BOC Success Stories

The BOC appealed to me on multiple levels because as a Community College we do quite a bit to be energy efficient and to reduce the impact we have on the environment. I think that people always knew the impact of heating and cooling on the environment, but they are finally doing something about it. People are increasingly getting involved with green buildings and LEED certification, things that they previously thought were out of their grasp. As a father with two small children you want to save something for our future.

We are planning two smaller projects that will have an impact on our energy consumption based on what we have learned through the BOC program. You get out of the class what you are willing to put into it. If it is something that you are really interested in then you will get a lot out of it. Just the knowledge that you gain from the class makes you a better building engineer or manager.

The impact that BOC had on our staff was great and helped us learn how we can do our part to save resources.

Gary Reed, Director of Facilities Planning and Management, oversees it all with a facilities staff of 150. The complexity of the job demands that his staff be up-to-date in basic operations and maintenance procedures and coordinated in their approach. “BOC training offers a format for educating staff and certifying that they have a baseline of knowledge in operations maintenance procedures,” Gary says. “BOC builds an excellent foundation for day-to-day operations and stimulates interest in saving energy.”

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The information division of GBBN Architects helps facilities establish facility maintenance plans and manage facility information management systems for use in space planning, asset management, and daily maintenance tracking. We work with large public and private organizations in the region to help them better manage data about their buildings to improve their operations. Through our relationship with the Hamilton County Facilities Department, we were introduced to the Ohio Public Facility Maintenance Association and made the decision to join in early 2005. The BOC program, which is supported by both OPFMA and the Ohio School Facility Commission, has proven to be a valuable experience.

Working in an architectural environment, the majority of our personnel focus on how the environment is built or renovated. Our team provides the transition to ensure the data collected during the design and construction is usable, accessible, and relevant to the facility owner. Our BOC experience in the classroom has helped us to gain better understanding of the operational impacts of building design and the biggest concerns of the facility managers and operators. The dialogue and discussions in the BOC class were of particular value, as we have the opportunity to hear the challenges and input from the maintenance personnel, trades, project managers, and facility managers charged with the long term care of the buildings.

In particular, the strong attendance by school personnel was of benefit to us. We provide maintenance plan advisor services to our clients through the OSFC program to ensure each new school's facility infrastructure is documented and the proper preventive maintenance programs are in place. Schools need to have maintenance plans approved by the state before the district can use OSFC funds for maintenance purposes. The BOC discussions on the OSFC program, including the impact of the design manual and how the information collected by the MPA is used by the maintenance departments, were of particular interest. Valuable information is being produced by the OSFC's maintenace plan advisors, and we saw the need to ensure this is available to a wider maintenance audience in the schools.

The BOC is a great resource for those interested in efficient building management. BOC graduates learn different techniques and cutting edge technologies to save energy, saving their companies money by making them more efficient. After the class they also have a network of peers to call on for advice and best practices, including the instructors who have years of experience. Employers save money right off the bat, and everyone I know who has taken the class has saved their company at least the cost of the course by the time they graduate.

Once we trained two of the local school district facility managers who manage all of the public schools in Normal, Illinois. After taking the course, they were able to research and analyze different options when upgrading their heating and cooling systems. They ended up installing a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses the heat from the earth to heat facilities in the winter and puts heat back into the earth in the summer. They are more efficient systems and are expected to last longer than traditional heating systems and they require much less maintenance, which is where the cost really goes up.

Because of what they learned in the BOC course, they were able to provide a case to the community to pay for the high cost of installing the new system by estimating the savings over the course of its life. Now they have geothermal systems rather than a traditional system in two of the elementary schools. They were able to assess the costs and payback. They undertook a huge project as a result of being in BOC and they were very pleased with the results.

From hospitals, school districts, insurance companies, universities and community colleges, all facilities would benefit from this training without a doubt. Many of the maintenance staff have been in these positions for 20-30 years and this is a great course to get updates on the rapidly changing technology.

I have been in building engineering for 35 years and what attracted me to the BOC program was the energy efficiency aspect and the fact that the certification is accepted in 20 states. I think that this course gives us the tools to take on more responsibility within our organization and make an impact on its energy consumption.

We try to be energy efficient here anyway and taking the BOC course is part of these efforts. It has made me more aware of the new technologies available. The instructors are very knowledgeable and they give you a real world-view of the things that you are learning. They are experts in the industry and their work history is such that they are familiar with the theories and real world experience.

Taking the BOC course allows us to speak with more confidence. To communicate you should be up on the terminology and those courses help you develop the language needed to communicate well. Even in my case where I have been in the industry for 30+ years, I learned a number of things from the BOC course. You've got to have a pretty narrow mind if you think you can’t learn anything from BOC.

The class gives you the tools to make changes for the better within your organization, and at the same time, it has a positive affect on your organization’s bottom line.

Our company recently incorporated a number of other agencies and there was a wide range of skill sets among the facility staff. We wanted to bring everyone up to the same level of operating skills, so we sent all of the new employees, about 20 staff members, through the BOC program.

We certainly believe that this is a valuable program. The course gave me the ability to speak to my supervisors better and it gave my employees the tools to report to me with more confidence. They now take a more aggressive role and are better able to handle the changes when you begin to make these kinds of proactive changes. When you send someone to a class like this, not only do you feel the impact right away, but you feel it on a day-to-day basis.