Knowledge of Asset Capabilities

Organizations can identify their degree of confidence in their knowledge of the capabilities of assets, and in the systems they form part of.

Issues to consider include:

• To what level of sophistication are the physical attributes of these assets known? Asset management study techniques will help staff and managers understand the physical characteristics of their assets. The data include:
  • Hierarchical structure of the assets owned by the organization
  • Components of the assets down to their individual physical elements and the level to which this is recorded.
• The method of condition assessment and the way in which this is recorded against the asset. Is this information obtained from actual inspection and measurement of the asset, and at what frequency? Does the database record the details as part of the specific asset record?
• The level within the hierarchical structure to which utilization is accurately recorded and known.
• The way in which sub-systems utilization is monitored and recorded and the cyclic period or the triggers that are used to complete this analysis.
• The accuracy with which the organization can identify the failure modes of their assets (against the target levels of service):
  • The time in which the demand for the service will result in capacity failures, the degree of these failures and their probability
  • Time in which the overall physical condition of the asset is likely to cause a failure.
• Performance reliability of the asset that will be unacceptable.
• Recording and predicting costs from which good decisions can be made to:
  • Reduce the failure of non performing assets (rate of return)
  • Find opportunities for cost reductions through the investment in more efficient or effective equipment.