As your company grows, the challenge of managing business assets grows also. Effective asset management, however, is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s vital to any business organization so that they can accurately assess inventories and reduce the likelihood of lost or stolen equipment.
One of the most important processes involved in asset management is maintenance management. It’s the process that you take to ensure that your assets last as long as expected. Poor maintenance management will only result in assets breaking down before their retirement, taking a toll on the revenue and profit margins of your business in the long run.
How can you overcome such a challenge? Here are the best asset management practices you can adopt to optimize asset lifecycles:
- Onboarding A Senior Manager
A vital key to the success of asset maintenance is senior management support. For many companies and organizations, asset management systems represent a commitment and significant financial investment, so onboarding a senior manager to oversee the process makes sense.
- Deployment Of Qualified And Trained Staff
In order to be successful, use only qualified and trained staff for asset maintenance management. Experienced individuals implement established business protocols for maintaining data accuracy, then continue to update them as your company evolves.
- Boosting Asset Performance By Replenishing Stocks On Time
Maintaining the right balance in assets’ stocks is one of the major difficulties that businesses encounter today. As you might know, how well your company can carry out daily tasks is influenced by the quality and quantity of its equipment.
It’s essential to note that overstocking can be as harmful as understocking on certain items. The ideal thing to do is to enable an asset supply that’s continuous for your organization by automating the inventory process. But how do you efficiently control the asset supplies for your company?
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software links purchase orders with assets, and whenever a certain equipment is near shortage, the purchase order will be triggered. With this, you never have to halt a workflow again, since you can have the desired asset on hand at the time it’s needed. There are many choices for CMMS software available today, so don’t forget to compare top CMMS software before investing in one.
- Maximizing The Asset Utility Function Through Real-Time Data Analysis
Examining all items usage patterns in your inventory and allocating resources accordingly are ways to prevent your business from becoming stagnant. To do this, you should be able to create reports that are customized for different assets. This will put you in a better position when it comes to assigning assets for various work orders. Because you’re tweaking asset allocation effectively, you can maximize its utility function and lessen the need to make more purchases.
- Ensuring Accurate Depreciation Tracking
Your business will pay too much for asset maintenance, insurance and taxes without accurate asset depreciation tracking. As long as the purchasing information that your business has is correct, your CMMS software will be able to calculate depreciation accurately.
When it comes to maintenance, you can make more informed decisions if you know how your assets are depreciating. For instance, you’ll know when it’s the right time to decommission an asset and to invest in something new.
- Implementing A Maintenance Schedule
A machine often breaks down, and can’t perform its tasks because of a minor malfunction. If you’re properly planning service care for all items in your inventory, you can avoid such situations. Remember that damaged equipment incurs repair costs and wastes time, on top of hindering your workflow.
Missing a service session shouldn’t be a problem with a task management app like Evernote, or a CMMS software. This is because you’ll be receiving configured alerts whenever a maintenance routine has to be carried out. You can avoid unexpected downtime this way, and make your assets last longer, allowing you to flawlessly carry out your business activities.
- Building Mechanisms For Correcting Data Inaccuracies
One of the vital components of any successful asset management system is data integrity. When unforeseen circumstances or events disrupt the asset management process or deviations from asset management procedures occur, inaccuracies arise.
Examples of tools used to identify database inaccuracies quickly so that they can be immediately corrected are RFID tags and hand-held scanners. Keep in mind that you’ll be using data analytics in improving asset performance, so any inaccuracies should be corrected as soon as possible.
- Obtaining High-Quality Stocks By Streamlining Procurement Practices
You may be tempted to purchase cheap low-quality assets to save temporary costs. This a mistake that you must avoid. If you don’t, you’ll notice frequent breakdowns and poor performance from your assets. The ultimate goal is to have quality standards established for your organization, to ensure optimal asset level.
To establish quality standards, conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the different assets sold by your suppliers. Choose the vendor who offers the highest-quality stock, as per your standards, based on what you can afford. Remember to keep future savings in mind when you do this.
- Review Every Quarter
Asset maintenance management systems should be reviewed periodically, like any system that’s vital to your company’s successful running. Preferably, you should conduct the review every quarter to make sure that defined objectives are being achieved. You can also use this opportunity to identify and correct any problems.
- Sharing Data With Appropriate Staff
By sharing data throughout various levels of your organization, you can demonstrate your asset management system’s value. It will encourage ongoing support not only from senior management, but also from the company at large.
Final Thoughts
Before starting off your business, you must plan out the required inventory to function and sustain successfully in the coming years. You put a large sum of money into your inventory, and you should expect that investment to last for at least five years. The last thing you’d want is to end up overusing your assets to the extent that they break down before their expected retirement. By following the tips in this post, you can overcome any challenges associated with asset maintenance management, and improve asset life for your business.
