Enterprise asset management

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enterprise asset management (EAM) means the monitoring of the physical assets of an organisation to avoid a loss of profits due to break downs. Tracking covers such things as plant, equipment and facilities. "Enterprise" refers to the management of the assets across departments, locations, facilities and, in some cases, business units. By managing assets across the facility, organizations can improve utilization, reduce capital costs, reduce asset-related operating costs and subsequently improve ROA (return on assets).

Asset intensive industries face the harsh realities of operating in highly competitive markets and dealing with high value facilities and equipment where each failure is disruptive and costly. At the same time, they must also adhere to stringent occupational safety and environmental health regulations. Maintaining optimal availability, reliability and operational safety of plant, equipment, facilities and other assets is therefore essential for an organization's competitiveness.

The functions of maintenance and asset management are taking a fundamental turn where organizations are moving from historical run-to-failure models and beginning to embrace industry best practices. Companies that are still focused on old methodologies for maintenance activities must begin to realize the organization wide impact of maintenance and the corresponding improvements in asset performance, productivity and lifecycle costs. This shift in focus exemplifies the progression from maintenance management to Enterprise Asset Management.

Contents 1 What is Enterprise Asset Management? 2 Why is Enterprise Asset Management Important? 3 Healthcare enterprise asset management 4 See also

[edit] What is Enterprise Asset Management?

Enterprise Asset Management is a business information paradigm that integrates operations with strategic planning. On the operations side, EAM caters to increased efficiencies of all assets including inventory, regulatory compliance and human resources by combining the salient goals of maintenance, repair and operations management. Simultaneously, EAM addresses business challenges that include productivity enhancement, maximizing asset life cycle, minimizing total cost of ownership and support of the technology and supply chain infrastructure.

[edit] Why is Enterprise Asset Management Important?

Competitive pressures force organizations to minimize asset total cost of ownership and streamline their asset management operations (these typically involve myriad activities ranging from inventory, parts and labor management to contracts and vendor management for new works). As downtimes become increasingly expensive, both in terms of lost production capacity and unfavorable publicity, organizations are compelled to maximize their asset productive life cycles via optimal maintenance programs.

In the event of asset failure, quick response time is critical. In recent years, stringent industry-specific environmental health and occupational safety regulations are being enforced by government oversight agencies, with industrial owners and operators responsible for compliance. Since many industrial environments typically contain hazardous materials (HAZMAT), procedures need to be in place for tagging HAZMAT information to assets to facilitate implementation of safety procedures.

By providing a platform for connecting people, processes, assets, industry-based knowledge and decision support capabilities based on quality information, EAM provides a holistic view of an organization's asset base, enabling managers to control and optimize their operations for quality and efficiency.

[edit] Healthcare enterprise asset management

Healthcare enterprise asset management (HEAM) presents complexities not found in most other industries. Specifically, healthcare environments have a large number of relatively small, mobile, expensive and sophisticated pieces of equipment. Further, the availability, maintenance and cleanliness of these assets directly impacts the "environment of care" and patient safety, as well as the bottom line. Finally, hospitals are highly regulated and assets must be maintained in a manner that complies with JHACO and FDA requirements. HEAM can include the following components related to assets:

1. Inventory and depreciation
2. Scheduling of repair and maintenance
3. Location and logistics (RFID or barcode powered)
4. Availability and utilization
5. Safety monitoring and incident tracking
6. Total Lifecycle Cost
7. Performance management
8. Capital planning support

HEAM provides complete visibility of the asset base across the health system, enabling active control of the planning, acquisition, tracking, maintenance and retirement of capital assets.

[edit] See also

• Computerized Maintenance Management System
• Maintenance, Repair and Operations
• Building lifecycle management