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Posted On: 03/11/2008

ARC increases emphasis on asset management

PlantServices.com

ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com) has the ear of the process industries and a strong client base of suppliers in process automation, instrument and controls, so it’s not surprising that hundreds of engineering and management professionals representing dozens of companies and a score of countries converged on Orlando, Fla., Feb. 4-7 for the market research group’s annual Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Global Manufacturers Forum 2008 USA.

Presentations carried forward familiar themes from past forums, such as design, operate, maintain (DOM) and collaborative manufacturing, adding descriptions of new developments in software and systems, fresh examples of successful implementations and serious discussions of managing the people side.

ARC President Andy Chatha’s keynote address discussed two new themes of particular importance to the industrial maintenance world: a new emphasis on asset management, and an end user-focused, community approach to solving manufacturing problems and improving plant performance. Chatha told how ARC takes on a topic:

1. Identify an issue or hot topic of interest to our clients.
2. Identify business practices companies use to perform the tasks related to the issue or hot topic.
3. Identify performance measures companies use to determine how well the tasks are being performed.
4. Separate business practices into four categories: people, processes, technology and information.
5. Launch a Web survey and invite subject-matter experts to take the survey.
6. Conduct telephone interviews with a group of subject-matter experts to gain deeper understanding of the best practices used.
7. Sort and segment the respondents into the following performance groups:
   a. Groundbreakers (top 5%, optional)
   b. Leaders (top 20 - 25%)
   c. Competitors (middle 50%)
   d. Followers (bottom 25%)
8. Analyze business practices within each performance group to benchmark best practices.

Using this methodology, ARC has determined that “Asset management is critically important,” says Sid Snitkin, ARC vice president. “Problems cause incredible financial costs every year. Environment, health and safety impacts can be even more important.”

Recognizing that the issues span many groups and technologies, including automation and outside of manufacturing, we “need all groups collaborating to overcome key challenges,” Snitkin says. He announced ARC’s first asset life cycle management (ALM) forum, titled “AIM for Excellence Through Better Asset Information Management,” to be held Oct. 13-15, 2008 in Houston (the week before the ISA show).

Along with the new forum, ARC’s focus on ALM is to include communities for key topics and issues such as AIM and plant asset management (PAM); online support including blogs, wikis and Web meetings; and community-driven research. “These will augment, not duplicate, efforts of other groups such as OpenO&M, Fiatech, etc.,” Snitkin says.

For more on the Houston ALM Forum, see www.arcweb.com/Events/Houston08/Pages/default.aspx