6 Asset Management Myths
Moving beyond predominant asset management myths requires a multi-dimensional assessment of culture, knowledge, processes, and technology.
Dave Harrold

 

AT A GLANCE

• Continuous improvement
• Fieldbus role
• Asset classes
• Multi-dimensional assessment

Most companies agree asset optimization is a good thing; many strive to optimize each and every asset—or at least achieve a broad level of optimization across all assets. The problem is you can't optimize something

until you first are able to measure and manage (control) It. Through this process we get the concept of asset management.

Companies successful in establishing asset management systems and procedures report that, when fully implemented, these practices and products provide a corporate-wide business process and decision-making framework that is guided by performance goals, covers an extended-time horizon, draws from economics as well as engineering, and considers a broad range of assets—especially people.

TS Raghavendra Prasad, asset management product manager, Honeywell Process Solutions, explains it like this: "Asset management is the beginning of a journey encompassing continuous work process improvements and optimization. It's a collection of tools and technologies that help ease improvement implementations, but in the absence of an appropriate culture, know how, and well-established work processes, it cannot guarantee results."

Asset management is viable and achievable, but it's not quick or easy; and unfortunately its adoption continues to languish, partly because of lingering myths.

Debunking myths

Within the process industry, myths that tend to permeate asset management include the following:

Myth #1: Digital fieldbus technologies (such as FOUNDATION fieldbus, Profibus, and DeviceNet) are all that's needed to manage assets.

Certainly digital fieldbus technologies supply an abundance of data, but more data doesn't necessarily equate to managed assets. Asset manage