How the Cornerstones of Asset Management Can Build More Resilient Operations – Lessons From the Pandemic

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, the foundations of business operations shifted instantly. With ripple effects continuing today, organizations continue to strive to adapt to the changing landscape. In these times, the principles and practices of asset management are more critical than ever and can be a framework for embedding resiliency. This presentation will delve into the relationship between asset management principles and three focus areas impacted by COVID, while sharing real life examples from water and wastewater operations. First, we will explore how facility lockdowns and supply chain disruptions impacted equipment repair parts availability. We will dive into how facilities with strong critical spare parts management techniques weathered these disruptions with less panic and time spent chasing parts. And, how techniques such as predictive maintenance programs and planning scheduling better accommodated longer lead times before equipment intervention was required. Second, we will discuss what happens when only a few individuals own the asset management program and they are suddenly absent for health or family support obligations for an extended period. We will interconnect how building a strong ownership of asset management across disciplines and embedding processes and procedures ensures a lasting culture of asset management. Finally, lockdowns and travel bans forced our team to explore new methods for deploying technical support without onsite visits. Innovative approaches from virtually facilitated risk review workshops to augmented reality condition assessments have been developed and implemented over the past year. With advancements in technology, as the accumulation of data grows there has been a concentrated effort to leverage this data toward making data-justified decisions. Over the past year there has also been an increasing emphasis to leverage these analyses to bring decision teams to agreement as managers and client interact virtually. With an interdependent global economy it is only a matter of time until the next disruption hits, and implementing the core principles of asset management can enhance the resiliency of your organization.