Transformation of an asset-intensive company requires people to reconsider their beliefs and values of what is important in the delivery of their role. This is particularly challenging for experienced people led by managers with past successes in running teams. The rationale for change is the self-realisation of what is currently not working and indeed, to accept a mirror held up to the team on where personal improvement is needed.

Two key problems need to be addressed early. The first is that when the organisation is struggling it is not because of “them” but because of “us” – each person has contributed to the current state of affairs. The second problem holding the team back is no confidence that their data has value to point the way forward for improvement and ultimately, transformation.

Valuable asset management analytics are not statistics – they are not portal reports of charts and trends which can be found on office noticeboards and public screens. They are not KPIs or reports fed to the senior management team. They are insights comparing the drivers of current problems to what the teams should be achieving. Insights tell people what is driving risk and identify where people’s time is being wasted, taking them away from improving themselves and their assets.

In this session we show such insights – poor work control, overloaded work teams, limitations in feedback or the use of feedback which could kick start the improvement process. The insights are taken from studies undertaken over 20 years across multiple industries and which have formed the baseline from which many successful improvement projects have commenced, with some leading to cross company transformation.

Lessons learned include ensuring our reliability engineers and other people in the improvement role need specific information they can use to drive effective improvement plans that are prioritised and measurable. These methods have been included in the Asset Schools programs and are based on proven case work.

Standing still quoting simplistic charts is no longer an option when valuable people need to understand their operations and the assets they work on, and need such insights to focus on what is holding experienced and trained teams back from excellence. What does improvement look like?

• People know the risks in their plant as it is discovered and then quantified by their preventive maintenance strategy.
• Repairs of equipment are scheduled early before the condition deteriorates so far it will impact operational uptime or capability and unnecessarily extend work.
• Work is scheduled out into the future because people know their risks plus the work needed to address the risk is identified resulting in a pipeline of work.
• Delivering work is not about delivering to a KPI target: it is an essential feed for consistently successful performance of the assets.

In the modern world success is enabled with valuable asset analytics that provide insights to the people who need the information and will then make the right decisions.