United Distributors' 300,000-square-foot facility is divided into office/warehouse and cooler space.

 United Distributors Uses DPMC as Its Facility Manager

ATLANTA - Although it is often viewed as a necessary headache, effective facility management is perhaps one of the single most important factors in keeping a business running smoothly. The physical appearance of a building's parking lots, landscape and interior can heavily impact a client's perception of a business. In addition, indoor and outdoor lighting must be working to insure building safety and security, working HVAC systems help insure client and employee comfort, and specialized equipment must be working for a business to function properly. Yet most business owners and managers do not have the in-house expertise required to repair and to maintain this equipment.

In light of these considerations, United Distributors, the largest beer and liquor distributor in the state of Georgia, recently appointed Divaris Property Management Corp. as the facility manager of its new 333,700-square-foot, state-of-the-art automated distribution and storage center in Smyrna, Georgia.

Mark Papowski, CFO of United Distributors, describes the scope of the business, noting that, "We distribute to package stores, grocers and restaurants. We are fortunate to have a very strong portfolio of brands that are in demand for our customers."

Understanding its market and responding to consumer demands has helped United Distributors grow, and its new distribution center provides an even better standard of service for its clients. However, Papowski notes that the sheer size of the new facility played a significant role in United Distributor's decision to hire a facility manager.

The center is divided into office space of about 33,700 square feet, and a large part-warehouse, part-cooler building which is 300,000 square feet. A facility manager must prioritize: coolers must always be running, driveways must remain in good repair for trucks and office HVAC systems must function well in the Southeastern heat.

Ann Tillman, head of DPMC's Atlanta office, notes that, by working with a facility manager such as DPMC, businesses can prevent several problems. "Businesses often have a propensity to put off facility repair and maintenance," Tillman notes. Businesses tend to view facility management as a low priority. Most equipment or building repairs can be put off for a short time, but the longer one waits, the more likely it is that a simple situation will evolve into a crisis that takes more time and money to resolve. 

Few business managers have the time or the experience to deal with regular assessments of HVAC units or exterior lighting systems. The fact that an HVAC fan belt is six months overdue for replacement may be discovered one day too late. Regular maintenance by an objective third party can prevent these expensive crises by keeping records of equipment repairs, maintenance schedules and parts warranties.

"It is important to have professional depreciation scheduling and to know appropriate times and reasonable costs for repairs," explains Tillman. It is often difficult for a business manager to feel confident that he or she is getting the best price on parts, repairs and scheduled maintenance and to know how long certain repairs should take or how much labor should reasonably cost.

In addition, Tillman explains that outsourcing facility maintenance helps increase the efficiency of a business. "The function that we perform typically falls on the shoulders of someone who already has other work to do at the company. It takes time away from their core business functions." DPMC's facility management division receives and contracts all maintenance calls, thus creating a more efficient business environment.

Papowski explains that "when we moved into our new facility, we wanted to focus more on our business and less on the maintenance of the buildings. Based upon the presentations that were made to us [by Divaris], we decided that it would be more efficient and more economical to work with a facility manager. We felt that Divaris could give us the personal attention that was required by the new facility."

DPMC's extensive experience as a facility manager for clients such as Hannaford Food and Drug, Ahold's Tops Supermarkets and Chartway Federal Savings and Loan were important factors to United Distributors in making its choice of Divaris as its facility manager.