ASSET MANAGEMENT – DOING BETTER WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING ALL ALONG

Asset Management is one of those improvement processes that we all know we should be doing, but can't seem to be able to get started with. But maybe the problem is that we look on Asset Management as something that we're not doing today and need to start doing tomorrow rather than as a process that we've been doing all along but perhaps need to start doing better. We look on Asset Management as an improvement without defining what the process is that we're improving in the first place. In Palm Bay, Florida we decided that we needed to start by documenting what we were currently doing, build a database that would tell us where we were, and then develop a plan to get us where we need to be; and that the fundamental tool to get started was a robust CMMS system that everyone could use and would help us grow the program.The purpose of this paper is to chronicle our efforts and our progress. But more important it deals with the issue of “getting your arms around the problem.” Too much of the contemporary writing on the subject of Asset Management implies the need for radical and immediate change. That just isn't the case. Our efforts prove it.