Checking Boxes and Moving the Needle: Incrementally Advancing Asset Management Program Value for Utilities

Water infrastructure Asset Management (AM) is recognized as a long-game focused on realizing value over the entire life cycle of facilities. This presentation will showcase recent advancements for one utility in leveraging asset management activities to address long-range strategic goals, implement their 'work plan', manage workload and resources, and use simple dashboards to 'move the needle' toward achieving agency goals. King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) provides regional wastewater conveyance and treatment services to 1.9 million people over a 424-square-mile service area in Washington state. WTD's wastewater system includes over $4 billion of conveyance and treatment infrastructure assets. As with most utilities, WTD is challenged by aging assets, including: Treatment and pumping facilities largely built in the 1960s, consisting of over 55,000 pieces of equipment, instruments, and control devices as well as land and buildings. A system of nearly 400 miles of conveyance pipelines, some of which are over 100 years old. Aging infrastructure is a major driver for capital spending and Operations & Maintenance priorities, and WTD has had a formal strategic asset management plan (SAMP) in place for almost 20 years. Updated every five years, the SAMP includes strategies, objectives, and a Work Plan for achieving related goals. WTD updated its SAMP and its Work Plan in early 2019 and implemented an 'Asset Management Work Plan Dashboard' to help guide programmatic activities related to asset management. As with other utilities, WTD faces challenges moving asset management programs toward success, such as: People: Overcoming lack of resources Gaining trust and support from all levels of the organization Breaking down barriers and cultural resistance to change Making everyone feel invested and valued as an integral part of the AM program. Processes: Defining and standardizing business processes Identifying and implementing industry best practices Assessing strengths and weaknesses and leveraging failures as learning opportunities Developing a plan to execute based on findings. Data: Establishing line-of-sight from tactical action plans all the way through to strategic goals and level of service objectives. Creating progress and performance metrics for the asset management program and holding AM and other staff accountable for reaching targets. Transitioning from traditional work planning to data driven prioritizations. 2023 WTD Initiatives Asset management is best accomplished as an enterprise-wide effort that engages resources and business processes from multiple workgroups in an organization. It also produces the best results as a continuous improvement process in making thoughtful and purposeful stepwise competency and performance advancements, as illustrated in Figure 1. As part of the WTD approach, several new initiatives were prioritized in 2023 following the dashboard-based approach. The initiatives are reflective of similar high-priority asset management needs at other utilities, and include: Condition Assessment Key Performance Indicators and Level of Service Reporting Risk Assessment and Replacement Costs Technology Planning and Implementation Spare Parts Management. The presentation will detail how several of these initiatives are being implemented, challenges that are being addressed, and progress to date. Figure 1 King County's continuous improvement process, leveraging the asset management work plan dashboard. Dashboard Management Approach WTD has used a dashboard management approach to guide and manage asset management activities following the release of their 2018 SAMP Update to advance the WTD Asset Management Program. The 2018 SAMP identified over 200 discrete initiatives including near-, medium-, and long-term activities. The dashboard approach has allowed WTD to identify priorities, assign resources, manage task interdependencies, and forecast work products. The presentation will outline how WTD uses and updates the dashboard for the Asset Management Program. Figure 2 The Asset Management Work Plan Dashboard gives asset managers, supervisors, and leadership insight into the performance of the asset management program, and resource needs and availability. Condition Assessment Consistent with work plan priorities, advancing condition assessment programs was identified as a key element for WTD's Asset Management Program. A current focus is to develop a Condition Assessment Manual to coordinate condition assessment programs used by WTD and the workflow and decision-making processes. Specific condition assessment programs WTD relies on include: Critical Asset Condition Assessment oCondition / Performance Monitoring for Target Assets Life Cycle Programs oAge-Based System Replacement for Identified Assets and Systems Engineering Project-Based Condition Assessment oProcess/Facility-Based Comprehensive Team Evaluations Resulting in Project Definitions oCoating / Corrosion Assessment oRoofing Assessment Linear Asset Condition Assessment oVisual Inspection and Criticality Informed The primary feature of the Condition Assessment Manual is a workflow that identifies the data sources, condition rating approaches, and organizational responsibilities related to the various condition assessment programs. Aggregating and prioritizing the results of the coordinated condition assessment programs allows WTD to accurately characterize risk and facility rehabilitation and replacement activities to reduce risk to the utility. The manual also allows WTD to measure and track risk to manage programmatic asset management progress and communicate priorities and progress to the WTD workgroups. The condition assessment initiative also leverages the significant utility effort to implement a new Maximo Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) across the utility. The transition has included substantial technical and logistical challenges, but also provides the opportunity for data management changes. WTD is using this opportunity to look broadly at the data life cycle (Figure 3) and to take full advantage of the benefits of Maximo's new technology capabilities, including tracking condition data in work orders to support decision-making. Figure 3 Leveraging information across the data life cycle The presentation will review the technical and resource requirements for the aggregate condition assessment program and outline data collection, decision-making, and coordination between the various contributing condition assessment efforts. This presentation will allow asset management professionals to gain insights from WTD's successful Strategic Asset Management Plan. The intended audience includes: Utility leadership interested in improving level of service delivery and determining the best way to 'move the needle' through smart allocation of limited resources and competing priorities. Asset Managers looking for innovative ways to advance asset management initiatives and to communicate effectively with leadership and staff. Financial Managers seeking alternative methods for developing financial strategies and plans. Supervisors, operators, and engineers in charge of day-to-day activities that support asset management, looking for ideas on how to overcome common obstacles to implementing key asset management initiatives such as condition assessment. Participants will come away better equipped to develop tactical, actionable initiatives and tasks that will help advance a successful asset management program through a continuous improvement process.