Management: CIMS Puts Illinois BSC to the Test

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CIMS certification was recommended to Jamie Van Vuren, President of Bee Line by a former client. Mark Kischner, CFM of RREEF (and formerly facilities manager for Illinois IKEA stores) was part of the development team of CIMS standards. Mark worked extensively with Bee Line during his time at IKEA and knew immediately that Bee Line would be a perfect candidate for CIMS certification.

Van Vuren notes that Mark invited her to a local International Facility Management Association (IFMA) meeting at which Dan Wagner of ISSA was speaking on CIMS. After that initial presentation Jamie was intrigued and convinced that Bee Line could take on the challenge of certification.

However it was sometime after the initial application was submitted that the Bee Line team actually went to work on CIMS.

“I knew we complied with all the criteria; it was just a matter of having written documentation to back up our systems”, Van Vuren states. Bee Line is always improving and changing systems to improve the quality they bring to clients.

Fortunately, Bee Line adopted a formal Healthy High Performance GREEN Cleaning Program two years prior to their certification which was a tremendous help in the certification process.

“Because we already had our Healthy High Performance Cleaning Program in place which includes: Training, Environmental Policy, Stewardship Principles, Procedures and more, we were ahead of the game”, Van Vuren notes.

Bee Line’s management commitment to CIMS was stellar. Jamie and her husband Andre built the company from 4 clients in 1996 to over 150 client sites and 250 employees today. There is no question that Bee Line has developed quality systems over the years to sustain its growth and attract new clients.

Bee Line’s HR, Finance, and Operations Executives and entire management team all put a tremendous amount of effort in the certification process.

The CIMS exercise was excellent in team development. Bee Line’s Field Management personnel were tested by ensuring twenty facilities were 100% ready for the audit. Bee Line Field Managers did not know which buildings would be chosen so they had to be certain all of them and the crews maintaining them were prepared. It proved to be a phenomenal lesson in supervision, awareness, safety, and operations. Every aspect of the organization was put to the test.

In gathering all the information for the three day audit, Bee Line developed what is now referred to as the “Bee Line Bible”. There is a massive binder that contains every policy, procedure, chart and manual that the company adheres to and it is all in one place for easy reference and updating.

Van Vuren believes CIMS certification will continue to benefit Bee Line as customers recognize the need to hire quality contractors that have proven to have excellent standards and practices.