Far East Organization garners second win at SBR Technology Excellence Awards

Developer awarded in Digital – Real Estate category for its Central Engineering Management System, after its win last year for its Group IT Digital Lab.

Far East Organization (FEO), a diversified property developer with a broad portfolio spanning the full spectrum of the real estate development market, has garnered the Digital – Real Estate award in Singapore Business Review's Technology Excellence Awards 2021 for its Central Engineering Management System (CEMS).

Jointly conceptualised and developed by the Central Engineering Department (CED) and the in-house Group IT Digital Lab, CEMS aims to bring about quantum improvements in productivity and operational efficiency in the upkeep and operations of more than 250 developments in the Organization’s portfolio of residential, business space and retail properties for lease as well as its extensive hospitality business.

A significant portion of the CED’s tasks include conducting periodic preventive maintenance work orders, such as air-con maintenance, lift inspection, and water tank inspection, that are focused on keeping the properties in an immaculate condition. In addition, CED is also tasked with responding to occasional corrective work orders related to wear and tear issues within the property units in a timely manner, with the aim of minimising disruptions and inconvenience for the tenants. As such, a high performing CED is critical to achieving superior levels of customer satisfaction as well as preserving the value of the company’s assets.

CEMS consists of a mobile app and a web portal. The business units' operational staff utilise the app to raise corrective work orders and track resolution. The mobile app is also used by both internal engineers and external contractors to receive preventive or corrective work orders. In addition, its management team uses the web portal to plan for preventive maintenance, track compliance to service level agreements, and generate analytical reports.

"This project has provided a common platform for our clients, our engineering personnel and our external contractors to communicate and to standardise our work order management process, from the raising of the issue to the completion of the work order by our external contractor, and routing of the completed work order for processing of payment," said Edward Ng, Executive Director (Projects and Operations) at Far East Organization.

"This project also enables our various building systems to communicate with us, through auto-creation of work orders when system alerts are generated, thus improving our service level and reducing the need to constantly check and monitor our various building systems which are spread across the different areas in the properties," explained Edward. "With the equipment tagging capability in place, we can monitor and assess the health and performance of our various equipment on a real-time basis."

Launched in September 2020, CEMS has been utilised by more than 500 users to manage more than 125,000 preventive and corrective work orders. Its most notable achievements include estimated manpower savings of around 2,000 man-days, improved compliance with service level agreements, optimised deployment mix of onsite and offsite engineers, and the introduction of the capability to draw analytical insights from real-time operational data.

"We look forward to further harnessing the power of the data collected to improve our performance and service quality," added Edward.

***

About Far East Organization

Far East Organization is a Christian Enterprise, which develops real estate and operates businesses by serving with grace, love, integrity and honesty. Established in 1960, Far East Organization is the largest private property developer in Singapore. The Organization develops, owns and manages a diverse spectrum of real estate products across the residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, medical and industrial space segments. Far East Organization is the winner of 12 FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence awards, the highest honour in international real estate.
Fareast.com.sg

The Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Singapore Business Review, was held via studio award presentations and video conferencing sessions throughout the second and third week of April.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Daryl Pereira, Head of Cyber at KPMG; Cheang Wai Keat, Partner, Consulting at Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd.; Henry Tan, Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Nexia TS; Sivakumar Saravan, Senior Partner at Crowe Singapore; Cecil Su, Director, Head of Cybersecurity of BDO Singapore.

If you would like to join the 2022 awards and be acclaimed for your company’s exceptional technological innovations, please email Jane Patiag at [email protected].