Just Managing or Asset Management

A dictionary definition of Asset Management” is “the systematic process of deployment, operation, maintenance, upgrading and disposal of assets in a cost-effective manner.” In  short: asset care from cradle to grave. Which makes ERIKS’ Asset Management the “National Asset Health Service”.

However it’s defined, the ideal outcomes of successful Asset Management are the same: 

• reduced spend 
• improved quality / reliability
• accurate budgeting
• reduced vendor base
• capital released from stores
• reduced administration
• minimised unexpected costs

Pay less or manage more?

All too often, a great deal of time and effort goes into finding the asset with the lowest capital cost, believing that all money saved is good. But regardless of cost, if an asset isn’t carefully managed you can waste more money than you saved.

Take a pump as an example. The capital cost represents only 5% of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Maintenance costs represent another 8%. Yet energy costs account for 87%. 

So a pump running inefficiently due to poor maintenance will see significantly increased energy costs and a major effect on TCO. A repairer may rectify the issue, increase the pump’s efficiency and deliver energy savings of 10-15%. However, a partnership with an all-round industrial products and services provider such as ERIKS could prove far more profitable. 

With ERIKS’ know-how applied not just to the pump but to the complete pumping system, you could expect to achieve energy savings of 30-40%. And with a full, proactive, ERIKS Asset Management service, you can expect to see those savings sooner rather than later. 

“But if it ain’t broke,” you might say, “don’t fix it.” 

The risk is, when is does break it could affect production. A line may have to be halted, or the complete plant shut down, simply due to one failed asset. Depending on what the asset is, and its role in your process, you may even be producing faulty or contaminated products, or risking health and safety. 

As the risks and costs mount up, the cost of maintenance and repair is insignificant in comparison. In fact, the energy savings will easily finance the early intervention. 

So even if it ain’t broke, don’t risk it.

Are your assets in control?

Asset Management makes the difference between you or your assets being in control.

If your assets control you, you’re reacting to issues as they arise, and paying the price in lower efficiency, lost production and emergency call-out fees. If you control your assets through Asset Management, you can be proactive and reap the rewards in higher efficiency, more uptime and lower maintenance costs.  

Taking back control of your assets with ERIKS starts with a plant walk-round with an ERIKS engineer, to ensure we understand your challenges. That’s followed by a thorough audit of your assets, to answer vital questions such as:

• How many different manufacturers’ equipment do you have in your plant?
• How many different models?
• How many spare parts?
• Which assets:
  • are obsolete / being phased out?
  • no longer perform to spec. or conform to legislation?
  • are vulnerable to failure / about to fail?
  • are process-critical?
• Does your spares stock profile match your needs? 
• Does your procurement process match the models you operate?

Once a complete picture of your assets, their condition, their criticality, reliability, energy use and spares profile has been established, ERIKS can help you to undertake Asset Management Best Practices, including:

• a spares maintenance programme
• process mapping
• training
• lubrication routines
• turnkey upgrades / new installations
• consolidated spare parts supply
• asset tagging and tracking
• reverse engineering
• inventory optimisation

With a recommended spares, inventory and obsolescence policy in place you’ll see reduced costs and reduced business risk. By undertaking preventative and predictive maintenance you’ll see an increase in Mean Time Between Failures, with increased productivity and lower operating costs. Your environmental and process safety performance will be enhanced, ensuring legal compliance. And with documented testing, inspection and certification of asset governance, you’ll ensure regulatory compliance too. 

Or to put it simply: you won’t be just managing. You’ll be Asset Managing.