Asset maintenance management involves a wide range of different maintenance activities. The specific asset maintenance management activities required for your operation will depend on the nature of your equipment, the complexity of your operating environment, the regulatory conditions specific to your industry, and more.
Generally speaking, however, asset management refers to the strategies and solutions deployed for the care and upkeep of your company’s physical assets. Common types of assets include manufacturing equipment, industrial machinery, and transport vehicles as well as your organization’s physical infrastructure, its facilities, and the systems included within (i.e. plumbing, electrical, HVAC systems, etc.).
The importance of a maintenance team to an asset maintenance management strategy
Asset maintenance management is the overarching framework that your company uses to guide maintenance scheduling, routine repairs, inventory decisions, and more. Each asset requires a unique maintenance plan carried out by a maintenance team with the appropriate knowledge, training, and skills.
Building a strong maintenance program is essential for carrying out asset management responsibilities on an ongoing basis. Maintenance teams will typically take a lead role in activities like routine inspections, regular preventive maintenance, and emergency repairs in the event of unexpected breakdowns. With better asset management, your maintenance team can help extend the lifespan of your assets, make more informed decisions about repairs or equipment replacement, ensure optimal functionality throughout the asset lifecycle, and minimize the impacts of both planned and unplanned downtime.
Types of asset maintenance management strategies
Effective asset maintenance management involves a wide range of activities. A typical organization will employ a mix of strategies to optimize the health and performance of its unique portfolio of assets.
In an office setting, for instance, facility maintenance could range from servicing computer workstations and conducting fire safety system checks to performing seasonal HVAC cleaning and overseeing parking lot repairs. In an industrial setting, many of these same functions will apply, but your asset maintenance management strategy may also include responsibilities such as equipment calibration, troubleshooting, parts replacement, and more.
Below, we take a closer look at some of the common types of maintenance work used to manage assets and reduce the likelihood of failure.
- Reactive maintenance, also sometimes referred to as “run-to-failure,” is an approach in which maintenance activities are only initiated when asset failure or serious issues have already occurred. Some organizations choose a reactive maintenance strategy because it carries few upfront costs, demands little to no maintenance planning, and may even be a cost-effective approach to maintaining non-critical assets where the impact of failure is minimal. However, reactive maintenance carries a few notable drawbacks. Those initial cost savings are often eclipsed by higher long-term costs due to unexpected downtime, emergency repairs, last-minute parts ordering, and a reduced useful life expectancy for critical assets.
- Proactive maintenance refers to a number of maintenance strategies which are intended to prevent equipment failures and breakdowns by incorporating preemptive maintenance and upkeep tasks. These tasks can include regular inspections, routine testing, calibration, cleaning, lubrication, replacement of worn parts, and more. Proactive maintenance may, for example, refer to preventive maintenance (PM)–which revolves around scheduling tasks according to time or usage intervals; and condition-based maintenance (CBM)–which leverages condition monitoring equipment to identify and address issues in real time.
- Predictive maintenance strategies rely on advanced data analytics and leading-edge technology to anticipate equipment issues and deploy maintenance teams accordingly. Predictive maintenance operations leverage emerging tools like big data, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to predict equipment failures before they occur and enable the most cost-effective maintenance activities possible. This approach builds performance forecasts based on a combination of historical data and real-time data, and consequently determines when maintenance activities should be performed.
The principles of asset maintenance management
While the exact functions of your maintenance team may depend on your equipment and industry, some core tenets can lead to successful asset maintenance in any industry context.
- Comprehensive inventory of all assets including equipment, machinery, and vehicles, as well as asset information such as make, model, serial number, location, maintenance history, and usage patterns.
- Routine inspections and internal audits enable maintenance teams to identify potential issues before they escalate into breakdowns, safety risks, or compliance failures.
- Preventive Maintenance (PM) planning, with comprehensive maintenance scheduling built around a combination of manufacturer recommendations, regulatory conditions, safety standards, industry best practices, and internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
- Well-trained maintenance team armed with the skills, knowledge, and experience to handle a diverse set of maintenance challenges, ensure regulatory compliance, and adhere to established best practices.
- Data-driven decision-making with historical and real-time data playing an important role in guiding maintenance strategies, optimizing maintenance schedules, and improving asset reliability
- Collaboration and communication between maintenance managers or facilities managers and their teams improves decision-making and overall results.
- Automation is also playing a growing role in helping businesses streamline and optimize their asset maintenance management programs. Technology-enabled solutions such as Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) can arm businesses with a suite of advanced features like automated work order generation, PM scheduling, and inventory management. These features will be extremely valuable as you work to launch or refine your asset maintenance management program.
Asset maintenance management: getting started
- Define your maintenance goals, which may include reducing downtime, extending asset lifespans, improving safety across your facilities, lowering maintenance costs, etc.
- Create a comprehensive asset inventory, including detailed information about each piece of equipment and vehicle.
- Leverage an asset management software platform to maintain, update, and automate inventory in real time.
- Establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) and include maintenance checklists that outline the tasks, schedules, and responsibilities associated with routine maintenance activities.
- Invest in training, providing your team members with access to regular educational opportunities, professional development programs, and certification courses.
- Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to measure the effectiveness of your maintenance program, to identify areas for improvement, and to make key procurement, usage, and maintenance decisions.
Why is asset maintenance management essential?
A sound asset maintenance management strategy of your maintenance program and your organization as a whole.
Benefits of an effective asset management strategy
- Increased asset lifespan, with regular inspections, preventive maintenance, and timely repairs helping to significantly extend the useful life of your physical assets.
- Reduced downtime, with organizations that rely on predictive and preventive maintenance experiencing 52.7% less unplanned downtime than their reactive counterparts, according to a 2021 article from the International Journal of Health Management.
- Cost savings, with preventive and predictive maintenance strategies helping businesses to avoid expenses related to emergency repairs, expedited shipping, and other consequences of overly reactive maintenance.
- Improved safety conditions, with routine maintenance and timely upkeep preventing the types of equipment malfunctions and breakages that can cause accidents or injuries.
- Heightened operational efficiency, with well-maintained equipment performing more optimally, contributing to increased productivity while reducing labor and energy costs.
Pitfalls of an overly reactive approach
- Increased unplanned downtime, with reactive maintenance strategies typically leading to more frequent equipment failures, prolonged operational disruptions, and an estimated $50 billion in lost revenue per year, according to a recent Forbes article.
- Higher repair costs, with reactive strategies heightening the need for costlier emergency repairs, expedited shipping of critical parts, and overtime labor.
- Reduced asset lifespan, with an absence of routine maintenance activities leading to increased wear and tear.
- Increased safety risks, with more frequent equipment failures creating more potentially hazardous situations and magnifying the risks of accident and injury.
- Operational inefficiencies, with frequent breakdowns, unplanned repairs, and diminished performance continually disrupting workflows, reducing productivity, and diminishing product quality.
5 tips for optimizing asset maintenance
Now that we understand the importance of having a structured asset maintenance strategy in place, let’s take a closer look at some ways you can optimize your asset maintenance program.
1. Leverage asset performance Data
High-quality data is a critical component of an optimal maintenance strategy. Start information from your OEM, then analyze historical health and failure data to adjust maintenance intervals. Utilize a combination of internal data (failure history, previous maintenance, real-time sensor data, etc.) and external data (operational requirements, environmental changes, market factors, etc.) to gain more comprehensive insight into the performance of your maintenance program.
2. Optimize maintenance resources
Conduct a criticality assessment and allocate resources accordingly. Regular tests are essential for high-impact assets, even those without prior failures. Less critical equipment may require less frequent maintenance. Implementing a CMMS solution and integrating predictive maintenance technology can also help your organization avoid excessive upkeep activities and the unnecessary costs that come with them.
3. Balance costs and needs
Perform lifecycle cost assessments to identify the point at which maintaining an asset is no longer feasible and replacement has become necessary. In short, when maintenance costs approach acquisition costs, it’s time to consider new equipment. This assessment helps balance operational efficiency and budget constraints.
4. Evaluate organizational capabilities
Understand your organization’s ability to sustain a sufficient maintenance program. Conduct gap analyses in technology, training, and resources to identify opportunities for closing capability gaps and making improvements. Develop consistent maintenance policies and procedures, ensure staff competency through training, and foster a proactive maintenance culture of continuous improvement.
5. Utilize CMMS software
CMMS software streamlines maintenance programs by automating workflows, tracking inventory, and monitoring key KPIs. It simplifies task assignments, scheduling, and data analysis, while promoting improved inventory management. The right CMMS should also aid in tracking real-time maintenance performance and analyzing historical performance trends.
CMMS and asset maintenance
One of the key takeaways from the section above is that technology will play a critical role in helping you develop a preventive maintenance strategy and, more broadly, a successful asset maintenance management program. Limble supports comprehensive asset maintenance programs with a package of powerful features including:
- Automated scheduling of preventive maintenance tasks based on predefined intervals or usage metrics
- Customizable checklists tailored to specific physical assets and maintenance tasks
- Automated work order generation, allowing for easy creation, assignment, and tracking of maintenance tasks
- Asset management and tracking, including a detailed inventory of all assets with easy access to vital information such as make, model, serial number, location, and maintenance history
- Lifecycle management, with tracking of costs and maintenance needs associated with assets from acquisition to disposal
- Predictive maintenance integration, including compatibility with IoT and real-time condition monitoring sensors.
- Inventory management, including spare parts tracking, real-time views into stock levels, and automated reordering for critical parts.
- Reporting and analytics including detailed reports on various aspects of maintenance activities, such as work order completion rates, asset performance, and maintenance costs
- Customizable dashboards providing user-friendly visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) and maintenance program outcomes
Find out what else Limble’s industry-leading CMMS platform can do to streamline, optimize, and enhance your asset maintenance management strategy with a look at our CMMS Buyer’s Guide. Learn the questions to ask and the features to look for during the CMMS selection process - and find the right CMMS for you.
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