Condition Assessment

Some questions and answers on condition assessment.

1.0 What is condition assessment?

1. Condition assessment is the act to quantify the physical state at a given point of time

2.0 Why do we need condition assessment?

1. To have a clear knowledge of the asset condition and how they are performing
2. Prioritisation of maintenance programs especially budgeting purposes
3. Formulation of predictive failure mode or analytical mechanism
4. formulation of maintenance strategies

3.0 What is the main ingredients of a condition assessment?

There are basically 3 main ingredients of condition assessment that is:

1. planning
2. investigation
3. analysis

4.0 What is the details for para 3.0?

1. planning

i. Must prioritise based on:

1. criticality

2. type of asset

3. age of the asset

4. rate of deterioration

5. economic value of the asset

(source: international infrastructure management manual)

ii. Evaluate the cost benefit analysis of condition assessment

iii. Implement periodic reassessment of condition assessment plan\

- The condition assessment plan must be resources loaded

- and fulfill SMART

v. Establish tools such as:

1. Manual

2. Standard Operating Procedures

2. Investigation

i. assessment techniques

1. Industrial or governing standards

2. Manufacturer’s manual

3. In-house manuals

ii. Type of investigation

1. Desktop review

2. Visual

3. Test (either in-situ or laboratory testing)

iii. Time frame

- Periodic or non periodic

iv. Cost of the assessment

1. Cost of assessment will be governed by:

a. Depth of investigation,
b. Extent of coverage (units involved, locations etc)
c. Extent of data
d. Use of manpower – internal or external, equipments, machineries,
e. Availability of data (from public domain etc)

2. Budget

v. Data collection

1. In-situ or calculated

2. Automation or manual

3. Analysis

• Future economic benefits
• Failure analysis
• Grouping of assets according to condition rating or grading system
• Customised analysis based on current needs and assessment

5.0 What is the outcome of condition assessment?

• Facility condition index
• Residual life or future economic benefits
• Acquisition of new assets or replacement of assets
• Maintenance and operations plans and strategies
• Maintenance prioritisation
• Budgeting

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Index on Asset Management

(Please click on the links to read the articles)

New articles

1. Essential initial documents in asset management - new topic updated 08 Feb 2010

Asset Management System/Tools/Enablers

1. Economic Evaluation
2. Information System
3. Perfomance Management
4. System Thinking in Asset Management
5. Risk Management
6. Whole Life Cycle Costing

Definition

1. Asset Definition
2. Asset Management Definition

Asset Management Fundamentals:

1. Asset registry
2. Roles and responsibility
3. Asset objectives
4. Service criteria
5. Asset condition and performance
6. Asset life cycle
7. User expectations
8. Asset stakeholders
9. Asset management objectives
10. Asset planning

General Interest

1. Perspectives in Asset Management
2. The Frequent Asset Management Question
   Why Do We Need Asset Management?

Essential Initial Documents for Asset Management

When an organization embarks on an exercise to procure an asset (s), the procurement documentation would be as perfect as the asset itself. But when the asset is procured and put into service, that’s where all problems start.

Firstly, the original procurement documentation is no where to be found,

Secondly, the person who holds the original procurement documentation is either retired or has moved out from the organization,

Thirdly, the asset does not have the proper documentation describing its physical capabilities or even life span or the type of maintenance needed.

So, what documentations that we need for assets?

The documentations are quite simple to obtain at the time the asset is procured but hard to retain when the asset is in service. The documentations are as follows:

a. The procurement documentation
b. The as-built drawings or the installation drawings (if applicable)

c. Quality assurance records (if applicable)
d. Manual (or operating manual)

The organization must keep these documents for as long as the asset’s service life or even design life. Whenever the organization move to a new complex or even a new office building, these documents are invaluable as the current office’s files.

To test our organization, just answer these simple questions:

a. For a start, do we have the office’s computer manual?
b. What’s the office’s computer service life?
c. How much is the cost of the original purchase?
d. Where are the licenses for the software?

If the answers are all “no” or “do not know”, then the organization need to start to obtain and retain the necessary documentations for the assets procured. Without these documentations, then the organization would find hard to maintain the asset or even to ensure the asset operate as it should be during its design and service life.

Just imagine, a cable stayed bridge or an aircraft does not have an operating manual. Would you feel safe to travel on it?