Investigating Manufacturer Selection Decisions for Built Infrastructure Assets Using a Technical Performance Metric

Facility and built infrastructure asset management are necessary functions of any organization that utilizes buildings to operate their businesses. However, most organizations require facility managers to ensure the successful operation of their assets without providing sufficient resources to accomplish this task. Therefore, in resource-scarce environments, facility managers require data-driven solutions to manage their assets and make the best decisions. Facility managers need novel solutions to help make asset life-cycle decisions. This research provides such a solution. Capitalizing on available data, a technical performance metric is created, allowing facility managers to calculate their assets' operational performance. This performance metric provides a criterion to make manufacturer selection decisions: choosing one manufacturer over another and picking the best brand for use in their facilities. The performance metric that informs manufacturer selection decisions provides a basis for making initial procurement decisions, thereby solving one of the life-cycle decisions facility managers must make. Performance is calculated utilizing basic attribute and condition assessment data. Leveraging real-world data from the United States Air Force, case studies are performed to calculate the performance of assets, show the utility of an organization making or validating manufacturer selection decisions, and to show the effect of local climate on asset performance.