Summary Smart Asset Management
Lecture 1 Introduction to Smart Asset Management
SAM 1.1. Introduction: The Overview Effect
The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts during spaceflight,
often while viewing the Earth from outer space. It is the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of
the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the
void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish,
the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society
with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes both obvious and imperative. The earth
is the asset in this case.
Importance of the course:
● Societal need: Without SAM, our society will end
● Educational: An important yet unknown topic
● Academic: No integrated business text available yet
14 main topics, which will be discussed in the classes. At the core is a new way of conducting
maintenance.
The topics can be categorized in:
● Engineering (orange)
● IT (yellow)
● Economical/business (blue)
1
,SAM 1.2. Management of Technical Assets
Asset is a generic term, so it can be used for everything. Mostly for financial assets, but we are
talking about technical/physical assets. Different types of technical assets (all part of the course):
In general, concentrated assets have higher investments and a longer life time (buildings) and the
transportable lower investments and short lifecycle (iPhone).
Portable TA has to be brought to service centers (Mediamarkt). Mobile TA has to be brought to
maintenance facilities (Hangar). Mobile maintenance teams have to come to Network TA (canal).
Standard TA (machines), engineers travel (field services) to the place where they are located. For
concentrated TA then often the engineering department is co-located with the assets.
Asset management is hugely important for many sectors of the economy. Huge percentage of
national income is in maintenance directly.
The problem is that a lot of assets, especially public infrastructure but also machines in process
industry, were built after the war. So they are now reaching or past their technical lifetimes, which
means that these will soon need to be replaced, closed down or receive a major upgrade. So aging
assets is a big deal in a large part of asset management.
The good news is that there is a whole range of new technologies, processes and ways of organizing
that can be used to upgrade the assets and make it smart. These possibilities (the 14 topics of the
course) are visualized below:
2
,SAM 1.3. Triple Smart Asset Management
Smart in SAM means:
● Digitized: all the steps once done by human senses and with paper documents are now with
sensors and digital media
● Integrated: across the supply chain, across the lifecycle
● Sustainable: SAM leads to smaller footprints (longer lifetime, fewer spare parts, less energy
usage, less pollution)
Digitized, because our human senses are not sensitive enough to pick up small deviations early on in
the degradation process. Sensors can pick up deteriorating conditions much earlier. We therefore,
can start earlier with maintenance. The earlier, the better, because in the beginning a lot of
problems can be solved with just a small maintenance activity, like a bit of oil. Secondly, people can’t
monitor the process all the time, and digitalized alternatives can (continuous monitoring).
In the traditional/conventional asset management all the steps that have to be taken to keep assets
in good conditions are broken. In a digital context they become interconnected/integrated:
Supply chain integration. Horizontal flow is the normal supply chain. There is also a vertical supply
chain, because the machines that are used to produce the product are also acquired, upgraded,
designed, etc. The vertical lifecycle is long (e.g. 5 years) and the horizontal short (e.g. one week).
3
, Organizational integration
In a typical asset management context there is the service triad.
Maintenance can be done by the service provider or specialized departments of the asset owner
(which is the case at NS). While doing maintenance, information is needed from the manufacturer
and their suppliers. Also the requirements of the end customers should be taken into account.
Therefore, in complex contexts a control tower is needed that collects, stores and integrates all the
data. It can be a separate company, but doesn’t have to be (it is a role, so can also be at the
manufacturer, the asset owner or the service provider).
Smart asset management is sustainable, because the lifecycle is extended via maintenance. Upfront
a bit more costs, but this will result in savings later on. SAM fosters sustainability through a smaller
ecological footprint across the asset lifecycle.
4
Lecture 1 Introduction to Smart Asset Management
SAM 1.1. Introduction: The Overview Effect
The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts during spaceflight,
often while viewing the Earth from outer space. It is the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of
the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the
void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish,
the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society
with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes both obvious and imperative. The earth
is the asset in this case.
Importance of the course:
● Societal need: Without SAM, our society will end
● Educational: An important yet unknown topic
● Academic: No integrated business text available yet
14 main topics, which will be discussed in the classes. At the core is a new way of conducting
maintenance.
The topics can be categorized in:
● Engineering (orange)
● IT (yellow)
● Economical/business (blue)
1
,SAM 1.2. Management of Technical Assets
Asset is a generic term, so it can be used for everything. Mostly for financial assets, but we are
talking about technical/physical assets. Different types of technical assets (all part of the course):
In general, concentrated assets have higher investments and a longer life time (buildings) and the
transportable lower investments and short lifecycle (iPhone).
Portable TA has to be brought to service centers (Mediamarkt). Mobile TA has to be brought to
maintenance facilities (Hangar). Mobile maintenance teams have to come to Network TA (canal).
Standard TA (machines), engineers travel (field services) to the place where they are located. For
concentrated TA then often the engineering department is co-located with the assets.
Asset management is hugely important for many sectors of the economy. Huge percentage of
national income is in maintenance directly.
The problem is that a lot of assets, especially public infrastructure but also machines in process
industry, were built after the war. So they are now reaching or past their technical lifetimes, which
means that these will soon need to be replaced, closed down or receive a major upgrade. So aging
assets is a big deal in a large part of asset management.
The good news is that there is a whole range of new technologies, processes and ways of organizing
that can be used to upgrade the assets and make it smart. These possibilities (the 14 topics of the
course) are visualized below:
2
,SAM 1.3. Triple Smart Asset Management
Smart in SAM means:
● Digitized: all the steps once done by human senses and with paper documents are now with
sensors and digital media
● Integrated: across the supply chain, across the lifecycle
● Sustainable: SAM leads to smaller footprints (longer lifetime, fewer spare parts, less energy
usage, less pollution)
Digitized, because our human senses are not sensitive enough to pick up small deviations early on in
the degradation process. Sensors can pick up deteriorating conditions much earlier. We therefore,
can start earlier with maintenance. The earlier, the better, because in the beginning a lot of
problems can be solved with just a small maintenance activity, like a bit of oil. Secondly, people can’t
monitor the process all the time, and digitalized alternatives can (continuous monitoring).
In the traditional/conventional asset management all the steps that have to be taken to keep assets
in good conditions are broken. In a digital context they become interconnected/integrated:
Supply chain integration. Horizontal flow is the normal supply chain. There is also a vertical supply
chain, because the machines that are used to produce the product are also acquired, upgraded,
designed, etc. The vertical lifecycle is long (e.g. 5 years) and the horizontal short (e.g. one week).
3
, Organizational integration
In a typical asset management context there is the service triad.
Maintenance can be done by the service provider or specialized departments of the asset owner
(which is the case at NS). While doing maintenance, information is needed from the manufacturer
and their suppliers. Also the requirements of the end customers should be taken into account.
Therefore, in complex contexts a control tower is needed that collects, stores and integrates all the
data. It can be a separate company, but doesn’t have to be (it is a role, so can also be at the
manufacturer, the asset owner or the service provider).
Smart asset management is sustainable, because the lifecycle is extended via maintenance. Upfront
a bit more costs, but this will result in savings later on. SAM fosters sustainability through a smaller
ecological footprint across the asset lifecycle.
4
