The post Predictive Accuracy: How Condition Monitoring Transforms Maintenance Strategies in Industry 4.0 first appeared on Pragma Américas.

The post Predictive Accuracy: How Condition Monitoring Transforms Maintenance Strategies in Industry 4.0 first appeared on Pragma Américas.

Some may see this as a semantic issue, but in the opinion of Tim Beavon, expert at Pragma Academy, it is most likely the root cause of the problem: “We set our planners and schedulers up for failure and then act surprised when they fail because we did not properly establish the maintenance work management process from the start.”

Maintenance planning and scheduling involve multiple stakeholders who often overlook how their actions impact planners and schedulers. Recognizing the broader work management issue, rather than just a planning and scheduling problem, is key.

“Maintenance work management is about doing the right work, at the right time, with the right resources, in the right way,” shares Tim Beavon.

Principles of Maintenance Planning and Scheduling

In the Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook, Doc Palmer defined twelve principles of planning and scheduling that we often overlook in our enthusiasm and focus on planner and scheduler activities.

Palmer’s principles should be embedded in the mindset of reliability engineers, engineering managers, section engineers, and maintenance supervisors across the industry. These are principles over which planners and schedulers often have little control, yet they are fundamental to their success.

The Importance of the Weekly Scheduling Meeting

We know that the planner should focus on future work, while the maintenance supervisor should manage the present day—or the schedule.

Planners are often pulled away from future work due to interruptions and distractions that can—and should—be handled by the maintenance supervisor. Everything from spare parts not arriving on time to contractors failing to complete site access requirements, such as COVID-19 screening, becomes the planner’s problem. This often happens simply because the planner originally identified the need for the spare part or contractor.

The purpose of the weekly scheduling meeting is to ensure that the plan is realistic and practical, and that all arrangements and logistics for spare parts and contractors have been addressed. Once the maintenance supervisor is satisfied that everything is in order, they should take ownership of executing the agreed schedule for the week. Many organizational processes fail to account for these factors, making it all too easy for planners to be pulled into resolving current-week scheduling issues.

Skills of an Ideal Planner

Do you promote your best technicians and supervisors into planning roles? Planners should be problem-solvers within the plant, leveraging their hands-on experience to ensure that the right work is done in the right way. This commitment to quality and doing the job properly is what makes them so valuable.

Developing skilled tradespeople for planning roles leverages that expertise across multiple technicians—often multiplying its impact across teams.

The planner must understand trade skills, while the scheduler should assign work to the lowest appropriate skill level.

The planner is responsible for defining what needs to be done, while the maintenance supervisor is responsible for how the work is executed. It sounds simple, but consider the impact of reliability engineers, maintenance managers, or section engineers when defining the tasks to be carried out.

Reliability engineers can analyze asset types in isolation, using tools and techniques to determine precisely which tactical maintenance should be performed. However, they do not always consider the available skill levels within the organization, such as what tasks can be performed by apprentices versus fully qualified tradespeople.

By clearly distinguishing skill requirements, we provide planners and schedulers with the flexibility to allocate work effectively—utilizing apprentices where appropriate and freeing up experienced personnel for precision work, rapid response to critical failures, and root cause analysis.

Work Prioritization

Priorities matter, and the maintenance supervisor is responsible for day-to-day execution. While assigning priority is an important aspect of the planner’s role, alignment between the planner and the maintenance supervisor is critical when determining work priorities.

Maintenance supervisors are the first point of contact for operations when issues arise in the plant. Their role is to prioritize work within the current scheduling period to ensure that tactical maintenance is executed as planned, while allowing the planner to manage as much forward-looking work as possible.

When plannable work is executed within the current schedule instead of focusing on tactical maintenance, plant reliability suffers.

Conclusion

Maintenance work management goes beyond planning and scheduling. It requires assessing which roles throughout the process contribute to challenges in accomplishing work effectively.

At Pragma, we address unique asset management needs by designing tailored strategies and delivering integrated solutions. The key takeaway is that continuous improvement is supported by understanding specific organizational challenges and creating solutions that address them. Learn more on our website.

The post The Importance of Maintenance Work Management first appeared on Pragma Américas.

A quick online search for the main reasons why Enterprise Asset Management System (EAMS) implementations fail reveals a wide range of causes such as insufficient training, inadequate vendor support, scalability issues, and more. However, it is rare to find mention of a fundamental issue: the software does not support the business processes. Yet, this is one of the most common problems—often disguised in different forms.

The Importance of Business Processes in Asset Management Systems

A business process is defined as a collection of structured, related activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serving a particular objective) for a specific customer. It can often be visualized through a flowchart as a sequence of activities. The key point is that these activities are carried out in a way that supports a broader purpose or objective.

From an asset management perspective, the most critical principle in ISO 55000 and its predecessor PAS 55 is the alignment between asset management objectives or strategies and overall organizational goals.

In the context of an EAMS that supports business processes, why do contracts and system requirements typically include long, exhaustive lists of functions and features rather than a detailed explanation of the business processes and activities the system must support? This is usually because business processes are not as easy to define as functionality, are often undocumented, and are not widely understood as the true drivers of value.

The Lack of Focus on Business Processes in EAMS Selection

The real value of your EAMS selection is realized when the system optimizes your business processes in support of your asset management objectives. The role of an EAMS can be summarized in two primary benefits:

• Automation of business processes, such as work order scheduling
• Feedback on how effectively those processes are performing, such as backlog management

Additional benefits of well-defined asset management business processes in relation to your EAMS include:

• Linking the EAMS to strategy and best practices
• Defining the required outcomes of the EAMS
• Ensuring data integrity
• Enabling effective user training
• Supporting robust change management

Selecting and Implementing the Right EAMS

How do you select and implement the right EAMS for your organization? First, you must find a provider that understands asset management as well as your organization’s context and industry. This provider should be able to help assess your current asset management environment and support the development of an asset management plan aligned with your asset management and information strategy. This plan should clearly define the business processes that need to be established and optimized.

The implementation and configuration of the EAMS should be carried out in support of these business processes and the overarching strategy—not in isolation. Change management must be a key component of this process, ensuring a clear line of sight between the EAMS implementation and the organization’s strategic objectives.

Do not simply purchase and install an EAMS—implement it as part of a comprehensive asset management improvement process.

Pragma Products and Services

Pragma offers a range of products and services, including the On Key EAMS software, asset management business processes, asset management assessments, and roadmap consulting, as well as comprehensive asset management training programs. These offerings are effectively integrated to deliver end-to-end asset management solutions for your organization.

The post Is the EAMS Software Not Working, or Are My Processes Not Optimized? first appeared on Pragma Américas.

The post On Key – Calidra first appeared on Pragma Américas.

Key Features of an EAMS

• Asset Life Cycle Management:
  An Enterprise Asset Management System enables organizations to manage all aspects of the asset life cycle, from acquisition to final disposal. This includes planning, procurement, installation, maintenance, and replacement of assets.
• Preventive and Corrective Maintenance:
  An EAMS facilitates the scheduling and execution of preventive and corrective maintenance tasks, ensuring proper asset performance and minimizing the risk of breakdowns or failures.
• Predictive Maintenance / Condition Monitoring:
  It continuously optimizes and monitors asset conditions to detect anomalies and schedule repairs before catastrophic failures occur, thereby maximizing asset lifespan, reducing costs, and increasing operational efficiency.
• Inventory and Spare Parts Management:
  This system allows effective control of spare parts and materials required for asset maintenance. It also streamlines the management of purchase orders and suppliers.
• Data Monitoring and Analysis:
  An EAMS collects and analyzes data related to asset performance and condition, allowing organizations to make informed decisions about maintenance and optimization.
• Integration with Other Systems:
  EAMS solutions can be integrated with other enterprise systems such as ERP, CRM, and Quality Management Systems, enabling organizations to manage their assets and operations more efficiently.

The Importance of EAMS in Industry

The use of an Enterprise Asset Management System in industrial environments is essential to ensure asset operability and optimal performance. This system enables detailed control of maintenance activities, resulting in greater equipment safety and availability.
Data collected by the EAMS—such as maintenance history and failure predictions—can be used to implement proactive and preventive maintenance strategies.

This not only enhances operational efficiency but also provides a scientific approach to resource management, supported by advanced analytical techniques. In practice, companies across various sectors use EAMS solutions to boost their competitiveness by reducing operating costs and increasing productivity.

Benefits of Using an EAMS

• Improved Operational Efficiency: Helps organizations manage resources efficiently, reducing downtime and increasing productivity.

• Predictive Maintenance: Uses historical data and predictive analytics to anticipate failures and schedule preventive maintenance, avoiding unexpected interruptions.

• Cost Reduction: Effective planning and scheduled maintenance minimize unplanned expenses and extend equipment lifespan.

• Centralized Control: Provides a centralized platform to monitor and manage all maintenance activities, facilitating informed decision-making.

• Safety and Regulatory Compliance: Ensures operations comply with safety standards and regulations, reducing risks and ensuring legal compliance.

• Inventory Optimization: Tracks and manages spare parts inventory, ensuring resources are available when needed and minimizing overstock.

In summary, an EAMS is an essential tool for optimizing asset management within an organization. It reduces costs, increases operational efficiency, and enhances decision-making regarding maintenance and asset acquisition.

CMMS vs. EAMS Comparison

In the field of maintenance management, several solutions aim to optimize the performance of assets, resources, and personnel involved in maintenance processes. Among the most recognized solutions are CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Systems) and EAMS (Enterprise Asset Management Systems).
Although both share similar goals, there are significant differences in their features and scope.

A CMMS focuses on managing preventive and corrective maintenance of a company’s assets. Its main purpose is to facilitate the tracking, planning, and scheduling of maintenance activities, as well as the control of spare parts and related information.

An EAMS, on the other hand, provides a more comprehensive and advanced solution than a CMMS. In addition to including the core functions of a CMMS, an EAMS addresses broader aspects such as asset management, maintenance planning, reliability, condition monitoring, asset registry, and geolocation.
A prime example of a high-quality EAMS is On Key by Pragma.

Table Note:
While some CMMS platforms offer features that approach those of an EAMS, EAMS solutions generally provide a more comprehensive and advanced approach, encompassing a broader range of functionalities and enabling deeper integration with emerging technologies.

As you can see, an EAMS offers additional advantages compared to a CMMS. For example, the On Key EAMS system features an intelligent hierarchy driven by asset types, allowing you to easily configure a single set of maintenance plans for an asset from a central location. Furthermore, this EAMS is compatible with the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0, enabling the integration of IoT devices and real-time data analysis.

A Smart EAMS Solution: On Key

On Key EAMS is designed to enable, maintain, track, and improve the performance of assets, people, and resources within an organization, delivering optimal asset performance while reducing costs and risks.
Developed by Pragma, On Key is a versatile solution offering multiple functionalities for asset and maintenance management:

• Maintenance Management: Plans, assigns, and tracks preventive and corrective maintenance activities.

• Maintenance Planning: Facilitates the design of maintenance plans and actions to improve asset efficiency.

• Reliability: Monitors asset performance and efficiency over time to predict potential failures and enable predictive maintenance.

• Spare Parts Management: Maintains records of components and spare parts needed to keep equipment in optimal condition.

• Asset Registry: Provides a complete, up-to-date inventory of all company assets, including detailed information for each piece of equipment.

• Geolocation: Locates assets geographically, improving resource allocation and activity planning by location.

• Condition Monitoring: Analyzes equipment status in real time, providing valuable insights for scheduling and executing maintenance.

• IoT Integration: Compatible with process automation and IoT device analytics, enabling real-time data tracking and analysis.

Additionally, On Key EAMS provides a global view of company assets across multiple locations worldwide, supporting multiple languages, currencies, and time zones.
The platform is easily configurable, features an intelligent hierarchy driven by asset types, and is compatible with Industry 4.0 and IIoT technologies.

On Key is also available as Software as a Service (SaaS), offering greater deployment flexibility and eliminating the need for on-premise infrastructure or maintenance. Its mobile capabilities allow fieldwork management, making it easy to create and assign work orders and track maintenance activities performed by teams.

Although both systems (CMMS and EAMS) enhance maintenance management effectiveness, an EAMS like Pragma’s On Key provides a more complete and advanced solution by addressing additional areas and enabling broader integration with emerging technologies.

If you’re interested in learning more about this tool or how to successfully implement it within your organization, we’d be glad to assist you. Schedule a Demo here!

The post What is an EAMS? first appeared on Pragma Américas.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution—Industry 4.0—is defined by the integration of digital technologies into industrial processes, reshaping the asset management landscape. This integration has opened up new opportunities for organizations to boost efficiency and productivity. As a result, condition monitoring has emerged as a preferred maintenance technology in the Industry 4.0 era.

Condition monitoring is a proactive maintenance approach that involves regularly assessing the health and performance of machinery, equipment, or systems to identify potential issues before they lead to unplanned downtime or catastrophic failures. It consists of collecting and analyzing data from equipment to detect early signs of wear, defects, or other problems that may cause failure—and to estimate how much useful life remains in an asset. This article explores how condition monitoring is taking the lead in proactive maintenance strategies.

Beneath the Surface: Navigating the PF Curve

Condition-based maintenance aims to determine the right condition monitoring technology and measurement interval for critical equipment so potential failures can be detected early enough. With this knowledge, corrective actions (e.g., replacing a failing bearing) can be planned and executed before a potential failure becomes an actual breakdown during production time.

Condition monitoring is often illustrated by the PF Curve (Potential Failure), shown in Figure 1. The PF Curve is a graphical representation that demonstrates an asset’s health over time, indicating when potential failures (point P) can be detected and the period before full functional failure occurs (point F). Different condition monitoring techniques can detect point P earlier by monitoring various parameters and identifying different failure modes.

The PF Curve, Figure 1: The PF Curve

The benefit of condition monitoring—within a Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) program—is that it achieves the optimal balance between maintenance costs and equipment reliability. An alternative to CBM is reactive maintenance, best described as “wait until it breaks.” While this can extract maximum usage from components, the tradeoff is costly production stoppages and high emergency repair costs.

Another approach is Usage-Based Maintenance (UBM), which relies on statistical data to schedule maintenance tasks. For example, motors may be replaced every six months based on historical data indicating typical failure patterns. While UBM helps avoid unplanned downtime, it increases spending on parts and labor.

CBM allows maintenance intervals to be optimized based on actual machine condition, avoiding downtime while utilizing the full lifespan of components. For instance, if a motor is monitored using vibration analysis and a bearing defect is detected, it can be replaced during planned maintenance, avoiding catastrophic failure, reducing downtime costs, and improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

Addressing potential issues early helps organizations prevent secondary equipment damage and extend asset life. This reduces replacement costs and improves the equipment’s Return on Investment (ROI). Early failure detection also enhances safety by identifying hazards before they pose risks to workers or the environment.

Technology Toolbox: Choosing the Right Condition Monitoring Technique

Selecting the appropriate condition monitoring technology depends on several factors: equipment type, criticality, accessibility, and expected failure modes. Common condition monitoring techniques include:

• Vibration Analysis: Detects early faults in rotating machinery by monitoring vibration levels and patterns. For example, a bearing defect will generate increased vibrations and specific frequency patterns.
• Oil Analysis: Identifies early wear in equipment by detecting elements in lubricants and deterioration in lubricant quality. Metal particles in oil, such as brass (bearing wear) or iron/chromium (gear wear), signal developing issues.
• Thermography: Detects electrical or mechanical issues by monitoring temperature profiles. A loose electrical connection, for example, generates heat that thermography can identify.
• Ultrasonic Testing: Detects leaks or blockages by monitoring high-frequency sound waves. Air leaks in compressed systems can be picked up acoustically before becoming visible.

A Balancing Act: Permanent vs. Intermittent Condition Monitoring Methods

Beyond the range of technologies, organizations must also choose between diagnostic (intermittent) and trending (continuous) condition monitoring:

• Diagnostic Monitoring: Involves periodic data collection using portable devices (e.g., handheld vibration loggers). These require trained personnel and are cost-effective but labor-intensive. Measurements are taken at scheduled intervals based on strategy and resource availability.
• Trending Monitoring: Involves real-time or continuous assessments using permanently installed sensors on critical components. This method works well for production-critical or hard-to-access assets, providing constant insights but requiring significant investment and specialized training. It also necessitates infrastructure to manage large volumes of sensor-generated data.

Organizations must determine which equipment to monitor, which techniques to apply, and how often to monitor. A business-impact criticality assessment helps identify high-risk equipment, prioritize resources, and inform maintenance planning. Integrating condition monitoring into work management systems ensures data is analyzed and acted upon.

What Makes Financial Sense: Permanent Sensors, Periodic Readings, or No Monitoring at All?

Condition monitoring can be costly. Sensor equipment, installation, and staff training all require investment. Organizations must weigh these costs against the potential benefits.

The good news: sensor costs have decreased significantly in recent years. The rise of cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) has also lowered the cost of data collection and real-time analytics. Organizations should leverage this to maximize ROI, especially for production-critical assets where permanent sensors are justified. For less critical equipment, intermittent diagnostic monitoring may suffice.

Scenarios where permanent sensors make financial sense include:

• High-Risk Equipment: Where failure could lead to major production losses or safety risks.
• High-Value Equipment: Where extending asset life and maximizing ROI is a priority.
• Regulated Industries: Where food, pharmaceutical, or other regulated sectors may require online condition monitoring to comply with standards.

The advantage of diagnostic methods is their lower upfront cost—especially when using external service providers. The downside is that they offer only snapshots in time. If monitoring frequency is too low, failures can occur between readings. Trends are valuable, but take longer to establish with intermittent data.

Not all equipment is suitable for condition monitoring. Many electronic components, for example, cannot be monitored (aside from perhaps using thermography to spot loose connections). For low-value, low-consequence assets, condition monitoring may not be financially justified. Still, empowering maintenance staff with equipment condition insights always adds value to decision-making.

The Cost Puzzle: Making Sense of Condition Monitoring Expenses

When assessing cost, organizations should consider the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which includes equipment, installation, maintenance, and training. By evaluating TCO, businesses can make informed decisions on the financial viability of implementing condition monitoring

The post Predictive Precision: How Condition Monitoring is Transforming Maintenance Strategies in Industry 4.0 first appeared on Pragma Américas.

1. Good asset management practices can add up to 30% to your profits

Fixed assets generate income for a business, but they could also cost you money if not operating optimally. Poor asset management can quickly drain a budget through equipment downtime, costly repairs, and missed production targets.

On the other hand, we’ve found that regular scheduled maintenance can extend an asset’s lifespan up to three times longer than if it were neglected. This can have a significantly positive effect on your financial results—adding up to 30% to your company’s production capacity and/or profits.

2. Good asset management helps accurately forecast Capex and Opex

Proper asset management provides a company with insight into its assets—and that’s a powerful tool. Helping clients fully understand their assets is one of the first things we do.

You need to know what assets you have, their condition, how they’re performing, how much they cost to maintain, and what their remaining lifespan is. With this information, it becomes easy to determine how much operating expenditure (Opex) should be budgeted to keep the assets in good condition and fully operational. You can also forecast when capital expenditure (Capex) will be required to replace an asset—either when it reaches the end of its useful life (cost vs. benefit) or when it needs upgrading with new technology (see point 3 below).

Part of understanding assets includes knowing which are critical to the business—and why. Historically, this was left to the operations team, while the finance team focused on financial reporting and compliance.

Today, CFOs can more confidently lead a company toward long-term financial strength by having the same level of knowledge about critical assets as others in the business—and using that knowledge in financial planning and forecasting. As a bonus, financial reporting, depreciation figures, and residual values become more accurate as the CFO’s understanding of assets improves.

3. Advances in smart technology can add financial value

One of the things we’re excited about at Pragma is the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), which is taking asset management to a whole new level. Technologies that alert you when a part needs to be replaced, or warn you of imminent failures, offer tremendous advantages.

The more automated the process, the greater the inherent discipline and the lower the likelihood of human interference and error. Capitalizing on the efficiencies and effectiveness offered by technological advancements is a crucial part of staying competitive today.

Naturally, acquiring these technologies requires some upfront capital investment—but it can be planned. Phasing out older assets and replacing them with sensor-driven smart technology adds value to your operations. Smart equipment that provides insights and superior performance will be more valuable to your company than continuing to spend on old machines that don’t deliver critical data.

4. It’s not just about profits

Asset management and a company’s triple bottom line are great partners. When measuring the total cost of doing business—not just financially, but also socially and environmentally—a solid asset management plan delivers in all three areas.

Take this example: in 2018, a transformer exploded at a local warehouse. One person died, and several others were injured. The cost of this catastrophic asset failure went far beyond financial—it affected people, families, and the environment. More and more, society expects companies to be socially responsible, and those that lead by example will earn customer preference.

Effective asset management benefits the triple bottom line: the company’s profits, the people it employs, the community it operates in, and the environment.

5. Asset management could reduce insurance premiums

This is something to discuss with your insurers. If you maintain your assets using best practices, will your insurance company offer you lower premiums? There may be savings available here—it’s worth finding out!

Your move

One of the biggest challenges organizations face is siloed thinking and poor communication between professional disciplines. But if everyone commits to the asset management plan, that creates a common ground that can drive organizational cohesion.

A proactive, informed CFO is uniquely positioned to champion the long-term asset management plan and keep it updated. The benefits will go far beyond the numbers.

Contact us for more information

The post Five Facts Every CFO Should Know About Asset Management first appeared on Pragma Américas.

In challenging economic conditions, such organizations are often under pressure to reduce costs to meet their bottom line. 

Traditionally, asset management and facilities management are handled separately, but there is a compelling argument for combining these two functions. In this article, we explore the concept of an integrated facilities and asset management function to examine how you can achieve cost savings by streamlining your business processes and improving operational efficiency. 

To ensure availability of the facilities and assets required for production, medium to large organizations often rely on facilities management and physical asset management divisions, respectively. These services often operate in parallel despite sharing similarities in scope and required skillsets. 

 In manufacturing, the asset management team is often referred to as plant maintenance. Whether you process raw materials or produce fast-moving consumer goods, the success of your operation depends on people, processes, and technology that go beyond just buildings and infrastructure. To effectively manage both facilities and assets, you need competent people to plan and execute work, guided by best-practice processes and a system to coordinate activities and manage information. 

Figure 1: Interdependencies Between Facilities Management (FM) and Asset Management (AM) 

Figure 2 shows the Work Planning and Control business process. The main steps involved are identifying, planning, and executing the work. Both facilities and asset management teams follow this same process. Any maintenance task—whether facility-related or asset-related—starts at step one: an internal client submits a request. For instance, a typical facilities request might be a faulty air conditioner, while a typical asset request might be a defective production machine. Requests are routed to either the facilities manager or the plant (maintenance) manager, to be included in the work plan (step three) or, if urgent, for immediate execution (step six). Steps seven, eight, and nine follow to complete the workflow. In both cases, the maintenance process is the same and serves the same ultimate goal: enabling productivity to meet business objectives. 

Figure 2: Work Planning and Control Process 

 Table 1 below summarizes common measures and terminology identified in a study led by Julia Phala, Head of Sales and CRM at Pragma. 

Tabla 2: Common Terminology in Facilities and Physical Asset Management

In this case, the elevator and overhead crane fall under facilities management, while everything inside the production safety zone is handled by plant maintenance. Both teams aim to ensure equipment and facility uptime to support production—but their processes are disconnected.

For example, the plant manager schedules a 3-hour maintenance task on a production line. Unaware of this, the facilities manager schedules preventive maintenance on the elevator and crane. As a result, the plant maintenance team cannot access the equipment, and the originally planned 3-hour task stretches into three days or even three weeks—disrupting production. Using an industry example, with average automotive downtime costs of $21,174 per minute, this translates to a $127,044 loss per hour—or over $3 million in a 24-hour cycle—not counting unproductive labor.

Example 2: Making the Most of Skilled Resources

As shown in Table 2, both FM and AM require mechanical and electrical engineering skills. Let’s examine potential cost savings from sharing these resources instead of maintaining separate teams.

Assume FM has two mechanical techs, two electrical techs, and ten general workers. AM has the same setup. With average wages at $7.85/hour, the combined annual salary would be $281,510. If both functions are integrated—using one technician per discipline across both FM and AM—the salary bill is reduced by $60,323 annually.

Further savings can come from merging operational roles. Instead of 20 workers, only 10 are employed: five each for mechanical and electrical work—saving an additional $80,431 per year. To succeed, retention strategies and change management are essential to drive mindset shifts across both divisions.

The study also revealed that business leaders are open to integrating FM and AM. Particularly in manufacturing, companies stand to gain significantly from integration. Key value drivers include:

• Streamlining core processes like Asset Register Management, Work Planning and Control, Spare Parts Management, and Contract Management
  – Optimizing software by using one EAMS/CMMS system instead of multiple platforms
  – Cross-training and assigning human resources by engineering discipline and equipment class (e.g., criticality A, B, C)
  – Sharing skilled contractors across both divisions rather than duplicating them

Figure 3: Insights from the Asset Management Congress

As the examples show, a siloed approach to facilities and asset management is costly. To make the proposed improvements work, a central coordinating function at the strategic level is required. Figure 4 illustrates a leaner, combined FM and AM division.

A simplified, integrated process can result in significant cost savings. When automated, it can eliminate waste. Ultimately, both FM and AM functions exist to maximize return on investment by ensuring productivity, compliance, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Figura 4: Proposed Facilities and Asset Management Structure

Because when you manage your assets, you’re managing your plant’s future competitiveness.

The post Boost Efficiency and Save Millions | Combine Your Facilities and Asset Management Functions first appeared on Pragma Américas.

Proactive enterprise asset management is about more than just infrastructure and equipment. As human capital, we drive the cultural values and behaviors necessary to implement maintenance strategies and perform the activities required for optimal asset performance. However, the role that people play in proactive enterprise asset management remains under-researched, often overlooked, or deemed insignificant.

Even with advances in heavy machinery and equipment operation technologies, the need for human interaction with assets has not been eliminated. People remain a vital part of asset operations, and effectively equipping employees with the right skills to manage and operate machinery is still essential.

A People-Centric Approach to Proactive Enterprise Asset Management

Regardless of industry, organizations cannot exist without human capital. The importance of people as assets cannot be overstated. It is surprising that so few organizations prioritize human capital and lack a strategic approach to maximize this asset. History has shown that organizations that invest in their people reap the rewards. This philosophy applies now more than ever to enterprise asset management. Managing assets is critical to business performance, just as the employees tasked with operating these physical assets are. In the words of Sir Richard Branson: “Take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your business. Healthy and engaged employees are your greatest competitive advantage.”

While it cannot be executed without people, many employers overlook the human factor when it comes to strategy. The benefits of people-focused initiatives are often intangible, making them difficult to track and measure. This makes it easy for companies to favor outcome-driven initiatives while neglecting investment in their employees.

In recent years, industries have faced a growing shortage of human talent. A major driver of this issue across industries and organizations is the lack of ongoing investment in and improvement of technical training facilities. When no investment is made in operators, it directly and negatively affects asset performance.

Financial management is critical within organizations, but an outcome-only financial focus is often detrimental to employee development. In such cases, organizations cut training, wellness, and team-building budgets to the bare minimum. During tough economic times, organizations must be creative in finding ways to provide for employee programs, especially those that contribute to skill development and foster company culture. Driving proactive enterprise asset management to achieve operational excellence without investing in the people who must execute it is a futile exercise.

The Impact of the Human Factor in Proactive Enterprise Asset Management

The intangible benefits of employee investment stand in stark contrast to the costs of asset damage caused by unskilled or untrained operators. It is essential that people form an integral part of the enterprise asset management value chain. Without focusing on developing the right skill set in people to deliver quality asset management, maintenance strategies cannot be implemented successfully.

People management requires a different approach due to the intangible nature of the value they bring to proactive enterprise asset management. Therefore, a more focused and deliberate approach is required, which should include (but not be limited to):

Simply creating a warm work environment with learning opportunities is not enough. A deliberate and optimized approach, aligned with strategic objectives, is necessary to create a workplace environment that harnesses the full potential of your human capital. Key initiatives should include:

• Skills development and training with clear learning paths
• Employee engagement
• Coaching and mentoring
• Effective performance management tools based on reliable data
• Change and diversity management
• Retention and succession planning
• Forums to openly discuss cultural, gender, and cognitive diversity and collaboration to foster inclusivity

You can’t put a price on the peace of mind that comes from knowing your team and assets are managed and operated by highly skilled employees. Task execution capability, cultural background, and personal interests can positively contribute to proactive asset management and should be considered at a strategic level.

While ownership and accountability are among the most critical values employees can bring to the workplace, they are often the most undervalued. Yet these two values can make or break an organization—including ours. To remain the leading enterprise asset management company we are today, we must ensure our people take ownership of and responsibility for the success of our strategy and objectives and execute them accordingly. The same applies to those on the front lines performing maintenance activities. The value of the human factor in the successful execution of proactive enterprise asset management must be a top priority. Effectively managing human potential to derive tangible value through improved performance will become a key differentiator for highly successful and thriving organizations.

Contact us for more information.

The post Proactive Enterprise Asset Management | Unlocking Human Potential to Improve Asset Performance first appeared on Pragma Américas.