JohnSowa 2956

John Sowa:

'KH ENGINEERING REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE'

For airline KLM, ' moving your world by creating memorable experiences ' is central to everything they do. There is a incredible focus on customer-oriented, safe and comfortable air transport. This is reflected in the maintaining of the buildings in which they want to enable their employees to get the best out of themselves. KH Engineering plays an important role in this: ‘I greatly appreciate their reliability, expertise and willingness to get things done, says Corporate Real Estate Manager John Sowa.

KLM, the most famous and largest airline in the Netherlands, has a huge amount of buildings at and around Schiphol Airport. From hangars to offices and from workshops to technical rooms, there is a total of approximately 700,000 m² of  gross floor space for which John Sowa, as Corporate Real Estate Manager, is responsible together with his team. A major challenge is to continue to comply with ever-new legislation and regulations and to respond to changing usage of buildings. In addition, KLM is striving for a different, more integrated approach to building maintenance with attention to the “total cost of ownership”. 

PROGRAMMATIC APPROACH

Three years ago, the size and complexity of the projects increased enormously, resulting in an too fragmented approach. ‘The volume simply couldn't be handled anymore with the limited manpower,’ says Sowa, ‘and the projects became so numerous and extensive that real professional engineering had to precede them in order to be able to manage both the execution and the risks properly. Therefore, about three years ago I issued a tender for engineering, project and construction management. KH Engineering came up with the best proposal. In doing so, they were especially convincing in being able to organize such a project volume in a management environment, and not simply individual projects. I selected KH Engineering for their “hardcore technical industrial expertise” and their programmatic approach. They have amply lived up to that expertise and that also helps in managing the contractors. Who are quicker to accept guidance from someone who speaks the right language, rather than generic project management.’

STAND FOR YOUR PROFESSION

Since winning the assignment, KH Engineering has contributed to the realization of the long-term maintenance plan, through portfolio and program management. ‘KH Engineering takes care of the engineering and execution of the work on electrical and mechanical installations in our “industrial” buildings,’ says Sowa. ‘And to your satisfaction. The people of KH Engineering stand for their profession and are focused on cooperation. Very important, because you work here in very different buildings, all of which have one thing in common: they support KLM's primary process. This must always be uninterrupted; and for the building where KLM Catering Services is located, this means something different than in an office building. You have to be able to deal with all these differences, with the greater importance of the airline always in mind.’

MASTERPIECE

Sowa is therefore still fully behind the decision to use the KH Engineering engineers. ‘Good engineering costs a hefty amount at the front end of your projects, but you earn that amount back twofold during the implementation phase. I would like to characterize KH Engineering as technically very competent, solid and professional, but they could propagate a bit more what they are capable of. To give an example: recently KH Engineering has replaced the emergency power supply in our Operational Control Center. Now you have to imagine that it looks a bit like the NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston and it has a similar function: there you are really at the technical heart of our business process. So beforehand we were extremely focused on preventing problems: simply put, nothing may go wrong. When I asked afterwards what the people there had noticed about the work by KH Engineering, the answer was: ‘We heard that there were two humming containers on our site.’ You can rightly call that a masterpiece, which KH Engineering can be very proud of. They sometimes forget to take the credits for that.’

KLM Contractor Safety Day

‘In the field of Safety & compliance, they have done a perfect job! For two years, KH Engineering has drawn up and implemented the KLM Safety & Compliance manual for us. That, in addition to the many good effects in daily work, in terms of reach this was also very well reflected in the KLM Contractor Safety Day that they organized. It is impressive to experience live how many large and small contractors have embraced it and developed themselves in a short time and then apply it passionately on a daily basis.’ 

 

INTEGRATED

KHE 20032 puzzel letters SISowa can no longer imagine working without KH Engineering and other important contractors . ‘We have built up a close relationship: I no longer have to explain to anyone here who KH Engineering is and KH Engineering works with dozens of people at our location, so they too have become very familiar with KLM. What I particularly like about the collaboration is that I can really rely on them: if I call on Sunday evening that something has to be done early Monday morning, they’ll just be there at the agreed time. I greatly appreciate that reliability and willingness to take action. They really made an important difference here several times, and I really appreciate that.’