Maintenance Technology April 2015 - (Page 12)

UPTIME thinking. At the recent SAP-Centric EAM Conference, several sessions addressed ISO 55000. One speaker introduced the "human asset" concept. In his preliminary musings about Germany's highly successful football (soccer) team, SAP's Achim Kruger noted that the team is a big business. Considering the organization's goals, he said, the players are its primary assets. Aside from the debate as to whether the players are "items, things or entities," their health, well-being and deployed skills have a significant value- or risk-impact on the organization's goals. To properly manage an organization's assets and establish a system to manage the value that these assets provide, we must find ways to formalize all activities as a system. Are high-performing work cultures assets? The highly variable people-side of an asset-management system and the requisite work cultures are not clearly governed inside the ISO Standard. As stated in the documents, "Not all asset-management activities can be formalized through an assetmanagement system. For example, aspects such as leadership, culture, motivation and behavior, which can have a significant influence on the achievement of asset management objectives, may be managed by the organization using arrangements outside the asset management system," (ISO 55000:2014; 2.4.3). However, in the Standard, top management plays a fundamental role in establishing, reinforcing and improving the people-side of asset management. It's called leadership. An asset-management system will not evolve without it. For the most part, an organization's leadership establishes and maintains the work culture. The new ISO Standard characterizes the importance of leadership and culture this way: "Leadership and workplace culture are determinants of realization of value," (ISO 55000:2014; 2.4.2c). Would that make a functioning "assetmanagement work culture" an asset with actual or potential value to the organization? The people-side of asset management The following parable illustrates the importance of people to any project: 12 | MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY When a home-builder received plans for a fasttracked project, he quickly developed a schedule, estimated materials and costs. He gathered the tools and supplies he would need, and placed necessary orders. Within a few days, everything was delivered to the site. But because his regular crews were engaged, he needed to find replacements. Ten new workers arrived the next day and hit the ground running. Despite their experience, these workers did not work well together. Some were highly skilled while others were lacking. Some had bad attitudes. The builder told the project leader that no matter how loud or how often instructions were communicated to this group, the house could not be built and business goals would not be met. The crew needed to be more of a team working toward the common goal of building the house. The builder recognized that an essential part of the project was missing: the right people with the right skills, at the right time, doing the right things, with the right leadership at all levels to build the house according to the plans and schedule. Having never experienced this dysfunction with his normal crews, he realized that his business depended as much on the people-side of building as on the plans, materials and tools. In this case, the missing link was a plan for selecting, training, retaining, deploying and continually improving the collective abilities of these highly skilled people and their interdependent groups. The builder began developing an overall strategic plan to assure that all the hardware, software and people-ware variables were addressed and his business would prosper. This would form the basis for his new house-building management system. Lessons learned To properly manage an organization's assets and establish a system to manage the value they provide, we must find ways to formalize all activities as a system. Leadership, culture, motivation and behavior, which can have a considerable influence on the achievement of asset management objectives, must be formalized as an integral part of it. MT Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM and member of the Institute of Asset Management, is in his fourth decade of focusing on the "people side" of worldclass maintenance and reliability in plants and facilities across North America. Contact him at RobertMW2@cs.com. APRIL 2015

Maintenance Technology April 2015

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