This image was created based on the ideas and experiences shared by hundreds of IAM members, representing a wide range of diverse organizations and industries. The question we asked was: How did you feel during the asset management journey? The image that resulted from this trip is designed to be used as a large poster to stimulate discussions in your organization about your position on this trip. You can obtain printed copies from the IAM Association website. Before the journey begins, most organizations find themselves making asset-related decisions in a reactive and isolated manner.
Cost, risk and performance must be taken into account, but each of these factors has its own team, specialization and language, without anyone being able to translate between them. Here is an example of a typical organization: the leadership team at the top makes strategic decisions far removed from the reality of the assets below. There is a clear structure that starts with planning and financing, goes down to projects and engineering, and ends with operations and maintenance at the bottom. Each bubble represents a separate tribe with its own leaders, language, customs, and rituals.
Decisions are made based on the limited information available locally, making them highly reactive.
Here is a common example: something happens to an asset that causes a major disruption; this failure could be physical, an environmental incident, or a technical malfunction. Amid the panic, those who are first on the scene feel proud of their ability to deal with the crisis, as the culture rewards heroic action. Immediately afterwards, the risk management team focuses on the incident and tries to prevent it from happening again elsewhere . Since the reasons are unknown, wide-ranging decisions are being made that the engineering team on the other side sees as excessive measures. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to translate the engineers’ expertise or intuition into a risk model that the risk management team understands.
The maintenance team, however, is upset because they have been warning about this for years. Now customers are starting to leave as the level of service deteriorates, leading to direct financial consequences . When liquidity runs out, the finance department postpones capital investments, which leads to further incidents, and so the cycle continues. Note that everyone makes good decisions based on the limited information they have. These people are qualified, they have certifications and standards, yet they contribute to a system that makes bad decisions overall because they are not made from a holistic perspective of the system.
If we add to that a large number of external contractors and suppliers, the idea of making comprehensive decisions for the entire system may seem impossible. So how do institutions move forward? The energy needed for change comes from two sources, from top to bottom and from bottom to top. Starting from the bottom up, there are often groups of pioneers in companies trying to break down barriers, as they know that collective decision-making is key, and they work to build cross-border networks to achieve this.
From the top down, the motivation may be personal, with leaders taking responsibility for change.
At other times, external pressures come from owners or regulators. This often leads to a campaign to obtain certifications, but unfortunately, it is not uncommon for companies to seek certifications such as PAS55 or ISO55000, put the certification on the wall, and then go back to their old ways of doing business.
We need more than that. ISO55000 certification is often considered the beginning of the journey, not the end. This standard provides a framework for re-aligning assets with the organization’s objectives when making business decisions. The biggest difference now is that people are sitting together at the table to make decisions collectively. But this also reveals how much is missing before these decisions start to be perfect.
The clouds here represent some of the challenges that stand in the way. Given the strategic objectives, they are often unclear, expressed in contradictory language and conflicting directions. When looking at assets, without historical data, we tend to rely on assumptions and guesswork. Many of the processes that provide us with information are not yet known or integrated. With such an incomplete system in place, the greatest risk is that people will become skeptical that the organization will actually change. This could take us back to the blame game, where the company could invest in a decision support tool that no one really understands.
Local maintenance staff are frustrated because their professional judgments are being ignored. At the same time, increased awareness of asset management concepts and techniques may lead to a feeling of empowerment. But if the culture does not change as well, this empowerment may lead to the creation of new barriers or silos. Although this stage may be imperfect, simply having a system that brings people together to make decisions will yield quick wins, which will provide an incentive for further investment in transformation activities.
Unfortunately, these activities cannot be done all at once. Therefore, there must be winners and losers, with interventions being prioritized based on the greatest benefit for all. But in a way, this is the future of things.
Until teams are prepared to accept that the right decision for the business as a whole may be the wrong decision for them locally, optimal asset management decisions will not be possible. So, looking ahead, what is the optimal decision for asset management? In general, we can say that the optimal decision is the one that increases the value of assets in the long term by aligning them with business objectives and goals. But what this decision looks like will vary greatly from business to business, and from industry to industry. However, there are a number of factors common to all outstanding asset management organizations. First, the leaders of these organizations not only guide others to cooperate, but they themselves demonstrate concrete examples of how to cooperate. Secondly, these organizations view asset management as a philosophy of continuous improvement, not as a one-time transformation program; it is an ongoing journey, not a final destination.
Third, in these organizations, everyone plays their part, regardless of their position or seniority. Management policies and asset management systems provide a framework for integrated decision-making, but these organizations are very flexible in how insights and information are transferred between different teams. An example of this is how an organization handles its data. Good decisions depend on good information, and when there is a shared understanding between teams about the decisions you need, they can reach a consensus on the information required and how to obtain it.
In an asset management culture, information is considered an asset in itself that is cared for for the benefit of the entire organization. This information is useful not only in the present, but also for future generations.
But perhaps the most obvious difference in an organization with an asset management culture is the feeling that you are part of it. Because the organization is constantly learning and improving, risks become more controlled and accidents become less frequent. This allows for broader thinking about greater innovation possibilities. Thinking about the long-term future, what can be learned from other industries, or even thinking about the reasons why this organization exists. This is the journey our members have described to us, so where are you? Which elements seem most familiar to you? Who do you need to talk to in order to move things forward in your work?
It’s all about having the right conversations.
This image was designed as a tool to start a discussion, so why not request a copy and find out where those conversations lead you? Because the organization is constantly learning and improving, risks become more controlled and accidents become less frequent. This opens up broader thinking about greater innovation possibilities, about the long-term future, about what can be learned from other industries, or even about the reasons why this organization exists.
This is the journey that our members described to us.
So, where are you? Which elements seem most familiar to you? Who do you need to talk to in order to move things forward in your business? It’s about having the right conversations. This image was designed as a tool to start a discussion, so why not request a copy and find out where those conversations take you?
Start by involving your team in conversations about asset management and overall decision-making. We are waiting to see where those conversations might lead you.
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