As one of the premier events on the South African physical asset management (PAM) calendar, the second annual SAAMA Conference, hosted by the Southern Africa Asset Management Association, saw all the big players in the industry come together to debate the current issues facing the PAM community. With the focus placed on Life Cycle Costing (LCC), the conference stimulated many discussions pertaining to design, implementation, operation and maintenance, as well as the replacement phases in an asset’s life.
Speakers included John Hardwick, President of the Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM), Scenario Planner Clem Sunter, David McKeown, CEO of the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), Erik Helms Nielsen, CEO of Reliasset, Geert Fuchs and Ruben Busink, Royal HaskoningDHV, Dr Hal Belmonte of Aurecon, David Bidwell of Qualitrol Corporation/TAS, Paul Taylor of Powertech System Integrators and Adriaan Scheeres, CEO of Pragma.
“South Africa is going through a period of extreme economic pressure. Very little capital is entering the country and municipalities’ budgets do not always cover all their expenses,” says Anton Booyzen, President of SAAMA who explains that the aim of this year’s conference was to ask how we as a country can make the most of the financial resources we have available in terms of public services.
Pragma CEO and founding member of SAAMA, Adriaan Scheeres says, “Strategic asset management is one of any country’s most important political stabilisers. Without it, you cannot ensure reliable infrastructure or stable service delivery.” A fact also highlighted by one of South Africa’s most highly regarded scenario planners, Clem Sunter, in his presentation The World and South Africa beyond 2015. In his presentation, Sunter touched on various case studies which included the recent 8-hour power outage in Soweto.
“One of the key outcomes from the conference is the fact that physical asset management is for the future. It will have an impact on your deliverables now, but if you get it right you’ll reap the true benefits in the future,” adds Scheeres.
Adding international context in terms of best practices from a global perspective, the conference was selected as GFMAM’s annual meeting destination. This gave delegates the opportunity to rub shoulders with GFMAM’s team of experienced asset management practitioners.
“Asset Management is all about solving problems with some lateral thinking and having different people’s perspectives on it,” says GFMAM Chairman John Hardwick. Hardwick continues by stating, “The SAAMA conference is comparable to what’s happening around the world,” and “The quality of the speakers have been excellent.”
For more information about the Southern Africa Asset Management Association and the SAAMA conference, visit SAAMA.org.za and www.SAAMAConference.org.za respectively.
