Massive gas leaks in Southern California¹, lead poisoning in Michigan², and daily water main breaks in Syracuse³ – these are just a handful of examples of the rise in problems attributed to aging infrastructure. While some infrastructure-related disasters simply can’t be avoided, others can. Here’s how:
1. Establish a preventive maintenance program as soon as possible. Assets will fail. But many failures can be avoided if a higher percentage of your maintenance is planned. Using asset management software to create a preventive maintenance program is a highly effective strategy that will help avoid costly disasters. Reactive maintenance is a plan for failure.
2. Keep your asset database up-to-date. Collecting all of your asset data is a daunting first step. Many organizations have tens of thousands of assets. But the good news is, with today’s advances in mobile technology, this task is much more attainable than it may have once been. Many organizations now use QR codes or RFID tags that are easily scanned by mobile devices to upload data into an asset management system. Once the data is entered, it is just a matter of keeping the information up-to-date, so your maintenance team knows the status of all assets at all times.
3. Conduct condition assessments on existing assets and prioritize maintenance by criticality. It is essential to know the condition of existing assets. It is even more critical to be able to use this information to determine which assets get maintenance first. NEXGEN Asset Management takes factors such as condition, risk, the impact of failure, probability of failure and reliability into account to determine which assets need maintenance or replacement first. It also uses this information to forecast budgets so you know where to allocate funds.
While setting up a program like this may take an initial investment, it will pay off in dividends in the long run by preventing costly disasters and will help your organization successfully manage its aging infrastructure.
¹http://insideenergy.org/2015/12/23/massive-gas-leak-points-to-vast-aging-natural-gas-infrastructure/
³http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/6/syracuse-mayor-and-congressman-seek-infrastructure/
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