Help is on the way
Revamped zone system streamlines repairs

By D. Lyn Hunter, Public Affairs

14 February 2002 | Power goes out, pipes leak, elevators break — but getting help to repair such campus malfunctions now promises to be more efficient, thanks to an overhaul of Physical Plant – Campus Service’s maintenance process.

To ease the pain for campus customers who need things fixed, facilities managers have revamped the way tradespeople serve the campus and opened a new Zone Management and Information Center.

In the past, the central campus was divided into five geographical zones, each with its own crew of electricians, plumbers, carpenters, engineers and other tradespeople.

Now, tradespeople are available to the whole campus, not just one particular zone, said Physical Plant – Campus Services manager John Rolle.

“Under the old system, if one carpenter was on vacation and another called in sick, that zone was immediately short-staffed,” said Rolle. “By having a shop for each trade, we have a pool of workers to draw from and can provide better coverage of the campus.”

Members of a particular trade, he said, work together in their own shop — making them better able to share information, learn new facets of the trade and become familiar with the entire campus.

While tradespeople are no longer organized by zone, customers will still contact their zone representatives to request repairs. The representatives are now housed under one roof at the Zone Management and Information Center, which opened last month in the basement of Hearst Gym.

As in past, Rolle said, “each time a customer contacts us, they are assisted by the same representative and manager, who are intimately familiar with the building in question.”

Rolle encourages campus customers to use the Physical Plant-Campus Services web site (http://physicalplant.berkeley.edu) to identify their zone, contact their customer service representative, submit a work request, check the status of a work order, and get information on available services.

“Using the online system for routine repairs reduces the time our customer service representatives spend answering calls and processing paperwork, and allows them to more efficiently get crews dispatched to trouble spots,” said Rolle. “For emergencies, however, we still encourage customers to call their zone representative.”