Richard Jacob Ruitenburg

Manoeuvring physical assets into the future: Planning for predictable and preparing for unpredictable change in Asset Life Cycle Management

Asset Management, the management of physical assets, is increasingly receiving attention in literature and in practice. This has resulted in an increasing understanding of five main characteristics of Asset Management: 1. multidisciplinarity; 2. a focus on the complete life cycle; 3. the pursuit of corporate objectives; 4. the consideration of (contextual) change; and 5. the use of resources. This chapter assesses the literature, three important maintenance concepts (Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Condition Based Maintenance (CBM)) and Asset Management practice on these five requirements, based on a review of the literature and an exploratory survey. It is concluded that the literature, maintenance concepts and Asset Management practice do not live up to these requirements, as they are largely technical and organizational, short term operational and tactical in nature, not always aligned to the corporate objectives and do generally not consider change. Additionally, the limited availability and reliability of data in practice is often not considered. Therefore, it is concluded that a more strategic, long term and change oriented approach to Asset Management is needed.