ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the topic of facilities management from a sustainable operations management perspective. It considers all dimensions of sustainability in often neglected areas of facility and capacity management such as construction of buildings in addition to the traditional issues of size, location, and performance of manufacturing and non-manufacturing facilities. Usually the decision on operations capacity is taken based on market requirements and operations resources. The management of sustainable operations also requires that suppliers' facilities and key distribution facilities such as warehouses are assessed for their environmental and social impacts. Some locations may create difficulties for accessing materials and consequently increase their cost, involve complex logistics, and cause precarious disturbances to infrastructure in their surroundings. Improving the environmental sustainability of buildings has become of significant importance. The first barrier to improving the environmental sustainability of buildings is economic.
