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Critical Success Factor model of physical asset management services

Physical asset management (PAM) is the way of the future for companies wanting to remain competitive, improve their performance and increase their bottom line. For companies to survive, they need to make physical asset management part of their future strategic and competitive drive.

According to Wyhan Jooste, ACC Pack Development Manager at Pragma, the demand for physical asset management services is growing worldwide. “Management literature is unanimous in advocating the integration of services into core product offerings.  With the current industrial, technological and economic pressures, physical asset management service providers are using services to assist asset owners with the management of their assets and compliance to the asset management standard, PAS 55.  The lack of research in this field shows that little is known about the underlying factors influencing the success of an asset management service partnership between service provider and asset owner.”

Jooste, who is currently busy with his PhD on the subject, says there are fields of study related to asset management services from which we can learn. By studying what previous practitioners have found to be important to the success of services, project management, physical asset management and information systems, it is possible to identify a list of factors that are likely to also affect the success of asset management services.

In light of this, Jooste has identified 80 factors grouped in 6 categories that might, to a greater or lesser extent, affect asset management service success. “The six categories consist of pre-contract activities, which include client involvement, contracting, a proposed solution and clear user requirements. The second category covers preparation and design. This involves data availability, design processes, service integration as well as system integration. The third category is the provider’s organisational environment and capabilities. This entails managerial capabilities, the organisational environment and people capabilities. In fourth place is the implementation, which includes documentation, project management, quality control and training and change management. Fifthly there are the control processes, which include the management of service levels, quality control, relationships and continual service improvement. The final category is benefits and value-add, which covers the intangible value-add of services, as well as quantitative benefits.”

The identified factors is in the process to be verified in the context of asset management services as part of Jooste’s PhD “Once verified, the critical success factors will be identified through market input and we’ll be able to finalise a critical success factor model for physical asset management services and the related service provider and asset owner relationships. This process will take another 15 months to complete,” Jooste concludes.

The benefits of a critical success factor model to the asset management community are:

  • Enhanced communication between the stakeholders in an asset management service relationship.
  • Improved support to the asset owner organisation’s strategy and goals.
  • Identification of the factors that require continuous attention and measurement.
  • It provides a risk management perspective on asset management services to consider and used for taking corrective action.

Wyhan Jooste can be contacted at Wyhan.Jooste@pragmaworld.net or on 021 943 3900.

MORE ABOUT WYHAN

Wyhan holds an MSc.Eng degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch. He joined Pragma in 2004 as a junior consultant, assisting companies with the growth of their asset and maintenance maturity through outsourced asset management. In 2007, he started research and development of a standard set of business processes and support tools for Pragma. He was promoted to business process development manager in 2010 and was responsible for developing new service business processes and training for the Pragma group. He is also involved in consulting in the development of asset management assessment and support frameworks.

Wyhan’s interests are new service and business process development, business process re-engineering, asset management research, maintenance work planning and control and CMMS. He has presented papers at various conferences and also published articles in some of SA’s leading journals.

Wyhan is registered as a Professional Engineer with ECSA and is currently busy with his PhD in the critical success factors for asset management services.


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