Version: 15 October 2022  Table of ContentFollow for updates Jan Stoker 

Grasping the Core – Unveiling the Cornerstones of Asset & Maintenance Management

As industries and infrastructures evolve, the significance of structured and optimised Asset & Maintenance Management has never been more crucial. The field is not merely about preserving and fine-tuning machinery; it is an integrated discipline that connects engineering, management science and decision theory into a coherent whole. This chapter serves as an initiation into that domain. It unravels the fundamentals and weaves together the key theoretical concepts that underpin effective and efficient Asset & Maintenance Management – firmly grounded in recognised literature, but with its foundations explicitly aligned to the latest editions of the ISO 55000 series and the current CEN/TC 319 maintenance standards.

Central to our discourse is systems theory, which clarifies the interdependencies between components within complex socio-technical systems. Complementing this is systems engineering, promoting a rigorous approach to the specification, design, integration and management of complex assets over their life cycle. Systems thinking further refines this perspective, encouraging a holistic view of organisations and asset networks as dynamic systems, continuously interacting with and adapting to their environment. Within this book, these generic concepts are consistently interpreted in the light of the ISO 55000 Asset Management System (AMS) architecture and the way CEN/TC 319 structures maintenance terminology, processes, roles and competences.

Yet, in Asset & Maintenance Management, the journey does not end with systems. The pursuit of organisational excellence is deepened by Quality Function Deployment (QFD), which helps to ensure that the “voice of the customer” and stakeholder requirements resonate throughout asset decisions and maintenance strategies. Decision-making, often a complex mosaic of technical, financial and risk-related variables, is supported by multi-criteria decision-making tools, notably the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which provides a structured mechanism to untangle intricate choices. To add robustness, quantitative risk assessment and related methods operate as sentinels, evaluating potential threats and opportunities and guiding the design of proactive countermeasures. In this book, these techniques are explicitly connected to the value, risk and decision principles embedded in the ISO 55000 series and maintenance approaches within the CEN/TC 319 framework.

Throughout this chapter, you will:

  • Delve into the interconnected realm of systems theory, systems engineering and systems thinking, and see how they shape Asset & Maintenance Management when interpreted through the lens of the ISO 55000 Asset Management System.

  • Understand the role of Quality Function Deployment in aligning asset and maintenance strategies with stakeholder needs and service requirements.

  • Navigate the complexity of decision-making with tools such as AHP, enabling professionals to make transparent, balanced and auditable choices.

  • Harness the potential of quantitative risk assessment to build asset and maintenance strategies that are resilient and well prepared for uncertainty, consistent with contemporary asset management and maintenance standards.

As we embark on this journey of understanding, it is important to recognise that Asset & Maintenance Management is, at its core, about synergising a wide range of principles, methods and standards into one coherent framework. This chapter lays that groundwork. It builds a solid foundation rooted in established literature, yet normatively anchored in the most recent ISO 55000 and CEN/TC 319 standards, upon which more specialised knowledge and strategies will be constructed.

It is an initiation into a world where assets are not just machines or resources, but vital entities embedded in a wider system of value creation, risk management and societal expectations – entities that warrant meticulous care, informed understanding and professional management.

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