Asset lifecycle management is an asset management approach involving specific techniques to optimize asset life. Asset lifecycle management seeks to maximize an asset’s useful life and, by extension, increase productivity, reduce costs, and increase profitability.
This system takes a careful and systematic approach to physical assets in 5 key phases: planning, procurement/purchasing, utilization, asset maintenance, and disposal.
Let’s take a closer look at the stages of an asset lifecycle now.
“Across all asset-intensive industries, including power and utilities, companies face increasing pressure to do more with less, to enhance customer service, to improve the uptime of assets, and to increase the predictability of performance.”
Deloitte
Asset Lifecycle Management Stages
Planning
As far as your facility is concerned, your entire asset management lifecycle begins with the planning stage long before you even purchase the assets. This first stage involves figuring out the assets that best suit your needs. You want to take your time here, especially with your critical assets.
Explore the market and consider all options with your unique circumstances in mind. Factors that will likely play a role here include budget, the size of your facility, and estimated production volumes.
This stage is also essential even when you aren’t obtaining assets for the first time. When upgrading or replacing existing assets, you want to examine your prior asset performance closely. For example, did machines from certain manufacturers prove more reliable than others? Were other assets more prone to breakdowns? Taking time to assess your situation holistically will ensure you get the most long-term return on investment.
Procurement
This is the purchasing or buying stage. Tasks include making the actual purchase, scheduling delivery, and overseeing installation. During this stage, ensure you gather and record asset information. This will enable long-term tracking and decision-making.
This data should include information like a description of the asset, the type of asset, the manufacturer, installation date, purchase cost, depreciation method used, etc.
Utilization
You want to ensure that all shop floor workers and stakeholders are well-educated on operating the assets for proper utilization. Poor utilization and handling can be a significant cause of downtime. Use proper software, like a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system), to automate your work orders and create standard operating procedures for staff.
Asset Maintenance
Your maintenance management will make all the difference in maximizing an asset’s useful life. Incorporating a preventive maintenance program will help you prevent breakdowns and reduce unplanned downtime.
You can do this by carrying out scheduled routine maintenance or by using asset tracking to facilitate predictive maintenance. By forecasting likely breakdowns, you can streamline your maintenance planning and direct your efforts where they are most needed.
You can also reduce maintenance costs by fixing minor problems before they develop into big ones. Asset management software can help gather and analyze robust asset data to create a solid maintenance plan. While the best maintenance strategies involve mostly preventive maintenance, you can’t realistically eliminate all breakdowns. To get the best out of your assets, prepare for some level of reactive maintenance.
Disposal
After decommissioning an asset, what is the best way to dispose of it? You’ll need to consider this stage when you’ve decided that an asset no longer provides enough value to justify its use.
You’ll also want to think about sustainability. Would recycling the asset make more sense? Consider your regulatory requirements. Be sure your waste disposal complies with the regulations guiding your facility.
As stated above, you can support many of these steps using the right software. Let’s examine how Computerized Maintenance Management Software can optimize your asset lifecycle management.
“Boosting labor productivity in maintenance is becoming more and more important on operations leaders’ agendas. New technologies can help address this issue and move companies closer to best practices . . . Most companies have, therefore, already started their journey towards a more digitized and automated maintenance regime.”
McKinsey
What Can a CMMS Do for Asset Lifecycle Management?
Optimizes Data Tracking
When planning to replace assets, robust data makes all the difference. A computerized maintenance management solution can simplify this for you. For example, you can decide what metrics to track and automate work orders for shop floor workers to take and record the data.
MaintainX is an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system that helps you record, track, and analyze your asset data over time. MaintainX also has a reporting module that allows you to visualize data and generate insights for data-driven decision-making. This dashboard allows you to monitor how much value you gain from assets, their reliability/performance, and how they respond to maintenance.
Simplifies Inventory Management
In addition to asset planning, a CMMS can help you simplify other management processes, including inventory management, by providing functionality to monitor your inventory levels. You can use this for anything your asset requires, from spare parts to maintenance necessities like lubrication oil.
You can also automate your purchase orders by programming your CMMS app to trigger replacement purchases once inventories go below certain levels. In addition, MaintainX’s purchase orders module integrates with third-party vendors. This feature means MaintainX users can send purchase orders within their organization.
Streamlines Standard Operating Procedures
Standardizing your processes is critical to proper asset utilization. With a CMMS, you can create digital standard operating procedures to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding asset handling.
The right CMMS will also offer you cloud-based data storage. As such, anybody on the shop floor who needs assistance can easily refer to your SOPs for detailed information. In addition, if you’re using a CMMS with chat, workers have real-time access to each other right from their smartphones.
Optimizes Maintenance
Preventive maintenance can increase uptime, reduce maintenance costs, and prolong the lifespan of your assets. With a good CMMS, you can streamline your maintenance workflow by automating your preventive activities.
For example, you can create and assign a weekly or monthly repeatable work order for lubrication. Then, the responsible workers will receive notifications regarding the work orders at your predetermined intervals.
You can also add detailed work instructions, ensuring they don’t rely on pen-and-paper information. Doing this helps ensure your maintenance is carried out according to schedule and up to standard.
Optimize Your Asset Lifecycle Management with MaintainX
MaintainX CMMS comes with a range of tools to help simplify your asset management lifecycle. Use MaintainX for:
- Digital checklists that enable standardization.
- Automated low-quantity alerts, which simplify inventory management.
- Digital reporting that allows for analyzing asset breakdown patterns.
- Asset data management allows for cataloging barcodes, serial numbers, and more.
- Timestamps that provide digital audit trails and proof of compliance.
Try MaintainX today!
