to manage the effects of the pandemic. Facilities staff wore many hats during this time, and we in Facilities Operations would like to express gratitude to the essential workers who continued to report, uninterrupted, to the campus to maintain a healthy and safe environment. We also commend those who continued their productivity while at home in improvised offices. Our workers adapted to the fluid conditions and remained committed to supporting Caltech’s mission despite numerous challenges. This did not go unnoticed throughout the campus and several of our ranks received Service Impact Awards. Congratulations to the custodial staff, led by Delmy Emerson, for winning the Associated Students of Caltech award, and to the two winners of the Tom Schmitt staff award: custodial supervisor Jorge Carrillo and supervisor of mail services Darrell Goudeau.

In this inaugural annual report, we share accomplishments of the past year and highlight activities that demonstrate excellence in our organization. In the upcoming year, Facilities Operations remains committed to providing excellent customer service and living up to our mission, “exceeding expectations by providing world-class stewardship." In support of this mission, we identified three guiding principles that reflect our values, address current challenges, and guide our decision-making to deliver the best possible services to our customers. These principles are Growing Together, Sharing Successes, and Innovating in Operations.

Growing Together means that we believe that Facilities can develop our workforce of the future. While many of our longstanding team members are planning retirements, we work to capture and transfer knowledge from our tenured experts to those on their own growth path. Facilities is committed to developing programs to train and promote internal candidates while attracting top talent.

In Sharing Successes, Facilities Operations demonstrates that we are committed to ensuring our customers' success. We believe that listening to our customers and providing a clear path to services are the reasons we exist.

Maintaining the infrastructure of the campus is essential to supporting research and educational programs. As we strive to minimize impact to our customers, this work should go relatively unnoticed, and it is our responsibility to share our accomplishments and coordinate our upcoming plans with the Caltech community. This will result in improved collaboration and reliable and predictable service, and will contribute to our mutual success.

Facilities commits to Innovating in Operations to continuously improve our processes. We believe in using technology and gathering data to drive decision-making. These efforts create a modern facilities organization that is equipped to support the demands of our campus and respond to our increasingly complex buildings.

Change does not come easily or without some level of anxiety. Transparent and open communication will help overcome the uncertainty of the past two years. Our strategy and commitment to Caltech's mission will help us remain leaders among higher education facilities organizations. As we look towards a bright future, I invite you to look back at some of our proudest highlights of the past year.

On behalf of the Facilities Operations team, Tim Ranalli Director of Maintenance Management

2021–2022 FO Annual Report

01

Grounds Supervisor Ryan Robitaille and Arborist Bryan Vejar pictured with a legacy Engelmann Oak

Growing Together Engelmann Oak Legacy Over the past few years we watched the Engelmann Oak tree, which once stood as a monument to Caltech’s past, complete its 400-year lifespan. Its removal has changed the campus landscape forever, yet we continue to receive its gifts. In its place stands a plaza for communal gathering, built by our Infrastructure Projects team. Our carpenters crafted reclaimed wood into a communal table used at the Red Door Cafe. Until recently, an additional gift has gone relatively unnoticed – two young Engelmann Oaks grown from the acorns of the original tree are thriving in the care of our grounds department!

Facilities Engagement and Development Facilities Operations takes this opportunity to honor our past by remembering those lost too soon to the pandemic and to thank the retirees who dedicated hundreds of collective years to the mission of the institute. This year we focused on handling many challenges in Facilities, notably the rapid retirement rate of our skilled trades team members. To address the problem, the Facilities Engagement and Development (FED) group was established. The FED is a multidepartmental group that was formed in 2019 to address current issues in Facilities by developing our future workforce and offering personal growth opportunities for all members of the department.

Facilities Operations is grateful for all our staff who participate on the FED Council. fed.caltech.edu

2021–2022 FO Annual Report

02

Sharing Successes

Electric Shop pictured with new transformer

Utility Upgrades Facilities plans for campus resiliency and executes major utilities improvements, such as the ongoing electrical grid modernization project. The project spans four phases, the first of which is complete and saw the replacement of four 60-year-old transformers. These units supply power to about 80% of the campus and offer cleaner, more efficient technology as well as system redundancy that will prevent extended outages. The next phase of the project replaces campus switchgear and is expected to begin next summer.

Although there will continue to be scheduled outages, the upgrades will provide a robust grid with safe and reliable power for the campus for many decades to come. Many thanks to our electric shop for taking an allhands-on-deck approach to this project. Congratulations to the retiring shop supervisor Mike Anchondo for his leadership and 44 years of service to the department.

Guide to Services The Guide to Services was created to educate the campus community about the services provided by Facilities Operations. In its second edition published in October 2021, we saw the inclusion of the Facilities Services and Integrated Planning and the Design and Construction groups. The guide provides answers to the most common questions Facilities receives, such as how to obtain services, what is the schedule for services, and what services Facilities are funded to provide. Since its publication, the guide has been read more than three thousand times with an average read time of nearly seven minutes. We are connecting with the campus community through the Guide to Services and plan to include more Facilities departments in the upcoming year. Visit the guide on the facilities website - facilitiesoperations.caltech.edu/guide-services 2021–2022 FO Annual Report

03

Innovating in Operations Facilities Service Requests Facilities Service Requests (FSR) are a direct response to listening to our customers' needs. The recent release of FSR replaced the AiM Customer Portal as the campus entryway to requesting routine services. FSR is core technology to Facilities’ Integrated Work Management System (IWMS) and provides the foundation for improved communication between requesters and service centers.

The initial release provided a one-to-one replacement of the previous portal as well as customer requested features such as cost reports, file attachments, and threaded commenting on requests. FO extends our thanks to our customers for attending focus groups, Facilities Finance for project leadership, IMSS, and the staff that took part in extensive testing of the new product to ensure a successful launch.

Total Enterprise Asset Management (TEAM) Facilities uses asset management methodologies to ensure Caltech gets the most value from physical assets during their lifecycles. Yet, the question remains – can we do more with our asset data? To answer this question, a multidisciplinary group was formed in FY22 – Total Enterprise Asset Management (TEAM) – comprised of members of Facilities Operations, Design and Construction, Finance, and Services and Integrated Planning. TEAM’s mission is to increase the effectiveness, capabilities, and efficiency in managing the campus assets. TEAM is assessing our organization using APPA’s Total Cost of Ownership principles and making recommendations to address current process gaps. Some short-term wins include aligning our facility condition assessment (FCA) data silo with space and asset management standards and supporting the FCA knowledge transfer of our Sr. Project Manager Ben Smith to the group. Congratulations to Ben on his pending retirement after 31 years of service in Facilities!

Lock Shop Modernization The campus lock shop, which manages a trove of essential data regarding access control to our buildings, recently received a digital makeover. Key assignments, cuts and codes, authorizers, and building systems have all been migrated to an industry-leading database platform (SimpleK) that integrates with Facilities’ IWMS to improve access request and management processes. This new system has reduced our paper trail, allowing us to store all key records together in a more manageable and accessible way. Paired with a state-of-the-art key cutting machine, the lock shop now has a foundation for meeting the demands of the campus over the long haul. We are in the process of updating and documenting our workflows for recording key authorizations and key returns to ensure that this new database is well maintained and generating reliable data for us to utilize over time.

2021–2022 FO Annual Report

Locksmith aide Alex Hofer is preparing to cut a key on the new SimpleK machine 04

Facilities Operations Performance Workforce Metrics Open Positions within Facilities on average it takes

40

96 days

30

32

82

Internal 39%

positions filled

June ’21 to June ’22

20

19

10

External 61%

to fill a position

0

Facilities Operations

All Facilities

Operations Metrics Preventive vs. Reactive Work Orders

Preventive

Reactive

10K

95% improvement of Average Service Time Responses over the Past 5 Fiscal Years

75%

NEW

SCHEDULED

40

7.5K

30 5K

64% 20

25%

2.5K

0K

FY ’21

36%

FY ’22

10

0

FY ’17

FY ’18

FY ’19

FY ’20

FY ’21

FY ’22

The above operations metrics measure data from our HVAC, controls, plumbing, and electric shops.

2021–2022 FO Annual Report

05

Acknowledgements A special thank you to those who contributed to the creation of our inaugural annual report.

Photography: Caltech Archives, Dominic Ranalli, Richard Bravo, Shelby Sheffer, Raymond Merlin Metrics: Samantha Babcock, Mary Lou Obbink Graphics: Kari Myers, Samantha Babcock Copywriting and Editing: Kari Myers, Tim Ranalli, Samantha Babcock, Vickere Murphy

Contact Us Facilities Operations 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 facilities.caltech.edu

Service Center Hours Mon-Fri from 7am to 3:30pm For 24/7 Support, call 626-395-4717 ppservice@caltech.edu

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View of the San Gabriel Mountains from the roof of Beckman Auditorium