Consultant's Corner: ISO 55000: Setting New Standards For Asset Management
By Gareth Lifton, Strategic Asset Management Director, CH2M HILL
A new set of global asset management standards were recently released that will make it easier for water utilities and other organizations to improve the management of their assets, as well as the overall effectiveness of their daily operations. Known as the ISO 55000 Suite of Standards for Asset Management, the standards include three components:
- ISO 55000: Asset Management - Overview, principles and terminology
- ISO 55001: Asset Management – Management systems - Requirements
- ISO 55002: Asset Management – Management systems - Guidelines for the application of ISO 55001
Together, the suite provides a model asset management systems framework (includes asset management policy, objectives, and plans) to help organizations understand what documents, systems, and procedures are needed to effectively manage assets in order to maximize the return on their investment.
Released in January 2014 by the International Organization for Standardization, the standards enable utilities and organizations to get greater value from their assets and in turn achieve their organizational objectives.
The ISO 55000 standards follow on from the British Standards Institute, Publicly Available Specification (BSiPAS) 55, which was first published in 2004 and updated in 2008.
CH2M HILL staff have been actively involved with the development of both PAS55 and the ISO 55000 standards — helping the water and transportation industries especially, implement best practices for effective utility and asset management. We are seeing more and more organizations effectively build their business case for asset management programs to improve day-to-day operations, reduce the overall cost of owning assets, and manage the lifecycle and maintenance requirements of assets. (Read last month’s CC article on building the business case for asset management to learn more about how to successfully do so.)
The new ISO 55000 standards are a game changer; and while compliance is voluntary, the standards are a differentiator for public utilities and companies committed to performance, quality, and safety. The standards can be applied and adopted broadly by industry, across a wide variety of businesses and markets, and they provide a much more comprehensive approach to asset management. ISO 55000 can be used to facilitate interoperability, production improvements, increase safety, and improve the effectiveness of an asset management program in general.
If you are interested in exploring the ISO 55000 certification process or would just like to learn more about this set of standards, I encourage you to explore the ISO’s website or follow our asset management blog series.
The Institute of Asset Management, a UK-based asset management association, will host a launch event on May 13 in New York City to introduce the standards to the U.S. marketplace.
Gareth Lifton is a senior manager in CH2M HILL’s Calgary office. He has more than 25 years of experience working with public utilities and has amassed extensive experience in nearly all aspects of utility management, including the development and implementation of utility policies, strategies, and business plans; the development and management of long-term capital programs, and asset strategies; and the implementation of asset management/risk management methodologies, tools, and techniques. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta and the Institute of Civil Engineers, UK, as well as a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, UK.