Asset Management
Maybe you have heard the term already or maybe there is even one or more Asset Managers at work in your company or organisation. But what is Asset Management? A new fashionable term for maintenance, the latest project of the management or just common sense?
What is Asset Management ?
In the financial services sector, the term 'Asset Management' has been around for years. It refers to asset management with maximisation of return as its objective.
Today, however, the term "Asset Management" is also used for the professional management of tangible and intangible fixed assets. These are usually physical assets, such as infrastructure, rolling stock and production facilities. Asset Management focuses on balancing performance, costs and risks over the entire life cycle. Better decisions are made by working together across silos in an enterprise. This allows assets to contribute maximally to business objectives.
How did asset management originate?
The current strategic approach to asset management builds on earlier developments in the public utilities sector in the Anglo-Saxon countries. In early 2014, the ISO 55000 standard was published, which means that asset management is now taking hold in other sectors.
What are the benefits of asset management?
Asset Management enables large organisations to standardise and simplify processes associated with the acquisition, management and maintenance of assets, thereby saving costs. The different views, knowledge, data and information that exist within a company about the assets are integrated around the same objectives. Establishing transparent and tactical processes around assets, often results in a fundamental change of direction with both financial and non-financial benefits.
What are the benefits for a company when obtaining an ISO 55001 certificate?
With an ISO 55001 certificate, organisations can demonstrate to regulators, investors and customers that assets perform as expected, for example in terms of capacity, availability and safety. The certificate also guarantees that the organisation concerned works to minimise life cycle costs, and that all business risks associated with the operation of the assets are properly managed.
By Wim Vancauwenberghe, director of BEMAS, the Belgian Association for Maintenance and Asset Management
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