Cover Your A$$ets. John L. Ross
I have broken down the concept of asset management into the working elements that I believe are relevant. I am a constant learner, so I will interject points of view from other authors, making this a bit of scholarly work. I’m going to ask you what you think, and how things are back at your place. This will be a workbook of sorts because I want to give you space to jot down your thoughts. Throughout this text, we will be working side by side to put together the strategy for how asset management could and should be implemented at your location.
Mechanically, you will be asked to fill in the blank spaces. I’ll highlight those spaces in light gray so you will have some indication as to where to record your thoughts.
I ask that you let others participate and record their ideas as well. I think everyone in your organization could benefit from this level of discussion and engagement. There is a lot to share and discuss.
This is a very shareable book in the sense that we are going to touch on the major elements of asset management. It is interesting, and absolutely essential, to first determine what an asset is. This should surprise most of the people reading this book. If you truly gave it some serious thought, you would conclude that although we might label something as an asset, we certainly don’t treat it like one.
Since this is a book on asset management, and we are focusing on industrial assets (manufacturing, service, and facilities), we will eventually be narrowing our discussions down to capital assets, essentially the equipment we utilize to provide the product or service. I call capital assets the ‘stuff that makes the stuff.’ That is an easy way to differentiate capital assets from human assets (the people who make the stuff) and financial assets (the money to make the stuff), and so on.
The aforementioned ISO 55000 standards will be reviewed in the text of this book. Much of the three books (55000, 55001, and 55002) are open for interpretation, similar to my story about my introduction to ISO 9000. Remember, “Say what you do and do what you say.”
Once we’ve begun to put some framework around our interpretation and intent towards capital assets, we will create roles and responsibilities around the assets and begin to nip at an actual asset management approach.
Many of you reading this book will be interested to know that there is a section on Bill of Materials and Spare Parts. This is a greatly untapped topic and one that I personally believe we need to get smarter on and quickly.
Production has a key role to play in asset management, so we will be spending a great deal of time exploring exactly what is needed there.
As you can see from just this short teaser, there is much to discuss on the topic of asset management, and the intention of this book, and specifically the format of this book, is to drive a larger strategy on how we are going to work together in our facilities to make all this happen. I believe the layout of the book and key learning ideas will contribute to your success.
I need to make a very significant remark considering the remainder of this book and the manipulation of physical assets. For this book, I will be referring to the assets of a company that help to generate revenue. For manufacturing plants this is very straightforward; I’m talking about the production equipment. For facilities and services, I’m talking about the assets that allow a facility to be of use (roof, walls, doors, boilers, chillers, etc.) and possibly any vehicles or transportation equipment. We will discuss the term organizational objectives later in this text. One of your organizational objectives might be to be compliant with EPA laws and be good stewards of the environment. In that effort, there are many physical assets that would be used to fulfill that objective. I really just want this book to focus on the assets that allow for revenue generation. I believe that each organization has, as a core objective, to be profitable. That will be a focus of this book. The asset management processes in this book also adapt to the non-revenue generating assets as well (sprinkler systems, backflow preventer, etc.), so please use them. I really wanted to call out this significant element because I wanted you, the reader, to know that business isn’t just about making money and I certainly don’t mean to imply that it is.
Every chapter in this book will end with a review of the chapter’s main points. These synopses will form segments of your overarching approach to asset management located at the end of this book. Depending on the particular dynamics and circumstances, some of these chapter abstracts will fit, in the end, to outline a strategy for a commitment to asset management at your location.
In the end, you will be able to review, edit, compile, and pull together the thoughts and ideas to form a very obtainable vision for the future, and make a conclusive argument, on any merit, for a purposeful drive forward. Promise me that you will have fun reading and working through this book, because I intend on having fun while I write it.
“...Language differences frequently—if not usually—erect a barrier to understanding.” —Ed McMinn, Oklahoma State Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans (p. 17)
Imagine that you have woken from a coma in a familiar land, but communicating with those around you seems to be difficult. Difficult because, although the words are all familiar, the context, structure, and inflection of the inhabitant’s speech doesn’t conform to your known norms or your familiarity with the spoken language. You can clearly hear every single word, and you know what each word means, but as a structured sentence, your compatriots are not making any sense. How frustrating would that be?
When I was in the military I made an accidental discovery that I went on to prove many times. I had noticed that the higher grade a senior officer (major through general), the more ambiguous and unclear his or her communication seemed to be. I left many colonel and general’s offices asking, “What did they just say?” It was difficult sometimes to differentiate between a thought, a direct order, and just an idea. Fortunately, the good senior NCOs (non-commissioned officers) I worked with could help me decipher the intent.
I contend this is the level to which our business vernacular and communication has declined. We are in an organization with other professionals, presumably on the same mission, shooting for the same goals, but for some reason we can’t understand our cohorts and they don’t seem to understand us. We are not speaking the same language. “When it comes to the language of equipment performance and availability, there doesn’t seem to be a common language at all.” (Ross, p. xx) And further, “A common language is foundationally needed for a working relationship. In order for maintenance, engineering, production, purchasing, corporate leadership, and others to work and thrive together, understanding the most primary terms is required.” (Ross, p. xx)
In the introductory chapter, I mentioned that you would be actively participating as you read through this book. I went on to explain that I was writing a book that had the feel of you and me sitting across the dining room table, drinking coffee and just talking about stuff. Here is your first task, and one that I hope successfully demonstrates this need for us to get alignment on our words, and more specifically, the meaning of those words. Please fill in your definition or description of what the following words or phrases mean.
| Maintainability: |
| Reliability: |
| Asset: |
| Asset Management: |
| Asset Management Plan: |
| Strategic Asset Management Plan: |
| Maintenance Activities: |
Of course there are canned and widely accepted definitions for these words and phrases, but