What was it about?
When I was a child, my dad’s company was responsible for building this massive complex of 15 buildings in Manaus. Offices, labs, and art gallery are there to serve the joint initiative of the scientific community, the private sector, the federal government, and the state governments of the Amazon Region with the goal of contributing to the development of bioindustry in the country and especially in the Amazon region; act strongly in the generation of knowledge and transfer of cutting-edge technology, through various types of partnerships with research institutions and the private sector; and to contribute to the diversification of the productive structure of the Manaus Free Trade Zone, with regard to the expansion of investment opportunities in the region.
What did I do?
Fast forward several years, the same company was awarded the maintenance contract for the complex which included building and HAVC (fancoil/cassete units, chillers, mini-splits). At that time I was responsible to start the contract up setting up the preventive and corrective maintenance schedules, as well as the right system to support that. Back to the corporate headquarters in the capital of the country, Brasilia, my hometown, I gave support for the operation for about 2 years, visiting them up North when necessary.
What did I learn?
Inventorying and accessing all the moving parts of a maintenance contract is very tedious but can help to give the leadership team great leverage on making strategic managerial decisions in the long run.
DATE
March 19, 2008
