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he corporate real estate industry abounds with experts in
construction, development, facilities management, transaction management,
project management, and lease management, to name just a few areas.
And, as companies increasingly focus on their core processes, there
is a greater appeal to turn to third-party vendors to perform real estate
services, with cost reduction often a main objective.

Lauth Property Group
performed design, construction and development work for 65 additional
dock doors and 2,000 sq. ft. of offices at this Yellow Roadway
Corp. complex in Wheeling, Ill., one of several projects Lauth
has completed for the firm.


     
In the fall of 2002, Ernst & Young released “Corporate Real Estate Outsourcing: 10 Years Later Survey,” which stated that, in addition to cost cutting, companies are pursuing a “broad strategic agenda through outsourcing.” The study reported that companies’ goals in outsourcing projects include:

  • Focus on core competencies
  • Align real estate with
    business units
  • Reduce cycle time
  • Tap the provider’s brainpower
  • Access the provider’s technology
  • Leverage buying power
  • Reduce headcount
  • Free up capital

  • Mitigate risk
     
The Ernst & Young report also said that the total outsourcing market, which includes information technology and business process outsourcing, will grow at a 19-percent annual rate until 2005, topping $260 billion. Here’s a closer look at some of today’s top companies responsible for forming close partnerships with such clients as Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Yellow Transportation, and Humana, Inc.


UNICCO’s Service Solutions

     
John Correia, vice president of New England Operations for UNICCO? Service Company, says that he and his team often work with companies to transform them from a cost center to a profit center. “We provide technology and tools to help a company perform its job and make its work force more efficient,” he notes. “We become an extension of our clients during our long-term partnerships, so it is important that we understand their business cultures from the start. Once we know our client’s business, we provide integrated facility services from full operations and maintenance of buildings to performing minor construction or managing the construction process, to overseeing energy services and janitorial services, to providing engineering.”

     
Correia says that the first step in the outsourcing process is to evaluate the program that a client currently has in-house, evaluating costs, issues, and challenges. Next, Correia and his team help the client benchmark the current programs, then they proceed through site and service evaluations and come up with a service solution recommendation. There are a number of proprietary programs UNICCO uses to track its programs including its myUNICCO.com customer portal, UNI-Q? palmtop inspection system, best-of-breed computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), eProcurement, and 24x7x365 national call center.

     
UNICCO Service Company is one of North America’s largest Integrated Facilities Services companies. The privately-held company has over 55 years of facilities outsourcing experience and has increased sales every year since its inception with $700 million in annualized revenues. With 19,000 employees and an industry-leading 95-percent customer retention rate, UNICCO offers maintenance, operations, engineering, cleaning, lighting and administrative/office services for multi-tenant and corporate office, education, retail, public venue, industrial, and government facilities.

     
In July 2004, Eckerd College selected UNICCO to provide facilities services for its campus buildings and grounds. UNICCO’s responsibilities include custodial and maintenance services for the buildings, as well as landscaping and maintenance of sports fields and facilities, including the waterfront. In addition, UNICCO provides energy management and recycling services and oversees some construction and renovation projects.

     
UNICCO brings a strong record of achievement in higher education to the college. It provides services to Nova Southeastern University, Tulane University, University of Alabama, University of Miami and dozens of other colleges and universities. It also boasts a strong presence in Florida. In addition to its higher education accounts, contracts with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami International Airport, and several commercial customers in Florida and the Southeast are managed from UNICCO’s regional headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

     
In other UNICCO news, in May 2004, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA), the state organization that owns and operates the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, the Springfield Civic Center, and the soon-to-open Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC), awarded UNICCO a $3 million three-plus-three-year contract to provide janitorial and meeting setup services. The value of the contract could increase as additional tradeshows are booked into the facilities.
     
“We are pleased to have UNICCO as a major service provider to the many clients, exhibitors, and patrons who will visit the Boston Convention facilities,” stated Nicholas Langella, General Manager, Boston Properties, in a company press release. “We are extremely confident that the experience, expertise, and resources that UNICCO provides to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority will play a key role in the successful opening of the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.”

Features

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

ituated in the middle of the nation, MidAmerica Industrial Park finds itself well-suited to the demanding needs of businesses that rely on “same-day or next-day” logistics to fuel their growth.

     
A recent logistics study commissioned by MidAmerica, Oklahoma’s largest industrial park, delivers data that qualifies the park as a major distribution center location. The study notes that over 23 percent of the nation’s fastest growing markets can be reached from the park on a same-day basis. Over 90 percent of the nation can be reached from MidAmerica on a 3-day basis.

     
The research was conducted by Ian Wright of Nuvecta, a firm based in

Performance Pipe, a ChevronPhillips division, ships
extruded polyethylene pipe across the nation from its MidAmerica
plant.

Cleveland, Ohio. Wright is a seasoned supply chain and logistics professional with over 21 years of experience.

     
According to Wright, the research yielded positive results. “In geographic terms, MidAmerica is at the center of things,” Wright said. “It is a good location to serve many of the nation’s major markets in one or two days and has a real logistics advantage for serving destinations in the upper midwest. If a manufacturing company just had to pick one location (in the US) for their operations, this (Mid-America) would be a good one,” said Wright.


      “MidAmerica should also be attractive to companies
that supply Wal-Mart and other ‘big box’ stores in the region on a one-day
basis,” he said. “The park would also be a good site for Tier One and
Tier Two auto component suppliers that must deliver goods to a collection
of auto assembly manufacturers in what may be described as Mid-America’s
‘just-in-time’ zone.”

      MidAmerica Industrial Park is a 9,000-acre manufacturing,
processing and distribution center located in Pryor Creek, Oklahoma,
near Tulsa. Over 75 firms are located within the park including divisions
of seven “Fortune 500,” seven “Global 500,” and 15 publicly traded companies.