Casual dining giant Brinker International is in the middle of a proof of concept effort that could lead to a complete digitization of the company’s equipment and other hard assets. The goal is to give management a window into the performance of each piece of equipment, making it easier for staff and vendors to deal with problems by having the critical information they need on their phones.
“We think it’s the future,” Jason Noorian, Brinker’s vice president of restaurant asset management, said in a webcast hosted by the International Facility Management Association. Brinker owns 1,200 restaurants under the Chili’s, Maggiano’s and It’s Just Wings brand names.
In its simplest form, asset tagging is placing an ID sticker on a piece of equipment so it can be tracked down when it needs to be replaced or if it gets lost or stolen. But when the tag is digitized, by using a QR or other type of code, a profile for each piece of equipment can be created so asset managers can track whatever critical information about it they want, like its in-service date, the length of its expected useful life and history of repair. Images of the equipment and components can be included as well, and accessed through the technician’s phone.
When the serial number of the equipment is included in the profile, the manual and other manufacturer information can be made available, too. Armed with that information, a service vendor can know the size and model number of the components involved before arriving on site.
“The tradesperson can have the right equipment or parts to help with repairs and not have to do another truck roll,” Noorian said. “Asset tagging takes all that out of the question. You already have a picture.”
Repair and replacement decisions are made easier as well, Noorian said. “When you’re sitting in that tag, it has all that history there, so the manager in real time can understand what’s the best route to take.”
If the piece is near the end of its useful life, the facility manager can decide to nix the repair. “We’re able to see the repair history, what the asset life is and if the equipment is under warranty,” he said. “It might be at end of life and, instead of repair, maybe we can just go ahead and get a new one or make a repair just to get it up and running so we have time to get a new one.”
Brinker’s tagging process is expected to take 18 months to two years. “We have 1,200 restaurants with hundreds of pieces of equipment in each one,” he said.
His team is also working through a few complications. One has to do with big assets like roofs and windows. “How do you tag the roof?” he said. “Is it a binder that has these things?”
Another one is connectivity. In the restaurants, connectivity has been spotty in some of the areas with the equipment, making it hard for technicians to access the data on their phones. So Noorian is exploring using iPads that are already in the dining areas for taking customer orders.
“We’re taking these steps to ensure that, as we go big with this, we have the alignment of operations,” he said. “We want to make it as simple as possible to make sure we get that return on investment.”
If you’re thinking about doing something similar, make sure you have a good idea upfront about how you want to use the data you collect, Tim Bernardez, global head of FM Software-as-a-Service for JLL, said in the webcast. Knowing what the information will be used for is critical for knowing what data to set up in the profile.
“You must think about the end state of what you’re trying to extract,” he said.
You also need to decide upfront which assets are worth tracking and which ones aren’t. It might not be worth it to track low-value assets, Noorian said.
“What’s the asset value where you need to track it or don’t need to track it?” he said. “These are decisions unique to the company you’re in. Think through that at the beginning. You want to have the outcome in mind.”
