In Eindhoven, the High Tech Campus demands a smarter collaboration between campusmanagement, the campus companies and its suppliers.

By 2020 the Campus facility suppliers will have to score a nine or a ten when being rated by the Campus population. Now, they often score a six or a seven.

To achieve that goal, seven of the Campuses strategic partners were ask to meet and brainstorm on how a smarter way of working could be implemented on the Campus. Out of that meeting, the idea of the Smart Facility Lab was born.

Companies like Strukton (technique), Beelen (waste), CSU (cleaning), Trigion (security), Dolmans (landscaping), Eurest (food and drinks) and KIEN (managing agent) were asked about what they had to offer when it comes to innovation in their respective fields. Along with that, Campus management gave them the opportunity to experiment with those innovations on the Campus Strip.

Innovatie en waarde creatie, maar dan echt! De geboorte van een Facility Lab op @hightechcampus #gaaf #inkoop pic.twitter.com/mjRCdg0NlF
— Jordie van Berkel (@JordievanBerkel) 11 november 2016

Per example, one of those innovations could mean there will be a security robot or a sensor that monitors the state of trees and grass on campus, notifying the landscapers when to take action. More of these smart solutions will be revealed early 2017.

Fewer costs
At first, the Campus and its suppliers will arrange a convenant in which the goals of their collaboration will be written down. Eventually, those goals will have to lead to reducing the cost of the maintenance on campus, based on Total Cost of Ownership.

Automation processes will play an important role in achieving those goals. “We have noticed that our suppliers mostly deliver their work by hand. We ask them to speak to the companies on campus to look for a way in which that can evolve to an automated process. In that way, we will morph from being an ‘egosystem’, which exists out of tons of little islands, into an ecosystem, where all islands work together.”

This new approach is a change to the way the contracts usually were arranged. Just two years ago, there was only one contract with one central facilities supplier: a Total Facility Management Provider.  “Now, we select and contract the suppliers on our own, they will be managed by one external managing agent.”

Demands
“We would like to see more of these collaborations”, Anne van Wijchen, Contract Manager Facility Management at High Tech Campus Eindhoven says. “We have confidence in this, our first meeting with the suppliers on this subject was promising.”

High Tech Campus Eindhoven has made it a demand towards the suppliers to collaborate on these new goals. Van Wijchen has researched the market and concluded that, if needed, all current suppliers will be replaceable if they were not able to work with the campus on this.

Arends: “Therefore we can afford to make this demand. I possible, we woul like to work with the current suppliers however.” The first examples flowing from this project will become known in the first half of 2017.