Experience is the cornerstone of success.

In 1994, the New York City Board of Education commissioned leading New York real estate and business executives to study and recommend improvements to the facility management and maintenance of the New York City Public School system. For over 100 years, these maintenance services were being performed, under a limited scope contract, by civil service "custodians."

After an exhaustive review, the Board of Education selected Temco Service Industries, a leader in total facility management and maintenance services, to manage 21 New York City public schools. Temco has over 80 years of experience working with top companies around the world, including such real estate firms as Tishman Real Estate, Trizec-Hahn Properties, Cushman & Wakefield, Trinity Real Estate, Rudin Management and Boston Properties, to name a few, and employs more than 7,500 people in the United States and Europe. The company also services many flagship properties in New York City, including 599 Lexington Avenue, 345 Park Avenue and 712 Fifth Avenue.

With each year of successful service since the inception of the contract, Temco has been awarded additional New York City schools. To date, Temco manages 41 public schools and two Board of Education office buildings, providing services to over 47,000 students, teachers and administrators who occupy more than six million square feet of space.

Upon undertaking this immense project, Temco immediately implemented a distinctive and in-depth plan for the schools they would manage. The plan incorporated Temco's unique Key Account Management Program (KAMP), a self-contained business unit of facility management and maintenance professionals solely devoted to the New York City Board of Education. This ensures that each school receives superior and personal service. The KAMP Service Center allows Temco to minimize process time, streamline flows and eliminate unnecessary interfaces. In addition, Temco not only hired and re-trained over 300 front-line unionized service personnel such as engineers, mechanics, handymen, painters and cleaners, they also trained and promoted highly qualified service employees to managerial positions.

"After the transition period, we discovered a lot of untapped management and maintenance talent in the schools," says Mark Hellman, vice president for Temco. "Some very qualified people who were not able to advance under the old system came to us and expressed an interest in becoming managers. With our support and training programs, we were able to promote qualified employees from within, while also providing a higher salary than they were previously earning. This fit perfectly with our company philosophy of promoting from within, and our customer was very pleased to see this happen."

To better serve the schools, Temco implemented a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to support the information reporting requirements for the contract. No such system existed previously. The CMMS helps Temco manage and track all maintenance, repair, service requests and service contracts as they relate to building operations and maintenance management. Temco's system of work management also proved a powerful tool in analyzing performance for productivity improvement and provides current, real-time work control information. The integrated system uses the latest in hardware and software, and is designed to work in the Temco KAMP Service Center environment to assist in work management activities.

Temco's personnel are available 24 hours a day year-round. When a service request is received and acknowledged, the project manager determines the priority of the request. Temco is at the location and working immediately after receiving an urgent request. Scheduled requests are responded to within the first 24 hours. Temco has also implemented a program whereby structural, architectural and mechanical repairs are completed within a 24-hour period. Using both on-site staff and a team of roving mobile workshop trucks and repairmen to perform various repairs and maintenance services to building systems and equipment common to each school, Temco has accomplished over 100,000 improvements to the schools since coming under their management.

Temco's project executive has the responsibility of scheduling the work of all Temco and other subcontractors' services to the Board of Education. The scheduling process includes coordinating access to facilities, ensuring all specialized equipment is available for the workers, ordering material for the job and interfacing with Temco managers. The project executive also handles work-order close-out, which includes ensuring all required inspections are accomplished and all job order accounting and work data are input into the CMMS.

One of the ways Temco reduces costs and achieves improvements in service is the ability to immediately provide structural, architectural and mechanical repairs that under the old system took months or even years to accomplish. Through training existing employees to accomplish a variety of tasks, Temco has reduced the dependency on outside contractors. In addition, Temco uses sound inventory management practices. Each facility is stocked with a number of items which support recurring requirements. The inventories enable Temco to manage all materials and supplies, thereby reducing the waiting time for deliveries and providing an accurate assessment of Temco's on-hand stock.

Temco has also taken advantage of their vast resources and manpower, allowing schools to remain accessible for after school activities for student and community residents until 10 p.m., as opposed to the previous 3 p.m. school closing time.

Temco takes great pride in their employees who go beyond their duties. Employees attend PTA meetings, volunteer in New York Cares projects, assist in the Mayor's annual "Back to School Breakfast," and sponsor and donate time at various school and community functions. One Temco on-site manager even helped a student graduate with dignity by buying him a suit and a tie. "He showed up in the morning crying at the doorstep of the school with wrinkled dirty clothes and his hair messed up. I just wanted to help him graduate with respect," said Warrick McCall, Temco's building manager at P.S. 127.

Providing professional people to service customers and their communities are the foundation of Temco's philosophy and continued success in the facility management and maintenance industry.