Asset Management - Plant Maintenance Resource Center

[assets]. The specifications developed during this stage relate to the physical characteristics
and capabilities of the required assets.
Operation and Maintenance Phase: Business goals also define the requirements of how the
assets will be operated. A known range of raw material will be processed into products and
offered into the market place. Thus the business goals define the operating environment for the
assets and the performance goals needed. The ability to deliver products to an eager market at
lowest possible unit cost of production is the ultimate goal. Operational performance is defined
as a combination of production rate, quality and yield targets. Asset dependability is defined in
terms of reliability and availability targets.
Disposal Phase: The end of the asset life cycle is reached when the asset is no longer capable
of delivering the required operational performance, or cannot be cost effectively maintained to
achieve the required levels of dependability. The options are either modification or disposal and
replacement of the asset.
Optimising the Operation and Maintenance Phase
Optimal performance during this phase of the asset life cycle is only achieved by organisations
that embrace a holistic approach. This encourages a close working link between the production
and maintenance areas. They are jointly responsible for achieving business plan requirements.
There are many definitions of maintenance, however it must be defined and managed as a
“process”, in order to achieve optimum pay back from expenditure. Hence the need to identify a
maintenance management system as an integral part of the asset life cycle management model
shown in Figure 1.
During the operation and maintenance phases of the asset life cycle there are three critical
factors needed to realise optimal performance.
1. Plant [assets] must be managed to achieve the required dependability goals in the most
cost effective way. To do this, a strategy is developed for maintaining assets with a focus
on the asset’s function. The asset function defines what is needed to achieve operating
performance targets. Thus, effective maintenance is about preservation of asset function
to deliver the required operating performance, rather than just preservation of the asset
itself. The development of a strategy in this way provides the method for defining and
managing an accurate and realistic maintenance budget. This is basically a technical
matter that has been done effectively by application of processes such as PM
Optimisation (Visit www.pmoptimisation.com.au for additional information.)
2. Processes need to be established in order to efficiently manage maintenance activity,
evaluate performance against targets, and initiate any required improvement actions.
The processes should reflect the “plan, do, check and act” cycle of continuous
improvement. The improvement actions that will be taken are determined by the
prevailing business needs at that stage of the asset’s life. This is also a technical matter
but is not usually addressed within an organisation unless an asset life cycle
management model similar to that depicted in Figure 1 is adopted. Without such a
model, it is difficult to gain acceptance and management commitment to the concept of
maintenance as a process that plays an important role in achieving business profitability.
My experience shows that this is most easily done if the business employs a systems
approach to organising itself, and quality management principals have been deployed
within the organisation.
3. People need to be effectively engaged to realise the potential of the plant by using
established management processes. People need to understand their role, responsibility
and goals in terms of the maintenance management processes. This helps people
understand how to achieve their performance goals and will ultimately lead to the
achievement of business goals. People are the means of achieving performance and
dependability targets that assure the achievement of business goals. This is not a
technical matter, and so, is often not perceived as an integral part of asset and
maintenance management. Maintenance management personnel are usually managed
according to a prescribed HR doctrine within the organisation. It would be far more