Establish a Problem-Solving Organization

An organization’s problem-solving mindset plays a key role throughout all phases of an asset’s lifecycle.

Asset management, as defined in the ISO 55000:2014 Standard, spans the entire lifecycle of an asset. While this standard applies to many asset forms, from our perspective as reliability and maintenance professionals, the main emphasis relates to the physical assets of a business.

In ISO 55000, an asset is defined as “. . . an item, thing, or entity that has potential or actual value to an organization.” I’ve made the case in past columns, however, that highly skilled employees (such as maintenance technicians) should also be considered assets because they represent potential and actual value through developed and deployed skill sets.

The ISO 55000:2014 Asset Management Standard could play a major role in industry in the coming years. Keep up to date with our ongoing coverage of this Standard at efficientplantmag.com/iso55k.

There’s also a lifecycle element in the development of a qualified maintenance technician, beginning with aptitude and core-job competence. At some point, due to aging out, retiring, or the inability to perform specified work, technicians’ value-adding qualities fade.

That holds true for any highly skilled decision maker, including engineers, buyers, chief executives, and project managers. They all reflect potential or actual value to the organization. Thus, their lifecycle skill sets must be honed to contribute to achieving asset-management goals and, by extension, organization goals. Problem solving is one of those skill sets. In fact, it’s a primary and pervasive requirement in an asset-management system.

According to ISO 55000, “The management system elements include the organization’s structure, roles and responsibilities, planning, operation, etc.”

One of the major characteristics of an asset-management system is that it must assure the ability of the organization’s key stakeholders at various levels to identify and solve problems when an asset deviates from the normal or expected performance. Problem solving must then be a key responsibility of specific roles. In turn, a problem-solving mindset is essential within an asset-management system to identify risks that could affect the organization’s goals.

An organization’s problem-solving mindset plays a key role throughout all phases of an asset’s lifecycle.

The lifecycle perspective

The intent of ISO 55001 is to set the requirements for a system to manage selected assets throughout their lifecycle. Asset lifecycles begin in the design stage, and progress through engineering and procurement, installation and startup, and operations and maintenance, to decommissioning and disposal.

Each phase of an asset’s lifecycle involves people in a variety of roles and responsibilities, and differing disciplines and priorities. While the phases are sequential, they must remain highly interrelated and interdependent when it comes to assuring reliable performance of the asset. Requirements of the ISO 55001 Asset Management System assure that the organization’s goals will be met. For a functioning asset-management system, there must be an organization-wide problem-solving mindset that translates to problem identification and mitigation responsibilities within each lifecycle phase of the assets.

In the earliest phases, this problem-solving mindset must deal with anticipated and potential problems and their mitigation. Later, in the installation phases, the problem-solving mindset must deal with physical-asset damage and installation errors. During the operation and maintenance phases, the problem-solving mindset must deal with proactive problem prevention. Finally, in the decommissioning phase, the problem-solving mindset must deal with asset removal and disposal hazards.

Organizing for asset management clearly requires a problem-solving mindset within the organization. Consider this mindset a fundamental skill set to be deployed in a consistent and systematic manner.