Education in Engineering Asset

Management – Current trends and

challenges

Melinda Hodkiewicz Ph.D.

University of Western Australia
&
Rodrigo Pascual Ph.D.
Universidad de Chile
August 2006

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 Outline
• What is Engineering Asset Management?
• What are the factors driving changes in EAM?
• What effect will these have on educators and
current education programs?

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 What is Engineering Asset
Management?
“Systematic and coordinated activities and
practices through which an organization
optimally manages its assets, and their
associated performance, risks and expenditures
over their lifecycle for the purpose of achieving
its organizational strategic plan”
Ref: Asset Management Part 1: Specification for the optimised management of physical
infrastructure assets, PAS 55-1, 2004, Institute of Asset Management, UK

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Why work on improving EAM
practices?

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 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT LEVEL

WAREHOUSE, CUSTOMER OPERATIONS,

HUMAN
PURCHASING, SERVICE, MAINTENANCE,
RESOURCES
ACCOUNTING MARKETING ENGINEERING

BUSINESS UNITS

NS

MA
IO

INT
AT

EN
ER

A
OP

NC
E
ENGINEERING

DEFINE DETERMINE DESIGN/

IN-SERVICE
BUSINESS EQUIPMENT SELECT ACQUISITION DISPOSAL
PHASE
NEED REQUIRED EQUIPMENT

SYSTEM/ EQUIPMENT LIFE CYCLE

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 Asset owners
• Asset owners need to:
– Align activities with business objectives
– Control cost of ownership
– Demonstrate risk management practices
• This requires improvements in:
– Integrated system-level decision making at
every level of the organization
– Knowledge management

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 GOAL of
EAM

Decisions that
are …

Reference: PAS 55-2

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Enablers of improved EAM practices

• New Institutions and asset owner-driven

consortia
• Development of body of knowledge and
Standards
• Development of certification programs
• Information technology

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 Evidence of change from Asset
Owners
• Establishing internal ‘strategic asset management’ and
‘tactical asset management’ groups
• Moving senior operations managers into ‘asset
management’ roles
• Engaging in consortia to identify and develop asset
management processes
• Collaborative efforts to collect and share equipment and
failure-related data, and
• Sponsoring and attending asset management
conferences and workshops

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 Retarding Factors
– Historical status and role of the maintenance
group in organizations
– Lack of collaboration/common goals between
maintenance and other groups
– Data and accounting systems that are not fit for
purpose
– Metrics that encourage poor practices
– Slow uptake and integration of new tools
– Competence in skills required for the evolving
decision making processes

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Influences From 1990
Development of Condition
monitoring programs & tools
Development of Balanced
Scorecard
Formation of Infrastructure
AM groups
Increased use of ERP &
CMMS systems

Development of TPM
& JIT, and Six Sigma

From 1980

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 Current trends – influencing EAM
education
• Frameworks (body of knowledge) that define
the field of EAM
• Establish competency levels
• Develop accreditation schemes
• Develop short courses in EAM related tools
• Develop postgraduate courses in EAM

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 Example framework
Management Topics
Technical Topics
Business Management
People Management
Information Management
Risk Management
Create/ Acquire Assets
Operate/ Maintain Assets
Dispose/ Renew Assets

Reference: Woodhouse, 2006, Institute of Asset Management Competencies Project, IAM (UK)

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 DEFINE BODY OF
KNOWLEDGE

DEFINE COMPETENCY
DEFINE MAJOR TOPICS
LEVELS

IDENTIFY SKILLS & IDENTIFY ACTION VERBS

PROCESSES, FOR EACH THAT DESCRIBE EACH
TOPIC COMPETENCY LEVEL

IDENTIFY OUTCOMES AT

Defining
EACH COMPETENCY LEVEL
FOR EACH TOPIC

competencies
FOR EACH JOB
CLASSIFICATION

DEFINE ESSENTIAL AND DESIRED SKILLS AND

ASSOCIATED REQUIRED COMPETENCY LEVEL

ASSESS EMPLOYEES TO DETERMINE ACTUAL

COMPETENCY LEVELS

DEVELOP INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

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 Competency levels

Define expectations of competencies for different role

levels e.g. Supervisor, Practitioner, Superintendent and
Professional, for each of topic/task.

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What are the current educational
resources?

– Internal training
– Commercial short courses
– University accredited courses – distance
based and residential
– Conferences and workshops
– Published resources

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Example Program: UWA
Masters in EAM degree

Systems Reliability Leading & Data analysis &

engineering engineering Managing teams decision making

Asset Management Organisational

& Risk CORE units Behaviour

Logistics & Supply Negotiation behaviour

chain management
3 Elective Units Managing performance
Multivariate analysis through people

Quality management Leadership

Masters effectiveness
Project management research thesis
Social, ethical &
Managerial finance environment issues

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 Trends
• Asset owners will examine and use a range of
educational options.
• Development of new courses geared towards defined
competencies.
• Need to educate a wider range of people in EAM, not
just maintenance practitioners.
• Increase in number of students engaged in educational
programs
• Greater acceptance by asset owners and their staff of
the need for continuous learning.
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Challenges for educational providers
• Development of new programs that are responsive to
the dynamics of the evolving EAM field
• Educational providers will be encouraged to
demonstrate how their courses will assist students
(personnel) in moving from one competency level to
• Greater scrutiny by asset owners of educational
programs for cost effectiveness and efficiency of
achieving desired asset-owner defined outcomes.
• Need to adapt and extend assessment practices
• Greater competition, locally and globally.
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 Summary

• The field of EAM is dynamic

• Asset owners and educators must recognize
and manage the changes
• Greater emphasis on certification and
demonstration of competency in management
and technical areas.

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 Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of:
– The CBM Laboratory at University of
Toronto who provided financial assistance
allowing the authors to work in Toronto in
2006 and collaborate on this and other
papers.
– The Aryana group for the opportunity to visit
Iran.

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 Thank you
Any questions?

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