Facility management was not officially recognized as a discipline until the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) was organized in the early 1980s. It was truly a reactive profession then, replete with on-the-job training, trial and error, and success by happenstance. Someone from “downstairs” was, all of a sudden, responsible for fixing mimeo-graph machines, replacing typewriters, maintaining pencil sharpeners and moving desks. The only trip “upstairs” was to exercise the 1980 version of the three Rs: respond, repair or replace - See more at: http://www.ifma.org/publications/blog-fmj/article/blog-fmj/2012/09/26/the-evolution-of-facility-management#sthash.lUW1di4V.dpuf