Facilities @ Management

2.11 FM Transformation in High-Tech Industries and Global FM Update

John Carrillo

During the 1970s, the impact of high interest rates weakened the economy, slowed construction growth, while jobless numbers approached 10% in the US. The job market for graduating students with a degree in either Construction and or Architecture was not promising. I graduated from California Polytechnical University in California with a BS degree in Architecture in 1975. For approximately one year, I worked as a draftsman for an Electrical Engineering company and also for an Architectural firm. My new career path was not exactly paying the bills while trying to take care of a young family.

In 1976, I was hired on as an Industrial Engineer working for General Dynamics – Pomona Division, an aerospace company building tactical weapons for the US Government which operated at various sites located in the cities of Pomona and San Diego, California. I worked in the Plant Engineering department, and little did I know that this organization along with the rest of industry would transform over the next decade into the Facility Management profession. So, you could say that I was one of those frustrated (Want to be) Architects, who by accident, migrated into the FM industry.

During the 1960s and 1970s aviation companies implemented various “Quality Assurance Programs,” to ensure that business procedures were being executed without compromising standard quality requirements, regulations, and compliance guidelines. ...