Managing Assets in the Context of Asset Management

Ever since PAS 55 was released in the UK a dozen years ago and officialised the term “Asset Management”, there has been some confusion as to what the term means. In particular, in which way does it differ from simply managing assets, something we have been doing for centuries. Earlier this year the ISO Technical Committee managing the ISO 55000 series of Asset Management standards decided to take the bull by the horns and publish a short article describing what each term means, how they differ, and why both matter. You can find the article on the ISO/TC 251 website. This article is part of a wider effort by ISO to complement the original 55000 standards with additional guidance: at its latest plenary meeting in Brisbane, Australia, work was started on ISO/TS 55010 Guidance on alignment of asset management, finance and accounting and on ISO 55011 Guidance on the development of government asset management policy, two areas of particular interest to many asset management stakeholders and to us at Copperleaf.

The Brisbane meetings also showed us asset management in action: Queensland got hammered by cyclone Debbie and Brisbane itself caught the tail end of the cyclone, forcing us to evacuate the building of our hosts Energex and retreat to our hotels to ride out the storm and floods. The level of preparedness of government agencies and public utilities was remarkable and show how good asset management and resilience planning can help mitigate such dire situations.

Thankfully the sun was back by the time the Australian Asset Management Council organized their yearly AMPEAK conference right after the ISO meetings. Interest in advanced asset management techniques remains high in Australia and New Zealand, so our joint booth with our local partner ARMS Reliability was buzzing with action at all times, the more so that it was strategically located right next to the cappuccino bar!