Who Holds the “D” in Times of Replacing and Restoring Failed Cooling Systems in Nigerian Banks?

One of the core facilities that banks and other businesses cannot play with is an air conditioning system. This is premised on the fact that they usually have a large number of customers to attend to every second, minute and hour. The importance of this system is more appreciated during the dry season, the period every object and human being are expected to feel severe heat.

Our checks indicate that commercial banks have varied strategies for equipping their strategic locations in the bank halls and premises with different brands of air conditioners available in the market. Our analyst discovered that a number of the banks are using outsourcing model of acquiring and maintaining their ACs.

Using this model does not mean that the banks do not control the staff of the solution provider(s), our analyst points out. Our analysis indicates that split, package and portable air conditioners are being used mostly in selected Lagos commercial banks. In terms of brands, Pansaonic, LG, Haier Thermocool and Samsung are the most used.

Knowing the categories and the brands are not enough for us. Our analyst further examines the functionality and operationality of the AC through the views of Facilities Managers and Technicians. This was done with the intent of determining the reliability of components before downtime and hours taking concerned stakeholders in decision making regarding restoration of the ACs to their previous state.

Hours Spent on Replacing Failed Components

In our analysis, it emerged that Condenser Coil, Evaporator and Expansion Valve are more reliable than Fan, Capillary Tube, Electrical Cable, Contactor and Compressor, according to Facilities Managers and Technicians. Being reliable is not enough for us to understand who holds the keys to making smart decisions during the downtime of the components. The mean time between failure, an approach which establishes the average time that equipment operates between breakdowns, was employed.

This is the most common inquiry about a product’s life span, and is important in the decision-making process of the end user. Analysis reveals that the concerned stakeholders are spending an average of more than 29 hours and 25 hours for the replacement of expansion valve and capillary tube respectively. It was also discovered that a day is being spent before replacing evaporator while 22 hours are being used for the replacement of condenser coil. In our analysis, repairing panel is taking more time than repairing fan.

Exhibit 1: Mean Time [Hour] Failure of AC Components in Select Lagos Commercial  Banks

Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2021

Hours Spent on Restoring Failed Components into Functioning State

Replacing these components does not mean the system will get back to the previous stage. Our analyst examines the average hours being spent on restoring the failed components. Our results indicate that compressor, chemical refrigerants and capillary tube are taking many hours than other components [see Exhibit 2].

According to our analyst, this implies that some factors are preventing the concerned stakeholders from making quick and smart decisions. It could be that accessing the needed fund for buying the new components is being delayed from the banks or solution providers’ side.  The delay in restoring the failed components could also be traced to lack of the domain knowledge needed for restoring the components, especially when the discovered faults are typical of the components.

In all these situations, our analyst suggests that concerned stakeholders need to reengineer the processes and upskill the people being used for maintaining, repairing and restoring the components. Co-knowledge creation and sharing should also be prioritised because these components have a high tendency of developing faults that might not be easily addressed by the technicians assigned to them specifically.

Exhibit 2: Average Hours Spent on Restoring Failed Components

Source: Infoprations Analysis, 2021