
Manage your work environment with data
The energy performance of buildings has been in the spotlight for some time. Among other things, this is reflected in energy labels. Less of the spotlight is on the design of those buildings. But that picture is changing. If facility professionals want to manage this more, they'll need more data, and systems that unlock that data.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires more and more companies, starting in 2024, to report on the impact of their activities on people and our environment. Knowing that the service sector is strongly represented within the Dutch economy, the sustainability aspects of office design will also receive increased attention. With a growing need for data as a result.
"We are in a circular transition. This plays out in many areas: energy, mobility but also within the work environment. Within that, office furniture is an important factor," said Huub Verheijen, director of Alvero Office Furniture Rental.
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Stock management system
Alvero has grown from the Brabant town of Oosterhout to become the largest office furniture rental company in the Netherlands; the company also has branches in Germany, Belgium and France. Alvero provides flexible solutions for work environments to companies, governments and high-end events. The furniture is used at workstations and in meeting rooms as well as for lounge, reception and home workplaces.
"We purchase furniture, have items in stock and, of course, many products are in use by customers. Efficient and effective inventory management is indispensable for us, to know where our furniture is, when it will be returned, how often it has been used, and so on."
"A furniture passport enables more sustainable use"
Furniture Passport
The inventory management system uses RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology. A tag is attached to each piece of furniture. Those tags are read remotely, using "handhelds" and special gates at the storage locations. "Each tag on a piece of furniture has a unique number," Verheijen explains. "This way each product has its own identity. The tag is linked to our own furniture management system, in which all relevant information about a product is stored. We call that the furniture passport. It contains a wealth of information: about the production date, the date of commissioning, the use and current status, maintenance, residual value, you name it."

Reuse of materials
The AMM (Alvero Furniture Management) system has now become an independent service of Alvero, in addition to office furniture rental. "This stems entirely from customer requests. They also want to map and register their own furniture. Within large organizations it is still known what all they have purchased over time, but often lack insight into the current status of an asset. Where is it, how old is it, what is its maintenance status, what current value does it have, and above all, what opportunities for reuse are there?"

The need for greater sustainability and circularity in office design reinforces this customer need, he sees. "If you want to reduce the environmental impact of your operations, you will have to use stuff more efficiently and for longer. Reusing materials is not possible until you have mapped their current status."

Plants and appliances
The AMM system can contain more information than just furniture. Items such as lighting, net curtains, plants and ICT equipment can also be tagged. "This is part of more data-driven facility management. To manage, you need insight always and everywhere."
He cites Rijkswaterstaat as an example. "For that, we included in the AMM system a total of about 65,000 pieces of furniture from 260 buildings. We have now inventoried everything: what it is, where it is, what its status is and what you can use it for. Such a baseline measurement makes it possible to make longer use of assets, using them differently or elsewhere as needed. This helps customers achieve their sustainability goals. It is also a practical way to send service requests to suppliers or place orders with suppliers, for example."

"To manage, you need insight anytime, anywhere"
Marketplace function
The marketplace function within AMM helps with that. "That at least internally gives customers insight into all available items at all locations. Sometimes an office closes somewhere and an office opens elsewhere. Instead of buying new furniture, existing furniture may be reusable. In time, we want to link multiple organizations together to create a central platform." Detailed information about all assets is useful for multiple purposes, Verheijen continued. "By data-driven facility management, I also mean cleaning and maintenance planning. And you can link the data to third-party systems, such as those of the moving company or the ICT supplier."

Finally, information on the properties and, for example, CO2 emissions of office furniture and other assets is increasingly being requested in procurement processes. "Tenders used to be the domain of buyers and FM, nowadays increasingly of sustainability managers. In order to make a good case to them, you need data."
