The global facilities manager for IKEA, Helena Ohlsson is leaving the organisation to set up a strategic resource alignment consultancy.
Helena Ohlsson, the global facilities manager for IKEA, the home furniture retailer, is leaving the organisation to set up a strategic resource alignment consultancy with an international presence.
“I am starting up a consultancy that will create the required network of senior experts for each new mission, globally and locally. My clients are organisations with strategically important service and property portfolios who want to increase the value of their assets by changing their approach to their facilities management organisation and delivery,” Ohlsson states.
ohlssonglobal aims to help organisations get more value from their support functions and assets through the ohlsson strategic resource alignment methodology. It is the consultancy’s belief that substantial savings and increased quality of services can be achieved by improving an organisations ability to deliver the right support to its core business.
For almost four years, Ohlsson successfully built up and led the facilities management function in IKEA in 27 countries, across more than 300 sites, totalling around 11 million square metres. Her achievements include developing a strong and efficient global facilities management team, and the creation and implementation of a facilities management strategy for IKEA, including facilities management service scope, facilities management process mapping, facilities management competence framework, global facilities management benchmarks and aligned accounting structure and reporting for facilities management-related costs. She has also led the development, purchase, delivery and implementation of one of the world’s largest computer-aided facilities management tools, CAFM for IKEA.
“I am proud of my achievements at IKEA, creating a global facilities management team and strategy, which has helped to significantly reduce facilities management spend as well as providing a more efficient service to the core business,” Ohlsson comments. “IKEA’s own entrepreneurial spirit, and my network of international facilities management experts, combined with a desire to share my global facilities management experience, has encouraged me to set up my own consultancy. I will have the opportunity to collaborate with partners who share my ambition to excel in making the most of available resources, and supporting clients in identifying and implementing relevant best practice and business innovation.”
Ohlsson has more than 14 years of experience in global facilities management, international project management, real estate development, architecture and workplace management. She is a former board member of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and of EuroFM, and has been president of IFMA Sweden. She is also an accomplished speaker, having presented at IFMA’s World Workplace Conference 2011 and 2003, the European Facility Management summit 2011, the Swedish FM conference FM day 2008 and 2009, and the European FM conference EFMC 2008 and 2012.
