La función de la tecnología de sensores en la revolución de la mantención preventiva.

How To Develop a Successful Asset Management Strategy

The world of industrial manufacturing is becoming increasingly complex with the addition of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, augmented reality, and other technological advances. 

This, in turn, has complicated the world of maintenance and reliability, making asset management strategies more important than ever.

We’ll share practical tips to help you develop asset management strategies and share ways these have been successfully implemented in a variety of industries.

7 Essential Steps in the Construction of an Asset Management Strategy

Many companies today are discovering that effective asset management is the key to:

• Driving manufacturing efficiency

• Maximizing profitability; and 

• Gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in an ever-increasingly competitive marketplace 

Businesses in a wide variety of industries have recognized the importance of implementing robust asset management strategies to optimize their resources, increase uptime and productivity, and extend the lifespan of their equipment. 

You know that a good asset management plan is essential to increasing your company’s productivity and profitability. But how exactly can you create a plan that works for everyone? The process may seem overwhelming at first, but breaking it down into manageable steps is key.

You could also benefit from using great asset management software, which we’ll tell you all about later.

Here are seven steps you can take to create the perfect asset management strategy.

#1: Make a List of All Critical Assets and Equipment

Before you create a plan, you need to know which assets would have the biggest impact on your business if they failed or needed repair. These are your critical assets.

Work with your team to create a ranking system to help you determine which assets are the most indispensable to your process.

#2: Prioritize Your Assets

Now that you have a grouping of the most critical assets, use the ranking system you developed to prioritize these from most to least critical to the production process. Be sure to consider data such as:

• How often does a piece of equipment need to be repaired?

• How much downtime is required to do it?

• What maintenance tasks are performed most often?

• How much does it cost your company to maintain the asset?

• How does this impact the production process?

#3: Create an Asset Management Strategy That Suits Your Business

A financial company such as a brokerage firm will have a different type of strategy than a production-based company. So one size doesn’t fit all when you’re developing your plan.

To figure out what type of plan will work best for you, you’ll need to determine your asset management objectives. Ask yourself if you want to reduce downtime, increase productivity, or be more cost-efficient. Of course, these goals go hand-in-hand and you want to achieve all of them, but what do you want to work on first? Knowing this can help you set the foundation for your strategy.

Your plan should include:

• Prioritized equipment

• Which resources are needed

• How much time will be spent on assets

• Who is responsible

#4: Get Buy-In From All Stakeholders

Building and implementing an asset management strategy should be a team effort. That’s why it’s important to involve all staff, including:

• Technicians

• Machine operators

• Foremen

• Management

• And more

Communicating asset management objectives and letting everyone know how they will benefit from the program leads to the team working together to successfully implement your strategies.

#5: Evaluate the Data

The implementation of your asset management strategy should lead to the creation of data such as:

• Repair requests

• Runtime

• Downtime

• Work orders

• Maintenance costs

• GPS coordinates and traveled distances

• Etc.

#6: Review and Revise Your Asset Management Strategy

Collecting and evaluating the data from the previous step can help you see how your plan is working and how asset management can be improved in the future. 

Many production companies with rudimentary maintenance strategies may be in corrective or reactive maintenance mode. But putting a lot of thought into a formal, step-by-step plan will probably lead you to see better results from preventive or predictive maintenance.

#7: Track and Communicate Results

Don’t expect your asset management strategy to start working overnight. A robust plan should be long-term and may take months to pay off. It will help if you work to keep everyone’s expectations realistic to help avoid frustration in this area.

Use analytics tools such as UpKeep’s Enterprise Asset Management software to help everyone stay on the same page. It will help you monitor what’s going well and what could use improvement as you and your team work toward your goal.

6 Examples of Successful Asset Management Strategies in Industry

#1: Automating Maintenance with IoT Sensors

Our first asset management example relates to the Internet of Things. Over the last decade, IoT and predictive maintenance sensors have started to transform how maintenance is conducted. The vast majority of organizations used to employ a very reactive maintenance strategy — fixing assets as they failed — while others implemented preventive maintenance programs that were primarily based on time or usage metrics.

IoT sensors, however, allow real-time monitoring of equipment health. A variety of sensors can collect data on critical assets regarding:

• Temperature

• Vibration

• Humidity

• Water levels

• Other operating conditions 

Acceptable ranges can be programmed into the sensors so that when readings fall out of range, an alert is sent to the maintenance team. This, in turn, means that a technician can immediately address problems, potentially preventing a failure that can mean unscheduled downtime or more expensive damage to the equipment.

#2: Implementing Predictive Analytics in Fleet Management

Whether a manufacturing or distribution company is managing a fleet of forklift trucks that primarily move goods around a facility or warehouse or a transportation and logistics business is tracking hundreds of trucks that travel nationwide, effective fleet asset management can make a big difference in equipment performance.

By analyzing historical data and combining it with real-time information on vehicle performance, companies can anticipate demand patterns, optimize routes, and maintain their vehicles more efficiently. 

This proactive approach means these businesses experience fewer unexpected breakdowns, can deliver more orders on time, and may increase fuel efficiency. This, in turn, means better overall performance and happier customers.

#3: Conserving Resources in the Energy Industry

As more renewable energy companies have emerged, many are investing in asset optimization technologies that can help maximize the output of solar, wind, and hydro-power installations. Advanced monitoring and control systems also ensure efficient energy usage and minimal waste. 

In this case, asset management can actually help these energy companies reduce their own carbon footprint, enhancing their reputation among environmentally conscious consumers.

#4: Enhancing Patient Care in Healthcare

Asset management plays a critical role in delivering efficient and high-quality healthcare services to our communities. For example, some hospitals have used radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology as a key component of their asset management strategy.

Tracking and managing medical equipment can be a challenge for a large hospital, and doing a poor job can mean misplaced or underutilized assets. This can lead to delays in patient care and increased operational costs. 

By using RFID tags on all critical medical equipment, hospitals can track the locations and status of equipment such as infusion pumps, defibrillators, and patient monitors, ensuring they are available when needed.

#5: Optimizing Inventory Management in Food and Beverage

With the slim margins in the food and beverage industry, effective asset management can significantly impact profitability as well as customer satisfaction. For example, restaurants often have challenges in managing proper inventory levels which can lead to wasted food, shortages resulting in customer disappointment, or high carrying costs.

By using a data-driven approach, these businesses can employ advanced analytics and demand forecasting to look at historical sales data, seasonal trends, and customer preferences. This allows a restaurant to better predict demand for different menu items even at specific locations, which means it can alter inventory levels in real time. 

This strategy can be carried through to the restaurant’s supply chain, helping to ensure that the freshest ingredients are delivered in a timely manner and optimizing the efficiency of the entire distribution process.

#6: Maximizing Agriculture Yields with Asset Management

IoT sensors can be used effectively in the agriculture industry to monitor soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and nutrient levels. Just like in manufacturing, this real-time data can be used to make important decisions day by day, improving the conditions for crops and increasing overall yields.

Advanced data analytics tools help provide agricultural companies with valuable insights into:

• Crop growth patterns

• Pest infestations

• Resource utilization

• And more 

As a result, more informed decisions regarding these insights could be made, reducing both the labor and costs required for crop management.

Build Your Company’s Asset Management Strategy With the Help of UpKeep

Just about every industry can benefit from asset management strategies. Whether it's adopting IoT sensors for predictive maintenance, using predictive analytics to drive decision-making, or employing RFID to track equipment, all of these data-driven insights mean greater efficiency, reduced costs, and higher revenue.

Asset management strategies will evolve in the future, presenting even more opportunities for businesses in all industries to optimize their operations and achieve sustainable growth. UpKeep is here to help you change with the market and keep track of your assets more easily than ever before.

Our asset management software provides powerful insights to help you manage the full asset lifecycle and automate preventive maintenance tasks from your mobile device. Manage everything from asset downtime, depreciation, and costs using the #1 asset management solution.

Contact UpKeep today to schedule a tour or start a free trial.