44 I PROFESSIONAL RETAIL STORE MAINTENANCE I www.prsm.com

INSIDE PRSM

INTERNATIONAL FACILITIES MANAGEMENT professionals from Europe and North America converged in London, Oct. 1, to attend PRSM’s International Retail Exchange. The packed agenda offered the 30 attendees the opportunity to discuss important facility issues and to collaborate with peers.

PRSM’s International Retail Exchange Tackles Top Challenges

The Exchange kicked off with a welcome message from Patricia Dameron, PRSM’s Executive Director. In her introductory remarks Dameron recognized the challenges facing international retailers man-aging multi-site locations as they simultaneously attempt to adapt to changing marketplaces around the world, manage evolving technology, and identify suppliers who can also meet their daily challenges.

“While the geography where we do our jobs may change dramatically around the world, the challenges most retail facility professionals face are often the same,” explained Dameron. “PRSM’s goal is to introduce members to their colleagues and to assist them with meeting those challenges whether you operate in Europe, North America or some other part of the world.”

Bryan Walker, PRSM 2015-2016 Board President attended this year’s event and was impressed with the excitement and teamwork he witnessed. “We all face very similar problems in our day-to-day opera-tions,” explained Walker as he ref lected on the conference. “However, international FM has an added twist in that they have to manage these challenges in locations where they may have a very limited number of suppliers, or the regulations they operate under may be very different than their home country. This makes it even more important that PRSM provide the opportunity for them to share common problems and connect with those who can provide a solution.”

Opening speaker, Laurie Chalmers, Deputy Managing Director, Dynamic Resources, outlined strategies FM professionals can use to reduce costs even in the face of uncertain economies. Dynamic Resources, a global resources company, provides services to leading global retail brands and completed more than 8,500 projects last year.

Immediately following the opening session, attendees dove into store improvements

they could implement that would save money. While many of the top-ics discussed were similar to those faced by FM professionals in North America, a few stood out as unique to the European marketplace.

Many European retailers are identifying when and where they can gain market share in the other global markets, including the U.S. International expansion brings unique challenges for both European and North American retailers such as finding new suppliers, adapting to a new and different regulatory and geographic environment, overcoming language barriers and learning how to do business in a different culture.

Finding suppliers, even for existing retailers in Europe, was also a hot topic as retailers searched for unique ways to identify high performing suppliers who can manage both specific city markets and cross-border markets.

Sustainability and energy management were also explored, along with new and developing strategies to reduce costs related to these programs while still reducing environmental impact and energy usage. While the value of energy management systems in North America is becoming common place, retailers in other countries face unique challenges that vary from country to country, making use more difficult.

Billie Waters and Rachael Clark from Gap Inc., presented a case study on a collaborative approach to cost reduction initiated between the facilities and sourcing departments. The case study, and the dis-cussion, following focused on sourcing facility maintenance services in France and the collaborative approach Gap Inc., used to maximize vendor capabilities.

PRSM’s International Retail Exchange, while focused on inter-national operations, re-emphasized that the challenges faced by FM professionals worldwide are often the same, and that the ideal way to solve those challenges and identify new partners is through connect-ing, and collaborating with peers who have direct industry experience.

This event was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Dynamic Resources, ServiceChannel and Aramark. l