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The Preview Edition is available — download it free

Explore the first three chapters of Maintenance: Smart and Sustainable Solutions All Along the Asset Life Cycle, including Chapter 2: Asset Management, contributed by Jan Stoker.

Download the free Preview Edition (PDF)

English-language publication · Chapters 1–3 in one PDF · Approximately 31 MB · No registration required. The complete open-access book, planned around five parts and 21 chapters, is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.

What we maintain today shapes the world of tomorrow.

Every day, we depend on infrastructure, energy systems and equipment that must keep functioning. Their future is shaped by the decisions we make today: what we maintain, what we renew, how we use available resources and how we prepare people to take responsibility for these assets throughout their life cycle.

These decisions involve uncertainty. Information is incomplete, assets deteriorate, resources are limited and the consequences extend into safety, cost, continuity and public trust. Understanding maintenance therefore requires a connection between technical knowledge, organisational objectives and the people who turn decisions into practice.

Maintenance: Smart and Sustainable Solutions All Along the Asset Life Cycle brings these perspectives together. Written by more than two dozen authors, the complete book is planned around 21 chapters in five interconnected parts. Its purpose is to support the transition towards smart and sustainable maintenance and asset management through research, practical insight and education.

The Preview Edition introduces the foundations of the book.

The Preview Edition was officially released on 7 October 2026 during the World Class Maintenance annual event in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. It is now available as a free PDF through the download links on this page.

The preview comprises approximately 70 pages and contains the three chapters that make up Part I: Introduction:

Time for a new way of doing maintenance — the challenges, ambitions and perspectives that shape the book.
Asset management — the wider organisational context in which maintenance contributes to value throughout the asset life cycle.
Maintenance — the terminology, concepts, strategies and policies that underpin maintenance practice.

Together, these chapters establish the scope, language and frameworks on which the subsequent chapters build. The preview also introduces the intended structure and coverage of the complete book.

Following the official release in the Netherlands, Jan Stoker shared the Preview Edition at PEMAC MainTrain in Montréal, Canada, on 7 October 2026, bringing this collective work to an international community of maintenance and asset management professionals.

Five parts connect the disciplines needed in practice.

Part I — Introduction | Chapters 1–3.
The opening part explains why a new approach to maintenance is needed and establishes the foundations of asset management and maintenance. It places maintenance decisions within their organisational and societal context.

Smart and Sustainable Solutions All Along the Asset Life Cycle

Download the free Preview Edition (PDF)

Download the free Preview Edition (PDF

Part II — Information Systems | Chapters 4–7.
This part explores IT architecture, data analytics, digital twins, and the increasing automation of inspection, monitoring and maintenance. It connects information about asset condition and performance with the decisions and activities that depend on it.

Part III — Engineering | Chapters 8–13.
Reliability, probability, fault tree analysis, failure mode and effects analysis, diagnostics, prognostics and maintenance decision-making provide the engineering basis. Design for maintenance brings attention to decisions made early in the asset life cycle and their long-term consequences.

Part IV — Economics and Management | Chapters 14–18.
Scheduling, spare parts management, workflow management, performance-based contracts and life cycle costing address how maintenance is organised, supported and economically evaluated.

Part V — Human and organizational behavior | Chapters 19–21.
The final part examines human behaviour, organisational dynamics, and learning and knowledge management. These topics help explain how new approaches are adopted, how organisations change and how essential knowledge is retained and developed.

Across these parts, the book connects disciplines that meet in everyday maintenance decisions. The chapter structure presented here follows the Preview Edition and may be refined before final publication.

A shared practical context connects the chapters.

The book uses the Dutch rail sector as a running case, with short situations introducing the issues explored in individual chapters. The underlying challenges extend across sectors: long-lived assets, fragmented responsibilities, limited maintenance windows, growing volumes of data and an ageing workforce.

Readers in energy, water, industry, transport and other asset-intensive sectors can recognise these challenges in their own environments. The shared case helps connect the different perspectives throughout the book.

Explore the book’s five parts and 21 chapters

The blue box below shows the book’s five parts and 21 planned chapters. The Preview Edition is available now: use the download link under Part I to access Chapters 1–3 together in one free PDF, including Jan Stoker’s Chapter 2: Asset Management.

The remaining chapters are planned for the complete open-access edition, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. A link to the complete book will be added to this box when it is published. Bookmark this page and return to the blue box to find the available editions and explore the chapters.

Book contents & downloads

Part I Introduction: Preview Edition available now

1. Time for a new way of doing maintenance

2. Asset Management

3. Maintenance

Download Preview Edition — Click Here

Part II Information Systems: Expected Q4 2026.

4. IT architecture

5. Data analytics

6. Digital twins

7. Inspection, monitoring and maintenance: towards automation

Part III Engineering: Expected Q4 2026.

8. Reliability, probability, and estimation

9. Fault tree analysis

10. Failure mode and effects analysis

11. Diagnostics and prognostics

12. Maintenance decision-making

13. Design for maintenance

Part IV Economics and Management: Expected Q4 2026.

14. Scheduling

15. Spare parts management

16. Workflow management

17. Performance-based contracts

18. Life cycle costing

Part V Human and organizational behavior: Expected Q4 2026.

19. Human behavior

20. Organizational dynamics

21. Learning and knowledge management

Chapter 2: Asset Management — Jan Stoker’s contribution.

Jan Stoker, representing SSAMM, has contributed Chapter 2: Asset Management. Together with Chapter 3, it provides the conceptual foundations to which later chapters refer.

The chapter opens with a familiar challenge: three renewal proposals and enough funding for only one. How do we make a decision that serves today’s needs while protecting tomorrow’s value?

From this starting point, Jan explores the connection between organisational objectives, asset management and everyday maintenance. The chapter moves from a shared reference framework and the translation of purpose into plans to the asset management system in practice, maintenance as a life cycle delivery capability, and the implementation and improvement of that system.

Drawing on the ISO 55000 series, CEN/TC 319 maintenance standards, IEC 60300-3 guidance, and the GFMAM and IAM knowledge frameworks, the chapter explains how this line of sight supports decisions about performance, cost and risk. People, sustainability, resilience and digitalisation form part of its future perspective. Key takeaways, assignments and model answers support reflection and application in education and professional practice.

A resource for students, educators and professionals.

The book is designed to support different learning needs. It can provide a broad foundation for bachelor-level education, support focused study of individual subjects and serve as a reference for practitioners.

Readers can use it to develop their understanding across disciplines or deepen their knowledge of a particular topic. Educators can draw on its content when developing learning materials and connecting theory with practical situations.

Follow the publication and explore the book.

The complete book — expected in the fourth quarter of 2026

The complete open-access edition of Maintenance: Smart and Sustainable Solutions All Along the Asset Life Cycle is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. It is planned around five interconnected parts and 21 chapters. The electronic edition will be freely available, with a paid print-on-demand option planned for readers who prefer a physical copy. A link to the complete publication will be added to the Book contents & downloads box when it becomes available. The Preview Edition, containing Chapters 1–3, can already be downloaded free of charge. Explore the editors and authors below to discover the team behind this collective work.

Lasting value requires asset management. Progress demands maintenance.

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Coming soon: an Extended Edition of Jan Stoker’s contribution

How can the connection between organisational objectives, asset management and maintenance be explored in greater depth?

Building on Chapter 2, Jan Stoker is preparing an Extended Edition that develops the chapter’s themes and underlying frameworks more fully. The aim is to deepen readers’ understanding of how these connections support decisions and value creation throughout the asset life cycle. This forthcoming publication offers further scope to explore the relationship between strategy and practice, the role of maintenance within asset management, and the reasoning behind decisions about performance, cost and risk.

The Extended Edition is currently in preparation and is expected to be published soon. In the meantime, readers can already explore Chapter 2 in the freely available Preview Edition of the collective book.

Receive updates about the Extended Edition

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