A company’s assets include much more than maintenance management; it consists of all of the following.
- The equipment it holds
- The trained and efficient personnel that work there
- The Company’s public image
- Its stock values
- Its very brand name
Therefore, the concept of asset management is an essential part of corporate management. The UK Health and Safety Executive defines Asset Integrity as the ability of an asset to perform its required function effectively and efficiently whilst protecting health, safety and the environment. Asset integrity management is the means of ensuring that the people, systems, processes and resources that deliver integrity are in place, in use and will perform when required, over the whole lifecycle of the asset. The goal of asset management is to effectively manage corporate assets to gain maximum value, increase profitability and returns on investment, while safeguarding the personnel, the community, and the environment. Key elements of the AIM include:
- – Asset integrity policy;
- – Risk assessment, Risk Based Inspection (RBI);
- – Corporate business and financial modelling;
- – Use of relevant and up-to-date inspection technologies;
- – Management strategies;
- – Personnel, competency & training;
- – Operational and process support (critical operating and process windows);
- – IT support/software tools,AIM tools;
- – Health, Safety and Environment strategies;
- – Asset optimization;
- – Life-cycle analysis;
- – Surveying and mapping of assets;
- – Non-destructive testing and inspection;
- – Maintenance-reliability, predictive, and preventive strategies;
- – Interface management.
References:
- A report by the Offshore Division of HSE’s Hazardous Installations Directorat. Key programme 3-asset integrity programme handbook, 2007.
- Peter McClean Millar, Asset Integrity Management Handbook, January 2015.
- Singh, Ramesh. Pipeline Integrity: Management and Risk Evaluation. Gulf Professional Publishing, 2017.