Are My Assets Up For The Job?

Asset Condition Assessment

Just to refresh our memory here, we see the asset life cycle again and can see the Asset Condition Assessment segment highlighted.

Let’s try and answer the question, what condition are our assets in, and are they up for the job needed?

Asset Condition Assessment – Examples

It should not be too difficult to assess the condition of these Assets. A cursory glance will tell you everything you need to know, and probably the only sensible thing you can do is to send for the scrap wagon. Hopefully, your assets will be a little more challenging to assess than the ones shown in these images.

 Asset Condition Assessment

‘Knowing the condition of any asset can be a challenge.

This is quite a basic statement, but the impact of understanding the condition of the assets can be a huge factor in their ongoing use and life. This knowledge becomes important in understanding at what level we must focus on maintenance to maintain the asset’s health and ensure it functions well for its full life span.

In other words, does the asset require minimum maintenance or heavy maintenance?

We can only know this if we understand the condition of the asset.

Although we are looking at the Condition Assessment element of the life cycle, do not forget that this is only one element of the cycle, and the cycle wheel must keep turning to generate the information we require for each element to work effectively. The cog that drives the wheel to generate the information required is in the center. The Asset Care Performance Management System.

Asset Condition Assessment – Eight Elements

There are eight elements relating to Asset Condition Assessment that we will be working through in the following chapters. In this chapter, we will be discussing the first two elements.

1. We need to understand the current state of our assets.
2. We also need to know what the required level of service from the asset is.
3. What assets are critical to sustaining the required performance and should be prioritized?
4. What are my best ongoing Continual Improvement Program strategies?
5. What is the Operational Performance
6. Where are the Sources of Information
7. What about Structural deficiencies
8. What is my strategy for the best long-term funding requirements?

 Asset Condition Assessment – State of Assets

To be able to understand the current state of our assets, we need to know what assets we own and where they are, all of which we covered in the previous chapters. In addition, however, we also need to know the asset’s condition and how well it performs to determine its remaining useful life and economic value. Apart from a visual inspection, the historical records of previous maintenance recorded from work orders will play a vital role.

Asset Condition – Required Level of Service

Every asset is purchased for a particular reason, and when purchased, expectations and forecasts will be projected for the asset based on its specification criteria. This is known as the required level of service (LOS). This information can be obtained from several different parties, such as

• Management
• Clients and regulators
• Company records

Having obtained the required level of service expected, we then need to assess how the asset is performing now with its expected performance.

The current state of the assets and the required level of service is the first two vital ingredients required to provide information relating to an accurate assessment of the condition of the company assets.

Let’s now move on and discuss the next three elements.

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