Asset Operations Manager Role Explained

Now that we’ve reviewed all the necessary steps of “Getting Started” when it comes to asset operations management (AOM), it may be obvious that you’ll need an accountable individual to pull everything together. While many manufacturers and businesses may already have staff in place to manage the various aspects of AOM, it’s important to either hire or internally promote a leader to drive the effort for best results.

Necessary Skills of an AOM Manager

Ideally, you’ll want to give this responsibility to someone in your organization who has a strong understanding of the business’ existing assets and workflows, as well as the ability to see the current system’s shortcomings and the benefits of the AOM concept.

Although maintenance, operations, and reliability expertise can be helpful, the ability to learn, lead, and motivate team members can be more important for a prospective AOM manager. Since implementing AOM is really a cultural shift, an AOM manager must have the ability to envision how the organization can elevate areas such as maintenance, reliability, and operations to a business-critical, revenue-driving status, while also empowering technicians and employees to rally around and support that vision.

Strong organizational and motivational skills are also critical in this role as a complete mindshift is necessary for AOM to help organizations maximize their potential.

AOM Manager Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of an AOM manager are to head up the implementation effort, consolidate internal resources, handle the day-to-day AOM activities, and share results and successes across the business.

By focusing on optimizing a company’s critical equipment and assets, an AOM manager can move those functions that are typically viewed as “necessary cost centers” to revenue-driving departments that have a place at the c-suite level.

In order to achieve those goals, an AOM manager needs to define key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect and connect to revenue, cost containment, customer service, and productivity. The shift away from measuring work and activity completed to tracking value-added tasks is critical to successful AOM implementation.

This may require purchasing a new system or upgrading existing ones to help centralize the data needed to set and track these asset-related goals. In some cases, an AOM manager may even need to hire, mentor, manage, and develop other members of an AOM team to implement and oversee AOM implementation by location, production line, or other area.

Potential Pitfalls

One downside of making an internal promotion or even hiring someone with maintenance, reliability, and operations experience is that it can be easy to fall into old routines. The industry as a whole has developed some habitual ways of managing these functions in the past, and these ways can be difficult to unlearn. Here are some potential pitfalls to watch out for.

Siloed Teams: It can be easy to accept the idea of AOM in an abstract sense, only to fall into common silos of maintenance, reliability, and operations in practice. Ensure all three of these departments are working from centralized data and have a common goal focused on critical assets—not only departmental tasks.

Measuring the Wrong Things: Commonly accepted KPIs typically focus on activity completed, not on value added. Although it can be useful to look at the individual performance of technicians, be sure that KPIs are ultimately tied to how employees have helped reduce downtime, extended the life of a critical asset, or contributed to increased productivity.

Failing to Share Success: It can seem like a waste of time to focus on communications, especially when an AOM manager may have seemingly more important tasks in leading an AOM effort. But sharing small successes and how they relate to the new AOM culture is a needed fuel to keep the effort going. If employees can see how small efforts are truly making a difference in the company’s overall success, they will be more driven to continue to make future efforts.

All successful business professionals know the importance of accountability when it comes to getting things done. If your company is committed to implementing AOM, be sure you have an enthusiastic believer at the helm to help lead the way.

The Definitive Buyer's Guide for Asset Operations Management Applications

According to IDC's 2021 SaaSPath Survey, almost 50% of organizations are still using spreadsheets to manage some or all of their enterprise assets. These organizations are missing out on the efficiency gains of a digital-first world where data and workflows are automated and connected. Further, digitally distraught companies risk losing competitive advantage to companies that have readily available information to make better asset-related decisions.

Click this link for a guide to help navigate asset operations management software selection to capitalize on digital-first efficiency gains where data and workflows are automated and connected.