The (only?) two rules of managing an asset
Edward Morley
Helping transport organisations to transform their capability to release value, improving performance. Bringing ingenuity and creativity as we solve their most complex and strategic asset management decisions together.
Arrest the initial movement. If there’s water where it shouldn’t be, get rid of it.
Firstly there is (only) a little facetiousness in both the title and the sub-title of this piece. Maintenance of an asset is not about extending the life of the asset. That would be refurbishment or partial renewal. I would argue that the activity of maintenance is to enable the asset to achieve the specified design life.
Given that design life is often a risk-averse consideration for the benefit of safe focussed indicators, it would / is a disappointment when the expected life isn’t met.
Without looking at the asset classes of an infrastructure operator, for fear of demonstrating my lack of ‘real’ engineering, I can certainly attest to the two rules as the owner of an old 1960’s campervan. Bits wobble that shouldn’t… and the previous owners may not have heard the second rule, as the slowly bumbling rust suggest.
But what really are the rules of managing an asset…
- When are the rules there to be broken – i.e. when is greasing more important that arresting movement?
- When might the rules change – is the railway approaching any major London terminus more or less important to maintain than on a rural branch line?
- What drives the changing or addition of rules – are we glad that there are extra controls and camera coverage on the Dartford tunnel, and an signs to aid our safety?
- What changes the rules of maintenance / asset management – is it good that we salt the roads, or have road lights?
The start of the blog looked so much simpler than the end of it – arrest the initial movement, and if there’s water where it shouldn’t be, get rid of it..
What else adds to the complexity… and what within the complexity should we be seeking to remove for the simplicity…
?Have you head the one about driving on track?
Transportation mathematics – it’s getting more complex
HOP, SKIP and JUMP to a customer focussed operation
I’ve often wondered what Beeching would do now
#500 words - “I’ve decided to start a series of conversations… In under 500 words I want to introduce an idea, or a thought related to asset management, transport and occasionally something else. I’m wanting to start a conversation… I don’t see a right or wrong answer within what I write… so if these ideas interest you, leave a comment and share your thoughts – I would love to hear them.”
Transport advisor at PA Consulting
4 年Thanks for the thought provoking comments Edward. I liken it to my 200 year old house - there are some areas with damp where I need to treat the symptom rather than the cause. A difficult pill to swallow for an engineer!
SPV Manager - Infrastructure Managers Limited
4 年Hi Ed, a few weeks ago I found myself in a conversation around why part of my road was failing.?I confidently stated the problem must be water because, as you state, things were moving that shouldn’t, but then realised that I’d stated the obvious and felt less please with myself. I’ll come back to that in a minute but I wanted to suggest an alternative way at looking at maintaining an asset.?I don’t disagree with your thought that the activity of maintenance is to enable the asset to achieve the specified design life BUT, in my view it’s also about managing the rate of deterioration and how that happens.?Being able to predict the rate of deterioration of an asset allows proper planned maintenance and budgets to be set and I would argue it will also give you a better understanding when it will need refurbishment or partial renewal.?It might also last longer? Coming back to my water problem, as with many things it’s not the “what” that’s interesting but the “why” it’s happening, usually more important and far more interesting.?So finding out why water was where it shouldn’t be is what will solve the problem and until we do, working out the intervention will go on hold.
Group Transformation - Investment Reporting Lead at Lloyds Banking Group
4 年Lesson 1 - buy a modern campervan Lesson 2 - if it has to be old - don't buy British ... How about those as my alternate rules?
Consultant - Transport | Delivery - PA Consulting
4 年Tom Bainbridge interesting ideas here! I wonder how your day to day in a business like network rail will change as things start to become less ‘physical’ and more ‘digital’
Consultant - Transport | Delivery - PA Consulting
4 年Slightly random thought but I wonder how this will affect education in the asset management space - the industry has always been linked to the ‘classic’ courses around engineering, construction etc. And as such goverent support has always mirrored that - think apprenticeship incentives etc. But as asset management becomes more digital it’ll be intersting to see where the talent comes from in the industry and how government funding might shift to accommodate it ??