The role of facilities management in logistics and warehousing in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Facilities Management (FM) is frequently described as an integrated approach to operate, maintain, improve and adapt the buildings and infrastructure of an organization to create an environment that strongly supports primary objectives of that organization. The FM discipline emerged out of practice because of a clear need to focus on elaborate facilities, which critically support the activities of most of today’s organizations. Business organizations consider supply chain and logistics performance as important elements for the achievement of competitive advantages. In this context, FM plays a significant role in managing and operating diverse types of constructed facilities for logistics and warehousing. In fact, it assures the successful management of the whole warehousing system, which includes both, building, utilities, and material handling equipment. However, limited literature is available in this area to set the importance of FM within this context, and very little analysis has been carried out to understand the importance of FM to create the conditions for improved performance of logistic and warehousing. Therefore, this study aims to provides a comprehensive review of the FM function in the logistics and warehousing arena in Sri Lanka which is identified as a potential logistics hub in South-East Asia and Indian sub-continent region.