Asset Management
Asset management was a hot topic at the Euromaintenance 2023 congress with several speakers focusing on the area. One of the speakers brought up the need to create asset management ecosystems. As an example, he mentioned the new decentralized forms of production on the energy side, where project developers can only play the role of financier or investor in projects.
Theoretically, asset management could be seen as a systematic approach concerning the governance of all value for which a group or entity is responsible. Responsibility is divided into two areas, tangible assets (equipment, manufacturing plants, infrastructure, buildings) and intangible assets (intellectual property, financial assets). From a maintenance perspective, tangible assets are our main concern, I guess?
The need to develop asset management and make definitions that support the topic started in Europe from England. PAS55 was written some 20 years ago, and the ISO 55000 standard was published in 2014. ISO 55000 provides an overview of asset management, its principles and terminology, and the expected benefits from adopting asset management. The EN 16646 standard introduces physical asset management as a framework for maintenance activities.
Ageing assets are one of the main factors driving the asset management deployment in various organizations. Controlling maintenance debt and avoiding faults that might cause problems force organizations to develop their long-term asset management. Unfortunately, there have been several incidents in Europe caused by the poor management of physical assets.
What is the role of the maintenance organization in asset management? Is it the asset owner or the production organization who runs asset management? These and other questions will be decided based on companies’ strategies and internal competences.
At the same time, technological developments are advancing at incredible speed. In this issue, for example, Professors Diego Galar, Ramin Karim and Uday Kumar reflect on what changes Industry 5.0 will bring. Hanna Heinonen of Kone, a company with operations in more than 60 countries, explores how virtual reality can be used effectively in maintenance. We also look at how maintenance solutions for the ITER fusion reactor are being developed.
Jaakko Tennilä
Executive Director, Finnish maintenance society, Promaint
Editor-in-Chief, Maintworld magazine
