Plumber shortage? Contactless products and mobile apps can help fill labor gaps

The pandemic has left building owners struggling to hire the professionals needed to keep their buildings running, and that includes plumbers.

Sloan AER-DEC Integrated Sink System

A shortage of plumbers has caused a ripple effect in the economy, with an August study projecting a lack of qualified plumbers will cost US$33 billion in 2022 and will likely remain a serious challenge for years to come.

Plumbing Manufacturers International, a leading plumbing industry group, called the the impact of the shortage “staggering”, adding that the private and public sectors stand to lose billions of dollars due to this labor shortage.

Sloana leading manufacturer in the plumbing industry for 116 years, is finding solutions to this shortage through touchless products like its flush valves and other technology and water-saving items that can help homeowners commercial buildings to operate their facilities without the hassle of maintenance.

bisnow speak with Faye Badgerby Sloan internet of things product line manager, on the challenges facing CRE owners and how Sloan’s IoT solutions are helping facility maintenance professionals overcome labor shortages.

Bisnow: Tell us what is the impact of the shortage of plumbers on the CRE.

Badger: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that plumbers are retiring faster than new entrants to the field and they expect the plumbing industry to grow by 5% between 2020 and 2030.

The current shortage of plumbers forces building owners to find solutions that make maintenance easier, faster and more economical. At the same time, the pandemic has highlighted the need for clean and healthy buildings.

There is also a growing need for more sustainable sanitation methods, with droughts in the West raising concerns about how to conserve and harvest water. These factors combine to create a strong demand for innovative, hands-free plumbing solutions in CRE.

Bisnow: How the pandemic or concerns about climate change affected this problem?

Badger: Prior to climate change concerns, water was considered plentiful and inexpensive. Today, however, prolonged droughts and increased fires are creating a sense of urgency around water conservation.

Monitoring water usage per room when using water-efficient products can help buildings save money LEED points as well as reduce expenses.

There is a direct correlation between sensor toilet products and the amount of water a facility is able to save. The increased emphasis on hand washing for at least 20 seconds results in more running water throughout the process with manual faucets. But sensor faucets only activate when hands are within range of the sensor to reduce water consumption, while providing a hygiene-friendly experience.

Bisnow: How can Sloan help?

Badger: Sloan’s sensor-based technology helps people use common sanitary products, such as faucets, flush valves and hand dryers, without contact. Sloan offers a portfolio of smart, connected solutions to help achieve a higher level of hand hygiene for users while providing building owners with maintenance efficiency.

Technology will never replace plumbers and maintenance staff, but our smart system allows the building maintenance team to run diagnostics remotely from a tablet or PC, so they can identify issues and even change settings without someone needing to physically go to the toilet and crawl under leverage.

Bisnow: What is Sloan’s approach to IoT and how do its connected products help building managers and tenants?

Badger: Sloan’s IoT platform provides facility managers with a secure wireless connection where they can program the device and collect information from it without ever touching the product. It can be programmed to collect data to see how many times it has been activated, when it was last activated and its current battery strength.

The IoT offers additional benefits, including unlocking predictive maintenance for facility managers. Instead of just relying on the fact that you would typically change your batteries every year, managers can now examine specific faucets to see exactly how strong their battery is before it runs out. You can also start looking through devices to determine which devices are most frequently used.

With the IoT, it’s not just about connecting devices, it’s about analyzing data and providing insights to building managers and everyone involved. While data is important, the main benefits come from the analysis and insights provided by the data.

Bisnow: Is there a particular CRE segment that has a particular need for these IoT solutions?

Badger: The stadiums have intermittent traffic, which means they are heavily used during sports matches, but also have vacant periods. Additionally, some stadiums can be rented out for private events or concerts between seasons. With all this traffic, they need reliable facilities.

Certain areas of a stadium can become very hot or cold and require flushing during the months when the facilities are inactive. Building managers want to minimize the risk of standing water while maintaining efficient water use.

Empower Field at Mile High, home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, has implemented Sloan SOLIS Bluetooth flushers throughout the stadium to allow facility maintenance personnel to wirelessly monitor the status and status of flushes and detect potential problems before they occur. Through the switch to Sloan products, a Sloan water savings study with the stadium’s facilities maintenance team concluded that Empower Field should save 277,000 gallons of water during every Broncos game. With 10 games per year, that’s just under 3 million gallons saved per season.

Bisnow: Can you tell us a bit more about Sloan’s IoT offerings?

Badger: Whether it’s a small restaurant or a large commercial building, smart lighting fixtures should be designed to be convenient for the end user. Our portfolio includes Sloan Connect, which includes a mobile app, as well as SC Argus Pro, a cloud-based solution.

IoT saves time in a multi-tenant building because you don’t have to manually review each bathroom one by one. Having an intelligent system in place can automatically detect problems and alert the maintenance manager. Sloan’s IoT SC Argus Pro is a complete remote monitoring and management system that automatically collects data and generates customizable reports.

With the new data at their fingertips in a centralized location, facility managers will be immediately alerted to toilet malfunctions. For example, when managing a large bathroom with four high-traffic toilets, you might notice if one of them has not been used in the last hour and a half during a busy period. This could tell you that there is a problem – either it needs to be cleaned or it is not working properly. This type of preventative maintenance can help get things done before a performance issue occurs.

System data can identify toilets with hygiene issues by correlating the number of flushes and the duration of faucet activation. The result of this analysis can help identify areas that may need more health and hygiene signage to encourage frequent hand washing consistent with CDC protocols.

AER-DEC, SC Argus Pro and SOLIS are registered trademarks of Sloan.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Sloan. Bisnow press staff were not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house creative and content studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, contact studio@bisnow.com.