Month: December 2021

Optimizing asset reliability and performance is a critical factor for enabling organizations to generate revenue and achieve other business goals. Therefore, it is important for organizations to understand an asset’s life cycle and identify opportunities to maximize value. This article provides an overview of asset life cycle management.

What is the Asset Life Cycle?

An asset’s life cycle is the series of stages involved in managing an asset, from “life” to “death”. While there are many ways to segment it, fixed assets generally go through 5 main stages:

• Planning
• Acquisition
• Operation
• Maintenance
• Decommission / Disposal

The first stage, planning, represents identifying the need for an asset. The process then continues throughout an asset’s useful life before it is considered to be fully depreciated. Assets are disposed of, recycled, or replaced once they’ve reached the end of their useful life and the process begins again.

Read Also: What is an Asset?

What is Asset Life Cycle Management?

Asset life cycle management (ALCM) is a method of managing assets in order to maximize their value through optimized planning, acquisition, installation, operation, maintenance and disposal. Throughout each stage, organizations look for opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, reliability, and profitability while reducing risks and related costs.

Organizations invest in ALCM because effective asset management extends an asset’s value beyond its useful life. Further, organizations that continuously collect data throughout an asset’s lifetime gain additional benefits related to making data-driven repair vs. replace decisions, optimizing maintenance plans, reducing asset management costs, and maximizing return on investment (ROI).

Asset Life Cycle Stages

Asset life cycle stages can be defined in multiple ways, but generally fall into the stages described below.

Planning

The planning stage occurs when current assets aren’t meeting the organizations needs. Using data from an asset management system and input from key stakeholders, evaluate the need for the asset, the organization’s current and future needs, and begin researching assets that meet your requirements.

Acquisition

After planning comes the acquisition stage. Acquisition brings focus to your budget and financial situation, as this is when you perform vendor research and ultimately purchase the asset. The information gathered during planning makes it easier to identify a supplier that meets your requirements at an affordable cost.

Also included in this stage is delivery of the asset and installation. Activities include assembly, setup, testing, inspecting, and tracking the asset in your computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software or enterprise asset management (EAM) software.

Read also: What’s the Difference between CMMS vs. EAM Software?

Meanwhile, the maintenance team can also work with the asset manufacturer to generate a bill of materials (BOM), prepare the maintenance storeroom for new inventory items, and enter spare parts into the CMMS. The maintenance team can also obtain owner’s manuals and set up preventive maintenance (PM) schedules. During installation, technicians may also participate in training from the manufacturer to learn how to perform basic maintenance tasks.

Operation & Maintenance

The operation and maintenance stages represent a majority of the asset’s life cycle. They are grouped together because they happen simultaneously, instead of one after another like the previous stages.

During this period of time, the asset is put into operation and is maintained or repaired as needed. As time goes on, the maintenance team must be mindful of how maintenance needs will change over time.

For example, newer equipment requires fewer repairs, but the risk of unplanned downtime increases as assets age and require more frequent attention. Maintenance activities are also affected by factors such as operator competency, usage, product being handled, availability of maintenance resources, and environmental conditions, to name a few.

The organization will need to perform multiple types of asset maintenance over time. Maintenance strategies differ from one organization to the next – or from one asset to the next – though they typically fall into one of the following categories:

• Corrective maintenance (CM)
• Preventive maintenance (PM)
• Condition-based maintenance (CbM)
• Predictive maintenance (PdM)

Organizations may use one or a combination of these strategies to keep assets in proper working order.

Decommission / Disposal

The last stage in an asset’s life cycle is decommissioning and disposal of the asset. This typically occurs when the asset no longer provides enough value to the organization to justify the costs to maintain it.

Depending on the type of asset and the material it’s made of, it may be recycled or thrown away. In some industries, assets are repurposed before they get disposed of completely. For example, a truck that travels to worksites becomes a plow truck that stays on the property. However, repurposing doesn’t happen often with production assets.

After an asset is disposed, the life cycle starts over again with a replacement asset. This is always a good time to determine if the organization can upgrade to a better product while minimizing costs. By analyzing asset data collected over its lifetime, the organization can reassess how to maximize the next asset’s value moving forward.

Asset Maintenance Management Software

Successful asset life cycle management is built upon the collection and analysis of crucial asset data. Many organizations track asset data in enterprise asset management (EAM) software. For organizations that want to place more focus on the maintenance stage – where asset spend most of their useful life – an EAM might be too complex.

Many organizations implement computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software to manage maintenance on their equipment and facility assets. CMMS software stores all maintenance data in one spot, allowing maintenance professionals to easily create and manage work orders, view asset history, track demand for spare parts, and much more.

It should be noted, however, that CMMS and EAM software are often used together to get the full benefit of both systems.

Maximize Your Assets’ Useful Lives with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select allows you to maximize asset reliability and extend your assets’ useful lives. Our CMMS software links your assets with their related spare parts, maintenance schedules, and work orders to provide a bird’s-eye-view of your asset maintenance needs. Request a demo today to learn more about FTMaintenance Select.

The education industry faces unique maintenance management challenges. School campuses, from elementary schools to colleges and universities, are different environments from other facilities or industrial buildings. Read on to learn more about the types of maintenance challenges found in educational facilities and how computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software can address those challenges.

Education Industry Maintenance Challenges

Educational facilities require complex and thorough maintenance. In order to foster an effective environment for learning, campuses need to remain in excellent condition. Adding to this challenge, continued financial support for each school depends on how well capital investments are protected through security measures, insurance policies, and maintenance. Below are multiple reasons maintenance management challenges in educational settings.

Large Volume of Work Compared to Resources

Facilities management in schools is focused on grounds maintenance, including cutting grass in the spring and summer and salting sidewalks when it snows in the winter. School maintenance staff also has a lot of indoor tasks including mopping floors, minor mechanical repairs, unclogging drains, replacing tiles, and painting. On top of these standard jobs are unexpected repairs and maintenance requests from teachers, staff, and in some cases, students, that create a large volume of work to tackle.

Despite the high work volume, school maintenance departments often face shrinking resources due to a lack of funding. The schools are unable to hire the ideal number of maintenance staff members or outside contractors to meet demand. This results in older building elements such as worn insulation, outdated ventilation systems, and machine assets that are past their prime not getting repaired or replaced in a timely manner.

Read More: How to Combat the Maintenance Technician Shortage

Completing Urgent Jobs with Classes in Session

While most maintenance jobs are completed outside of school hours, urgent maintenance issues must be dealt with while students are in class. These can range from an overflowing toilet or power failure, to a burned out light in a classroom, or a spill that must be cleaned up immediately. The janitor or maintenance technician may need to get on a ladder, block off an area, or otherwise interrupt a class, which can be distracting for students. Schools must use discretion about which jobs truly cannot wait and which can be done when students are out of the classroom (i.e., during lunch, recess or after class).

Large Campuses with Different Maintenance Environments

Educational facilities, especially college campuses, can be hundreds or even thousands of acres in size and spread across multiple locations. Even some elementary and middle schools can be large for a small maintenance staff to walk around. Maintenance workers have to juggle the importance of each maintenance task with where each asset is located and map out their day accordingly to get work done on time.

Unlike in other industries, maintenance management in education requires the janitors and other maintenance personnel to perform maintenance in many different types of environments. Many large schools have computer labs, science labs, pools, gyms, and cafeterias to name just a few. Maintaining such a wide variety of assets requires a large array of skills and knowledge, which may warrant the help of outside contractors.

Dorms and Weekend Work on College Campuses

Colleges and universities have unique challenges not present in other educational settings. In elementary, middle, and high schools, students go home in the afternoon, leaving time for maintenance technicians or janitorial staff to work without interrupting students. On the other hand, many students live on campus or attend night classes, leaving less time for maintenance personnel to complete their work student-free. Dormitories also contain unique assets, including specialized HVAC systems, showers, small kitchen appliances, and laundry facilities that require specific skills to maintain.

Event Preparation and Cleanup

Schools at all levels have the added maintenance challenge of preparing for, and cleaning up after, events. These events can include sports games, theater performances, banquets, band and choir concerts, assemblies, dances, and school board meetings (to name just some). Maintenance technicians are often in charge of setting up seating if needed, and might be responsible for preparing, inspecting, and servicing sound and lighting equipment. After an event, janitors may need to clean up and remove trash, sweep and mop floors, and return chairs and equipment to their storage spaces. For outdoor events, they may need to mow the lawn, treat weeds, or remove leaves.

This can be challenging because it is additional work outside of keeping the school running smoothly during regular class hours. Maintenance teams must keep track of events schedules and plan the work they need to do accordingly.

Stringent Cleaning, Safety, and Indoor Air Quality Measures

Every organization has a checklist of stringent cleaning tasks that must be done regularly. Following the proper cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing guidelines is more important now than ever in order to mitigate COVID-19. There are also additional cleaning requirements to be completed during the summer and other school breaks. Books, computer keyboards, and science lab supplies for example, should be disinfected before each school year begins. Door handles and railings must be cleaned often since many people touch them frequently.

Proper water filtration management and waste management must also be high priority. This includes drinking water, cafeteria sinks, food preparation stations, plumbing systems, and drainage. When necessary, maintenance management must make the repairs or contact a local plumber to do so. Related to waste management, trash removal as well as grease trap cleaning in the cafeteria is also done by the maintenance department.

With so many people entering and exiting the building (or buildings), varying room sizes, and the large square footage of campus facilities, maintaining optimal indoor air quality (IAQ) is both important and challenging. Indoor air quality includes not only the air that passes through the HVAC system, but also radon gas, construction dust, mold, paint fumes, stack emissions, and asbestos. If the indoor air quality in a school is less than ideal, it can cause individuals to experience allergy symptoms, congestion, headaches, and nausea.

Maintenance during School Breaks and Summer

Maintenance management in the education industry includes executing appropriate maintenance tasks during winter, spring, and summer breaks when students, faculty, and staff are away from campus. In the winter and spring as needed, maintenance may scrub and wax tile floors, clean carpets and entrance mats, dust surfaces in all rooms, and deep clean the restrooms.

In the summer, these tasks are also done, but additional maintenance work is completed since there is more time with vacant facilities. Additional summer maintenance in education includes repairing cooling towers if needed, remediating mold, and washing all windows on the interior and exterior. High-dusting is also done in the summer, which includes light fixtures, high shelves, and anything near the ceiling. The walls, doors, furniture, ceilings, and desks get deep cleaned. If any renovations are needed, they are typically completed during summer, holiday, and in between term breaks.

Read More: Facility Summer Maintenance Checklist

How a CMMS Addresses Educational Facility Maintenance Challenges

The use of computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) in educational facilities helps to address maintenance challenges in this industry. Overall, CMMS can help to enhance overall safety and support a learning environment. A CMMS can help to balance the needs and demands of school maintenance with the available budget.

Schedule Work Ahead of Time

Using CMMS software boosts overall maintenance work productivity. The maintenance team needs to be aware of when classes, breaks, and events occur so that maintenance jobs can be scheduled accordingly. With that schedule in mind, maintenance managers can schedule one-time or reoccurring work orders, with customizable timeframes for daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or other periodic preventive maintenance jobs. This planned maintenance can be assigned to specific technicians or contractors with the appropriate skills.

Bird’s Eye View of Asset Relationships

CMMS software’s asset management capabilities allow maintenance departments to organize and track assets in multiple locations, giving them a “bird’s eye view”. Documents and images can be attached to provide additional asset maintenance details where needed.

Service History

Asset service history can also be maintained and viewed in a few clicks to assist with troubleshooting. When maintenance technicians are attempting to determine the cause of an issue with a machine, reviewing what maintenance jobs were done on the asset in the past can help. The type of maintenance, specific job details, dates of previous maintenance, what tools and resources were used, and the time in between maintenance jobs can all be viewed in CMMS.

Tracking Inventory

Using CMMS software in educational facilities is helpful for keeping track of maintenance parts inventory, including tools and supplies used. Since many items get checked out, moved, and then returned, maintenance management software’s inventory capabilities maintain records of which items are present, checked out, or missing. Every piece of equipment that comes in and out of inventory can be tagged with a barcode label. Barcodes can be used to scan in updated part quantities or check out items to be used in maintenance jobs.

Mobile Work Order Management and Software Access

CMMS software can be used on any mobile device, which enables maintenance technicians to start, perform, or at least earmark maintenance work as soon as a corrective maintenance issue is discovered. Work orders can be created, opened, and closed directly from the job site, saving the janitor or maintenance technician time they would have spent walking to and from a desktop computer. Mobile CMMS is especially convenient on large campuses with multiple buildings.

Maintenance Requests

School maintenance solutions such as CMMS software include the ability for faculty, staff, and where applicable, college students to make maintenance requests. This industry may receive more requests than in other industries, especially from colleges where there are dorm rooms that may need attention. CMMS software allows maintenance requests to be managed in an efficient, timely manner, prioritizing them according to severity and the date the request was made. Requesters can attach photos to provide more information about the problem requiring resolution. They will receive communication regarding when their request has been received and completed.

Maintenance Reports

Maintenance reports can help maintenance management in education to solve reoccurring maintenance issues. CMMS software contains reports, which allow tracking of maintenance operations, including assets, inventory, and work orders.

Vendor Management

CMMS software can provide a way for schools to manage their vendor and outsourced contractor information. It provides the ability to store contact information as well as update market prices for specific types of parts and services.

Maintain Your Educational Facility with FTMaintenance

FTMaintenance is CMMS software that is used by educational facilities to make maintenance operations more efficient, manage assets in multiple buildings on campus, balance maintenance jobs with student and faculty schedules, and keep track of outside vendors and contractors’ contact information. Visit our education page to read more about how FTMaintenance works well for school campuses, or schedule a demo today.