A Radical Transformation in Facilities Management Is Happening Now: Perspectives from FMA Summits' Future Facilities Summit 4

    TEANECK, NJ, November 24, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A Radical Transformation in Facilities Management Is Happening Now: Perspectives from FMA Summits' Future Facilities Summit 4

Smart buildings keep getting smarter. Opportunities to cut energy costs abound. Managing your data is key.

These important themes surfaced time and again at the two and a half-day gathering of building owners, facilities managers and solutions providers at FMA Summits Future Facilities Summit 4 (FFS4), held at the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey on October 17-19, 2016.

The event marked FMA Summits' 27th year and its 8,000th connection between professionals seeking the latest thinking and best practices for the operational intelligence and energy efficiency of commercial, light industrial, institutional and retail facilities.

Presentations from Fortune companies and enterprise-level solutions providers described the many facets of the radical transformation that is happening now in the facilities management and smart building arena across North America. Trane's Director of National Services, Chris Stillwell described the myriad possibilities enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) to capture customer data and keep a building fully optimized. He said, "We are changing everything and providing a new definition of pro active maintenance." Echoing that sentiment, Mark Pipher, Vice President & General Manager of Facility ConneX, LLC, identified how his firm leverages the IoT to produce substantial savings using advanced asset monitoring, fault detection analytics, continuous energy management and optimization.

FFS4's diverse exhibit display allowed participants to get an up-close look at a wide array of innovative, proprietary products for HVAC, facilities services, energy efficiency, power generation and well buildings. As with previous Future Facilities Summits' events, LED lighting products remain the popular favorite in terms of energy savings and return on investment. "LEDs are the low hanging fruit," said Robert Gallagher, CEO of Lightstat, an industry leader in lighting controls. Gallagher urged customers to consider reliability when choosing your lighting partner. "Lifetime warranties are great, he said, "but make sure your supplier will be around if and when you need it." David Smart, Vice President Sales for BioStar Renewables, laid out an effective model to take control of energy use, mainly through simple mechanical upgrades, pro active maintenance for up to 60% savings.

Representatives from public and private organizations alike made the case for strong action to reduce their facility's carbon footprint due to the urgency of climate change. New Jersey-based Pfister Energy presented its vision for stacking renewable energy technologies to create a net-zero (carbon emissions) building. Be Power Tech described its groundbreaking and proprietary air conditioning systems which produce electricity while cooling or heating a building. Buddy Combs, Specification Specialist at Knauf Insulation Inc. presented its ECOSE (R) technology that replaces petroleum-based chemicals used in traditional insulation products. Even the U.S. Postal Service shared bold and noteworthy innovations. Ronald Robbins, U.S.P.S. Sustainability Performance Management Specialist, described how the agency kept its return mail recycling program in-house, turning trash into cash and diverting 240,000 tons of waste from landfills.

Bomee Jung, Vice President for Energy and Sustainability at New York City Housing Authority, made a public call for innovations to help the City reach its sustainability goals of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

Jonathan Lee, Director of Energy Solutions at Wyndham Green, explained how the global hospitality organization has made sustainability part of Wyndham's global corporate culture. "Our sustainability goals come from the highest level of management, and it's all about taking care of all stakeholders: our guests, our employees, and the planet."

Regardless of their motivation, all of the FFS4 presenters agreed that carbon reduction and energy efficiency measures made solid economic sense.

Dana Schneider, Vice President & General Manager at JLL (Jones Lang Lasalle) made what may be the most compelling case for getting started with deep energy retrofits without delay: "If the Empire State Building, with its 102 stories, historical iconic status, 4.5 million visitors can do it, any building can."

The next Future Facilities Summit (5) will be held from May 15-17th, 2017 at the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort, Atlanta, GA. For information email:

For more information please call Joe Piazza at 1-312-821-7632 or visit us at www.fmasummits.com

FMA Summits has organized and produced over 27 private executive networking summits over the last decade, matched and scheduled over 7,500 qualified one-on-one meetings, connecting the right people, in the right setting, to foster and build relationships that lead to business.

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