Asset management, which employs a strategic approach in long-term maintenance and operational planning, can help align physical assets to an organization’s overall business objectives. Strategic asset management allows decision makers to reconcile budgetary goals with the requirements of service levels for sustainable infrastructure and facilities, rather than relying only on budgets.
The main ingredient in this approach is a strong team with a shared vision. This means that the people who operate and maintain your assets are an essential element of the process since they know your equipment inside and out. They can provide valuable insights on how to improve your processes and procedures and have a significant impact on the asset management process. This can help to make sure that you have buy-in from the beginning, and that everyone is on the same page when developing your strategy.
A solid strategic asset management program starts with identifying and cataloging all your assets, together with their locations and their conditions. This helps you determine the most important assets to you and make a list of the maintenance priorities. Then, you can use this information to plan a number of additional initiatives like streamlining work orders, maximizing the uptime of your equipment and improving your reporting.
Another vital aspect is evaluating the impact of asset management decisions on your community. This includes weighing immediate costs and benefits against the long-term savings and benefits, and analysing their impact on the environment.