Identifying and quantifying maintenance improvement opportunities in physcial asset management

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Asset Management initiatives suffer many barriers in implementation whichhinder their influence and sustainability. One of these barriers is the lack ofbuy-in from all levels in the organisation, due to a lack of understandingof the perceived benefits of Asset Management. The relationship betweenthroughput and the maturity of Asset Management implementation is usuallyfelt throughout the organisation, but is difficult to prove or quantify. Furthermore, it is di cult to isolate the effects of maintenance using traditionalmethods.Organisational alignment in an Asset Management project is achieved byaligning employees' views on what the deficient areas in the organisationare, and managing their expectations in what the perceived benefit of agood application of Asset Management would bring forth. However, the lackof a transparent method to convey the significance of critical areas in thesystem, and a clear way to communicate these problems creates a barrier inimplementation. Without empirical evidence people rely on argumentativeopinions to uncover problems, which tends to create friction as opinionsfrom various factions may differ.Typically, these initiatives are constrained by available resources, and theallocation of resources to the correct areas is thus vital. In order for AssetManagement initiatives to be successful therefirst needs to be alignment inexecution through a clear understanding of which assets are critical, so thatresources can be allocated effectively.In this study, this problem is thoroughly examined and solutions are soughtin literature. A method is sought which seeks to isolate the effects of themaintenance function in an operation and uncover critical areas. A study is performed on methods which are typically used to create such understanding,which are shown to have shortcomings that limit their applicability. Thus anew methodology utilising simulation is created in order to overcome theseproblems.The methodology is validated through a case study, where it is shown thatthe simulation, in the context of the methodology, is highly beneficial touncovering critical areas and achieving organisational alignment throughcommunication of results.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University