Your guide to optimising total cost of ownership in life sciences facilities

The journey from breakthrough discovery to life-saving treatment is often time-consuming and costly.

Life sciences companies juggle constant pressure: keeping biomanufacturing facilities and research and development (R&D) laboratories productive, safe, and compliant, all while racing to market. In a high-stakes environment, delays due to regulations or utility disruptions can cripple operations.

This is where a comprehensive approach to facilities management (FM) is essential. By looking beyond immediate fixes and considering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your facility, FM teams can ensure decisions on capital investments are aligned with business priorities, delivering long-term value and supporting the best outcomes.

Think of TCO as the all-in cost of owning a facility over its useful lifespan. For facilities, TCO encompasses the life cycle costs of acquiring, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining a facility and its key assets.

The TCO approach to FM means adopting a comprehensive and holistic view of initial capital expenses for asset acquisition, as well as the long-term operating and maintenance expenses for your facilities. It considers the actual cost of purchasing and maintaining the facilities along with the cumulative costs associated with that asset's life cycle.

Making reactionary decisions can lead to costly surprises down the road. By looking at the bigger picture, FM teams can make smarter decisions on maintenance, workforce and facilities investment based on the long-term return on investment (ROI).

Each component of TCO bears a critical and interdependent relationship with all others. To fully grasp the complexities of this approach, here’s a closer look at each element.

An understanding of every component within the TCO equation is essential to grasping the interdependent nature of critical facilities infrastructure. When considered within the limits of a pre-determined budget, reallocating costs from one component to another will inevitably impact other costs.

Often, life sciences facilities must grapple with rising construction and operational costs, evolving regulations, and C-suite expectations for faster product launches.

Tasked with navigating these challenges, the FM team must keep an eye on asset strategy while adhering to a pre-determined budget. The TCO framework empowers the FM team to strike a balance between the two priorities.

A prime example is JLL’s own unique TCO framework, which is built on three critical pillars:

Successfully transitioning TCO strategy from the data collection and analysis stage to implementation requires an experienced team with the right expertise. With the TCO framework, standards and training, your technical operations can be adapted to routinely capture data at the point of creation, and then apply it throughout the life cycle of the asset.

TCO is enabled when everyone thoroughly understands the model and is held accountable for capturing the right data.

For a cohesive, comprehensive TCO and cost management strategy, data is key. FM teams can leverage data from Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and smart building systems to capture real-time data that is consistent, accurate and relevant. 

With access to this data, you can apply technologies such as predictive modelling/analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to gain deeper insights about asset performance and expenses. This provides senior leadership with the ability to translate insight to action, unlocking the power of contextualised data and analytics to enhance decision-making and drive operational efficiency.

For proper implementation of TCO, the FM team must analyse the asset condition data to make informed decisions for maintenance, overhaul, and asset replacement strategies.

Trust in the data requires accurate, justifiable, and reliable cost categorisation based on work type, time, location, and complexity.

Forget buzzwords and unnecessary complex computations. Transparency is key, along with ensuring the right data is presented clearly to those making decisions that impact the bottom line.

“With the right team, robust data collection systems, and a focus on actionable insights, FM can transform from a cost centre to a strategic partner driving value across the entire asset lifecycle.”

Ivan Yeo
Group Account Director, Life Sciences
Asia Pacific
JLL

TCO has been long been implemented across other industries, but not consistently in life sciences facilities.

Besides the resource constraints faced by a typical FM team, the main reason is often a lack of defined standards for the capture and analysis of data, which is key to successful implementation of the TCO model.

Applied properly, the TCO approach will help FM teams to:

Connect with a JLL expert to learn more about how a TCO approach can help protect your facilities and optimise your operational costs.

Find out how smart location, space and facility management decisions can help fuel your scientific breakthroughs.

Life sciences