Last year the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) published (January 2014) a new standard for Asset Management. Asset Management is the holistic management of an organisation’s physical and other assets in harmony with business strategy. ISO55001 has been in development over a period of about 20 years. It was preceded by PAS55, which itself gained wide acceptance and respect among leading utilities and other organisations throughout the world.
The use of the term Asset Management is growing and it is becoming separately identified from the same term that describes the management of financial assets. The term Maintenance Management might have been used in the past but there are very good reasons for getting to grips with why Asset Management is different.
Maintenance Management was typically not seen as a strategically important function that contributed a return on investment and supported business profitability and other goals. Asset Management, on the other hand, implies that assets are managed, at top management level, with the important business goals in mind. This has the effect of transforming the approach to assets and widening the understanding of their vital role in business performance. Once this point is understood, then all the components of effective Asset Management can be easily appreciated and understood.