In addition to regular malfunctions, defects and other maintenance activities you have to deal with trends, developments, limitations, new orders from above and struggles from below - or the other way around. How do you keep the helm straight and ensure that your company stays on course?

The term “a perfect storm” is used to describe a dynamic combination of events that together have much greater consequences than the individual events would cause separately. Sounds familiar?

Technical Captain

As a maintenance and asset manager, you are the captain of the ship called "The Technical Service". You set the course and make choices based on the most important value driver: do you focus on technical availability, or do you focus on minimizing operational costs? Or perhaps (new) legislation is currently leading, or you have to make important decisions in the area of ​​lifetime extension or replacement of critical assets.

Also, you have to deal with "the helmsmen standing ashore" who provide additional challenges or limitations in the form of reducing your OpEx and CaPex budgets. But whatever is decided, the maintenance and asset manager must bring the technical service to calmer waters.

Different roles

Peter Decaigny is a Partner at Mainnovation, a consultancy firm in the field of maintenance and asset management. He has experience with both large and small companies in industry, fleet, and infrastructure. He outlines the skills that the “average maintenance manager in 2025” should possess: “The maintenance and asset manager as an economist, as a sustainability officer, as an ICT specialist, and as a people manager.”

From Cost to Value

“Maintenance is not necessarily a cost item. When you make smart choices, you can add value to the operating result with maintenance and asset management,” Decaigny says.

This message is generally widely approved by management. It does mean that the maintenance and asset manager must calculate this in advance and also make it happen. How do you calculate the dominant Value Driver? How do you create a maintenance budget?

“Besides the OpEx and CapEx, it is important to also take the average age of the installation into account. A young factory does not yet put much pressure on the CapEx budget, but at some point, this will change. Being able to calculate this properly and translate it into value in euros (or any other currency) will help to gain support from the board.”

Steps Toward 2030

In addition to economists, maintenance and asset managers are also increasingly involved in a company's sustainability objectives.

“There is an obligation under the European Green Deal to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption by 2030.

"It is also necessary to remain competitive. All of this has a considerable impact. There are even companies that are dismantling their factories because they cannot meet these requirements. Fortunately, these are exceptions."

“Yes, sustainability requires the deployment of people and resources, but we can achieve good results with simple steps.” This is the outcome of the international study MORE4Sustainability.

Digitalisation

Developments in digital, sensoring, data and data sharing are almost faster than we can manage. And yet, as a maintenance and asset manager, it is required of you because we have to keep up and stay ahead of the competition. From Excel to CMMS or EAM tools, from predictive to prescriptive maintenance based on data and algorithms.

“The good news: the new generation can help the older generation. They grew up with TikTok and YouTube. They operate a drone as if they have never done anything else and they know how to create a good Chat GPT prompt. Make use of this”, is the tip that Decaigny gives.

Skill Transfer

And of course, the maintenance and asset manager is also a team leader, a coach, a people manager.

“Good technicians are hard to find. But once you have found them, it is important to keep them motivated and engaged.” Also the older employees require attention. This involves securing existing knowledge and skills. Find a way to unlock that knowledge and ensure that it does not disappear when the employee retires.

“By linking older employees to young, new employees, you kill two birds with one stone: the older generation can transfer their knowledge, the newcomers learn how the factory works and how maintenance is carried out and they can teach their buddy something in the field of new techniques."

"It is important, as a maintenance and asset manager, to ensure that there is understanding and respect for each other's way of working because it is undoubtedly different.”

Conclusion

Yes, it is a lot. And all these tasks are on top of the daily activities that can be considered “core business”, which ensure that the ship keeps sailing at all. But with extra effort you can tighten the sails a bit, anticipate immediately when the wind blows from a different direction, stick to your course better and perhaps even end up in calmer waters. That will ensure satisfied faces among the crew but also, the captain’s…

Mainnovation is known for its methodology Value Driven Maintenance & Asset Management (VDMXL).

Text: Laura van der Linde
Photo: FREEPIK