Sector
Logistics real estate
Scope
- Numerous logistics real estate projects at strategic top locations in Belgium and the Netherlands
- More than 850,000 m² of logistics business space created
Location
Herentals, Belgium
Application: maintenance management
- Axxerion IWMS for managing requests and work orders, linked to the building management system, reports, and SLA management
- O-Prognose software for periodic maintenance planning: import of planned operations into Axxerion for follow-up by Heylen Warehouses team or subcontractors
Challenge: maintenance management of logistics buildings
Heylen Warehouses develops, leases, and manages future-oriented buildings for logistics operations. These buildings are equipped with sensors that measure real-time ambient variables and the status of installations. Thanks to these Building Technologies, the building itself can signal malfunctions even before they become acute. The data is analyzed by algorithms and converted instantly into useful information for tenants, the property management team, and maintenance parties.
Due to Heylen Warehouses’ exponential growth, the company was looking for a simple system to streamline the management of all maintenance requests and work orders. Both the logging of tickets by customers or by the Heylen Warehouses team, and the follow-up of requests from the building management system, had to be straightforward, traceable and automated as much as possible.
Photo Lenflex.
Warehouse Maintenance Solution
After a thorough selection process, Heylen Warehouses chose Spacewell’s Axxerion software in 2020. This SaaS solution offered Heylen Warehouses the best match to further streamline, digitize and automate maintenance management. In addition to the various IWMS modules for process optimization such as Tickets, Work Orders, Contracts, and Suppliers, the software also offers the possibility to link with specialized O-Prognose software for short and long-term maintenance planning of buildings and installations. Fault reports from the building management system, maintenance requests from clients in the Axxerion web portal and periodically planned maintenance activities from O-Prognose are converted in Axxerion into work orders that are automatically assigned to the responsible maintenance party. The system also keeps track of hours worked, materials used, and costs. Furthermore, the team can use dashboards to monitor the performance of suppliers and contractual agreements.
Warehouse Maintenance Software Implementation: Results
Meanwhile, clients find their way to the Axxerion ticketing web portal and requests from the building management system also come in automatically. Working with automated workflows in Axxerion reduces the risk of errors due to manual handling or loss of information. The customers of Heylen Warehouses are also more than pleased with the centralized access to all useful information and documents. Recurring action points are now used in contacts with clients, which not only makes the process more efficient but also creates more peace of mind in the collaboration. The result: a lower error margin, better communication, time savings, cost savings and satisfied customers.
The next step in the implementation is to process requests from the building management system fully automatically and forward them to the correct maintenance parties. High priority notifications from sensors are already being automatically converted into work orders and immediately assigned to the relevant maintenance party. In this way, the supplier receives an overview of the work to be carried out before anyone even notices that something is wrong in the building.
About Heylen Warehouses: sustainable and future-oriented
Heylen Warehouses is a logistic real estate company with over 18 years of experience in developing, leasing, and managing ‘future proof’ warehouse solutions. They work for leading international brands and companies in both Belgium and the Netherlands, and they are considered a large and stable player in the logistic real estate world.
Sustainability and future orientation are in the DNA of the organization. Besides developing warehouses at new locations, Heylen Warehouses also specializes in the redevelopment of existing sites. For this purpose, the company is implementing its Building Technologies, a multitude of sensors and actuators that can turn a range of passive building components and installations into active ones. This allows remote control of lighting, doors, or heating, among other things, and can be automated. Problems can be detected early, and maintenance requests can be sent out automatically by the building itself. As a result, action can be taken very quickly and the negative impact on operations can be reduced to a minimum. Benefits include increased safety, better user comfort, more and well-thought-out opportunities to save energy as well as preventive and therefore cost-saving maintenance.
Spacewell ensures easy, traceable and highly automated tracking of all requests and maintenance activities in our logistics properties. This results in time savings, lower costs and satisfied customers.
Pieter-Jan Van Nyen
Property Manager, Heylen Warehouses
