Is Asset Management just fancy words for Maintenance?
It’s easy to swap the term Asset Management (AM) for Maintenance. Many do!
There is no doubt they are interrelated, given Maintenance activities are performed on Assets. However, there are also differences between the two. For example, our experience is that up to two-thirds of all production losses in assets are not equipment related. Hence there must be more to Asset Management than just maintenance.
Let’s dive into the key differences between the two.
(1) Asset Management is about extracting maximum value out of Assets
The objective of Asset Management is to maximise value over the life of the physical asset. Value incorporates safety, environmental performance, availability, throughput, efficiency, quality, and the overall return on investment (ROI) for the asset. The objective of maintenance is a sub-set of these. Maintenance focuses on the performance of maintenance activities and the optimisation of maintenance resources, including labour, parts, and spend.
(2) Maintenance is about optimising resources
Maintenance work needs to be identified, planned, scheduled, executed, recorded, and analysed for improvement. These activities all need human resources. Maintenance also requires spares and consumables such as gaskets and lubricants. You don’t want to run out of any of these. You also don’t want to carry excess inventory as it adds to working capital. These resources are separate from the physical asset and need to be optimised by the maintenance and supply teams. Extracting the most value from these resources can be complex. Hence many organisations utilise the functionality of a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to plan and record these resources and capture maintenance history.
(3) Asset Management includes Capability
Whereas the primary focus on maintenance is availability, AM also incorporates throughput or capability. Maintenance, or lack of, can impact throughput. There are also many other factors such as equipment scaling, haul road conditions and product quality that can slow down production rates. Hence why capability falls into Asset Management rather than Maintenance.
(4) Asset Management includes Quality (defect elimination)
Asset Management includes meeting the customer expectation with the quality of the product produced from the asset. Whilst maintenance practices can impact product quality. There are also many other factors, including variations in raw materials and operating parameters. Asset Management incorporates all the control systems and operating procedures to detect and manage these variations.
(5) Maintenance alone doesn’t guarantee Asset Reliability
Often maintenance practices are seen as the sole contributor to Asset Reliability. Once again, they are a contributor but not the only culprit. Equipment design and installation practices can have a greater impact on reliability than maintenance practices. These, once again, fall under the realm of Asset Management which includes equipment specifications and reliability engineering. It also includes change managing the engineering modifications to improve the asset life.
Final Thoughts
There you have it. Asset Management is much more than Maintenance, and Maintenance is a critical component of Asset Management. Asset Management requires a holistic, life cycle system-based approach to do it well. It requires buy-in from all functions and a strategic approach to managing the asset from the cradle to the grave.
Are there other reasons Asset Management is more than just fancy words for Maintenance?
Reach out to us at EnterpriseIS if you need help in Asset Management (including maintenance). We differ from our competitors by providing improvement solutions across all aspects of Asset Management, Operational Excellence, Reliability Engineering and Operational Readiness. As a result, we can help you maximise the value out of your assets. After exploring what success looks like for you, we’ll tailor a solution to deliver on your goals.