What Is Engineering Asset Management?

Manoeuvring physical assets into the future

“…The acknowledgement of the relevance of different disciplines for Asset Management is however not sufficient. These different disciplines also need to work together, which in practice is often hindered by an organizational 'island culture' (Zoeteman, 2006) and a 'silo mentality' (Amadi-Echendu et al, 2007). This shows that even though the literature is clear about Asset Management being a multidisciplinary practice, truly multidisciplinary approaches are rare in the literature, which is the first limitation found in the Asset Management literature.…”

“…Next to the limited attention to the first and last phase(s) of the asset's life cycle, the literature also indicates that the Asset Management literature tends to focus on the short term and operational and tactical issues, rather than the long term and strategic matters (Murthy et al, 2002;Amadi-Echendu et al, 2007;Komonen et al, 2012). The same is noted in Asset Management practice: "Asset Management is mainly limited to the operational level, but is developing into the tactical domain.…”

“…This is also acknowledged by ISO 55000 (2014), which argues that "cross functional integration" is crucial to manage assets in "an integrated manner" (2014, p. 5) to improve asset value. Also Peppelmans and Kramer (2012) acknowledge that working in teams is a way to bridge the 'natural silos' of the different disciplines relevant in Asset Management (other authors describe the same challenge in terms of 'island cultures' (Zoeteman, 2006) or 'a silo mentality' (Amadi-Echendu et al, 2007)). Therefore, the ability to join and lead multidisciplinary teams is considered an important skill (Scott and Yates, 2002).…”

“…This asks for an integration of the management of the assets over different life cycle phases (Amadi-Echendu, 2004), for example the use of the knowledge and skills of the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) throughout the complete life of the asset (Henderson et al, 2014). Asset Management should emphasize the complete life cycle of the asset (Amadi-Echendu et al, 2010). Nevertheless, many authors show how Asset Management is predominantly focused on the short term (e.g.…”

“…Nevertheless, many authors show how Asset Management is predominantly focused on the short term (e.g. Zoeteman, 2006;Amadi-Echendu et al, 2007;Wijnia and Herder, 2010). An important aspect of Asset Management is therefore 'time generality', which Amadi-Echendu et al (2007) describe as follows: "Asset Management extends over time to include short term (e.g.…”