Asset Management vs. Maintenance Management

When we say we are about "maintenance and asset management" are we talking about two different, but interrelated, things? We should be.
 
Maintenance: All actions intended to retain an item in, or restore it to, a state in which it can perform a required function (Asset Management Council)
Asset Management: The coordinated activites of an organization to realize value from assets (from draft of ISO 5500x).
 
PEMAC has dedicated its efforts over the last 20+ years to moving its members from 'maintenance people' to 'maintenance professionals' both in reality and in public perception.  We have been teaching senior trades people, maintenance and reliability engineers as well as operators and managers to see themselves as stewards of the assets they are charged to maintain.  We have been helping them to develop a proactive, rather than a reactive approach to their work and giving them the knowledge to apply tools like condition monitoring, Reliability Centered Maintenance, Total Productive Maintenance, and 5S. We offer them a framework to be strategic with these tools, applying them at the appropriate time, engaging other departments of the organization as necessary and focusing on achieving 'uptime' to maximize return on investments in maintenance activities. We used to believe that aligning with corporate objectives, working proactively, working across departments, and maximizing equipment availability described the essential characteristics of asset management. Though that is true, to think that asset management begins and ends with maintenance and operations is missing the point by a wide margin. 
 
If the full life-cycle view is not taken at the highest levels and company-wide, maintenance and operations will only ever be able to make the best of the hand they are dealt, most likely a poor one. Jim Kennedy, former chair of the Asset Management Council (AU) said, "The real task of the maintenance function is to play that hand for all they are worth and, if they do not like the hand they have been dealt, then lobby the other asset life cycle professionals to lift their game." 
 
Two years ago PEMAC joined the Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM). Since then we have been learning from and contributing to the conversation about the relationship between maintenance and asset management at an international level. We feel a responsibility now, to host and advance the asset management conversation that is growing around the world through the work of organizations such as the Institute for Asset Management (UK) and the Asset Management Council (AU). Affiliation with the GFMAM is providing an important opportunity for PEMAC and its members to invite "other asset life-cycle professionals to lift their game" as our next stage of development as an association. For example, we are  currently developing a one-day asset management course targeted to senior managers. This course will be aligned with the global perspective and will cover just those elements that a senior manager needs to know to build a strategy for ensuring that the organization's physical assets are designed (or selected), tracked, valued, utilized, maintained and retired to support the organization's objectives. It's not about maintenance, though maintenance activities are obviously a critical element and improved support for maintenance is an inevitable result. The development of Asset Management courses aimed at Maintenance Management Professionals and non-technical middle managers will follow. 
 
As we work together to advance the collective understanding of the relationship between Maintenance and Asset Management, PEMAC will remain committed to it's strong foundation in supporting and promoting maintenance professionals and maintenance professionalism. 
 
If you are interested in learning by participating in any of the curriculum development efforts going forward please contact the Executive Director at executive.director@pemac.org