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How Risky is Your Asset Management Strategy?

How Risky is Your Asset Management Strategy?

According to early results released from Service Works’ FM software survey, run in partnership with the UK’s Facilities Management Journal, FMJ, asset management has slipped from the focus of facilities managers. Our 2016 survey showed 72% of people used their FM software for asset management, behind reactive and planned maintenance, while this year the number has slipped to 67%.

Strategic asset management is essential for the efficient and sustainable operation of an organisation and, at an aggregate level, for the economy. A lack of proactive management, or relying on reactive maintenance, is not only costly but also can damage an organisation’s core business and affect its customer base.

To support this, the ISO 55000 series of standards provides guidance to help achieve an integrated approach to asset management.

Reducing risk through preparation

ISO 55001, the standard outlining the requirement specifications for integrated asset management, has a cornerstone of free information flow, cascading an asset management focus throughout the organisation and helping to remove silos of self-contained knowledge. This not only helps free the FM function from the confines of the boiler room by placing the function at the centre of strategic decision-making, but also improve asset performance by channelling resources from the top.

The benefits of adhering to much a standard are plentiful, including reduced risk in terms of unexpected costs and accidents; improved quality assurance for customers; new business acquisition as stakeholders can be sure of a valid performance strategy in place.

How CMMS enables continuous improvement

A computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) software system is essential for fulfilling both communication and planning requirements of the standard. Continuous improvement must be demonstrable under the ISO standard, so comprehensive asset lifecycle management software is a must. CMMS can record each asset’s performance in order to lower maintenance costs, reduce downtime, improve performance and extend asset life. QFM’s Asset Lifecycle module builds a highly detailed account of each asset by capturing both one-off costs associated with it (such as acquisition, installation, disposal and replacement) and expenditure for routine maintenance activities (for example, the estimated cost of labour, parts and travel). By analysing every PPM task over a set period, the software automatically calculates predicted maintenance costs over its lifetime. This allows an FM to quickly evaluate multiple maintenance plans and secure the best performance for the asset.

Reports can be produced, automatically scheduled and distributed electronically to key stakeholders, with information such as the below, enabling identification of under-performing assets and helping to balance PPM costs against reactive maintenance. This type of detail is common practice for the type of functional asset management plan required by ISO 15001, allowing proactive and timely management of failure.

  • Expenditure (actual and estimated) by month or year
  • Estimated spend against budget
  • Expenditure (actual and estimated) by work type
  • Total cost of ownership (actual vs budget).

Mastering your assets

A good asset management strategy can deliver significant performance / service improvements to an organisation and make an FM’s life easier at an operational level. While pursuing an ISO 15000 accreditation isn’t a necessity and is not a strategic consideration for every business, the framework within the standard constitutes best practice.  Any aspects of this taken and combined with a comprehensive CMMS software system will improve asset management and reduce the associated risk significantly.

For more information about implementing an asset management strategy, request a copy of our complimentary white paper, A Guide to Effective Asset Management for Buildings and Equipment.

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