Facility Activation & Operational Readiness ORAT Consulting

Axis will help you automate processes, reach targets, prepare your stakeholders, and create transparency across your project. We focus on three main areas: facility readiness, people readiness, and asset management readiness.

Our proprietary processes are customizable across industries, but lead to the same result: a seamless transition into your new facility.

Axis utilizes custom software to provide operations solutions for a variety of projects. We have the skills and the systems in place to guide your project from concept to completion. Learn more about our ORAT software.

The best way to ensure your new processes and equipment will work is to test them, again and again. Axis can help you minimize risk and maximize efficiency by conducting trials and simulations. While functional commissioning tests are conducted to ensure your equipment works per specifications, our trials go an extra step to ensure your systems and processes work in real-life operational conditions. Trials and simulations give employees an opportunity to become familiar with the new facility and give construction teams the chance to correct any issues prior to the facility becoming operational. Our trials and simulations consist of basic, advanced, and integrated trials. Our simulations are designed to bring your facility online in a crawl/walk/run phasing.

To maximize the value of ORAT and capture monetary savings on your project, our team reviews construction design drawings to confirm they are efficient for your operations. Axis will engage every stakeholder that will operate out of your new facility and ensure they have an understanding of the new facility design, their working spaces, and that the design reflects an environment that will work successfully for them. Our team will evaluate your design to ensure there is adequate redundancy in critical systems, and that in the event of an issue, your facility will be able to maintain continuity of operations. Our design review process minimizes change orders, allowing construction to progress on budget and on schedule while making sure that your facility has a reasonable lifecycle maintenance and operations cost.

With new facilities come new equipment, systems, and procedures. Our team has developed hundreds of operating procedures for facility owners. Axis will work with your stakeholders to ensure that all potential operating procedures required are identified and developed in a manner that is intuitive and clear for front-line employees. We have a proven review and training process to ensure your teams understand the new procedures and have a voice in the development. Axis will ensure the continuity of operations by identifying areas where contingency plans are needed and provide training so they may be swiftly executed when needed.

A new facility is only as good as the employees who will be operating and maintaining it. The Axis team has developed proven models for familiarization, induction, and training of new facilities. We will keep your management teams and front-line employees engaged throughout the process and provide tours, training, and orientations prior to opening. Axis provides newsletters throughout the duration of your project to connect with stakeholders, and develops employee handbooks to educate and provide resources for working in your new facility. We track the FIT progress through our proprietary technology and collect feedback through our survey system. All training materials are archived in the Axis software for new employee onboarding or refresher training. With Axis at the center of your project, you will have complete confidence that your teams are ready to operate your new facility.

Transitioning complex facilities is a task that the Axis team has successfully executed for many large clients. We have moved concessionaires, federal agencies, airlines, and maintenance facilities on critical schedules. Axis will ensure your move is accurately inventoried, coordinated, and completed on-time.

Asset management is critical to ensuring the long-term success of your project. Our ORAT software can integrate with programs such as Maximo or serve as a standalone solution for managing and tracking your new assets.

New facilities come with new systems and equipment that often have complex warranty requirements. Axis helps owners and operators create warranty requirements that will protect their investments. We have an easy to use warranty resolution and tracking system that will allow your teams to clearly identify warranty items, status, and requirements for resolution. Our QR-coded warranty tag system links to our Axis software and allows for quick review of an asset’s warranty status, maintenance manuals, and contractor contact information.

Axis will also assist your operations and maintenance teams in identifying critical equipment and developing contingency plans or warranty response requirements that provide for continuity of operations.

Our team is experienced in identifying and mitigating risks and issues on projects. We successfully complete this process through stakeholder working groups, engagement, design review, and stakeholder site tours. Our ORAT software provides a transparent and easy solution for the ORAT governance team to quickly act and make informed decisions.

Your new facility may have opened, but the Axis team keeps working. We continue to be available and onsite to assist with required post-opening support. This often includes warranty tracking and resolution, post moves, process refinement and optimization, mitigating issues that arise, completing project close out, archiving documentation and training, and decommissioning old facilities.

The start-up of new facilities often comes with new staffing requirements and training needs. Axis will assist your team in coordinating project operations and maintenance training to confirm that the content and sessions are adequate, and your team can demonstrate an understanding of the required content after each training session. Our training software module makes it easy to track training status, capture feedback, and archive training materials. We also recognize that there will be operational-based training required in many areas of your new facility that are not covered by the project. We can help identify those gaps in training programs to ensure your stakeholders have a complete understanding of every element in your new facility.

At the beginning of each project, Axis establishes a stakeholder management and communications plan. We will utilize our ORAT technology to collect feedback from each of your stakeholders on key project initiatives such as SOP development, contingency planning, familiarization tours, design review, and training.

The completion of every successful project is a time to celebrate! Start planning your opening events and marketing your new project early in the project development process. Axis has a wealth of experience coordinating events, planning openings, and marketing projects to communities. From creating time-lapse videos of construction progress to identifying project fast facts, writing press releases, and executing opening events, the Axis team is here to help you launch your new project in style.

Projects often have complex specifications. The Axis team will complete a specification audit for your project that confirms the contractor is meeting its required obligations. This includes creating detailed logs for O&M training, tracking operations and maintenance manual turnover, logging warranties and attic or spare parts, tracking of substantial completion requirements, and creating logs of any other important project deliverables.

Stakeholder engagement is the lifeblood of a successful ORAT program. Axis will create stakeholder management plans that are effective in identifying roles, responsibilities, communications methods, and include all necessary departments and staff. We will meet with each stakeholder to understand their operations, concerns, objectives, and project expectations. Axis stakeholder management plans allow for effective expectation management and objective alignment—all of which influence positive relationships.

Aligning an ORAT schedule with the overall project schedule is a challenge, but one that is critical to distribute resources and planning efforts at the appropriate project milestones. Axis can align your ORAT schedule with the construction schedule and allow ORAT activities to be conducted at the optimal time.

It is critical to define concepts of operations for each stakeholder before the facility opens. Axis looks at each one of your stakeholder’s operations and defines how they will operate in the new facility. For example, we review areas such as passenger and customer flows to confirm your visitors have a positive experience accessing and processing through your facility. Your customers’ experience will only be as good as the employees behind your facility operations, so Axis reviews employee flows as well—including employee parking, delivery and load dock operations, access control and door hardware, and waste disposal routes.

New systems often require new skills, certifications, parts, tools, and equipment to maintain. There may be new regulatory requirements, or in many cases vendors may need to be procured to service specialized systems. Axis can assist your teams with identifying requirements for maintaining your new assets.

The most expensive part of a new facility typically occurs after construction: procuring new systems and equipment. Axis can help your team in making educated choices by providing asset life-cycle cost matrices for the systems and equipment that allow your facility to operate smoothly on day one.

Axis has deep experience in helping businesses continue operating while renovating or expanding existing facilities. Our team will reduce your risks of a phased construction approach and provide the support that your teams and stakeholders need to manage construction and transitions during active operations.