Dakota Murphey explores the critical aspects of Asset Integrity Management (AIM), its importance, and how it contributes to maintaining safety, productivity, and compliance in the UK industrial and retail sectors.
Spanning disciplines such as maintenance, inventory management, operations, processing, equipment safety, and much more, the concept of AIM has become integral to industrial facilities. Not only is this multifaceted operation critical to ensuring the success and stability of both assets and organisations, but it has emerged as a vital health and safety component.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines asset integrity as “the ability of an asset to perform its required function effectively and efficiently whilst protecting health, safety and the environment.”
Building on this, AIM is the systematic means of ensuring that the people, systems, processes, and resources that deliver integrity are in place and working as required throughout an asset’s life cycle.
The goal of asset management extends far beyond simple maintenance. It encompasses a broad, top-level view of an organisation’s assets, including (but not limited to):
The objective of AIM is to manage assets to gain maximum value, increase return on investment (ROI) and profitability, and safeguard staff and the environment. Whether managing a power plant, a manufacturing or distribution facility, or even tracking equipment like hard and soft camera cases in real-time, the fundamental principles of AIM apply across the board.
As many UK industries face ageing infrastructure, growing pressure from regulators, and the need to optimise costs more effectively in the wake of supply chain instability and unpredictability, AIM has become more vital than ever before.
AIM plays a pivotal role in identifying, assessing, and minimising risks associated with asset operations in, for example, oil and gas facilities. Productive and preventative management helps to reduce the risk of accidents and ensure the safety of workers and the public as a whole.
Optimising asset performance and minimising downtime – with the help of AIM – helps to keep facilities more productive and reduce their operational overheads. Effective AIM strategies can help extend the life cycle of assets, optimise their repair and maintenance costs, and improve overall ROI.
Furthermore, with new UK and EU regulations governing industrial operations and environmental efficiency, proper asset management helps organisations stay compliant, reduce the risk of financial penalties for non-compliance, and lower the overall impact on the environment.
Implementing a robust, cohesive AIM programme across facilities requires several key components. It will depend on the type, breadth, and complexity of a facility and its surrounding infrastructure as to how effective AIM will be, but as a general overview, organisations should consider focusing on these critical areas:
AIM is centrally focused on and deployed in high-risk industries like upstream oil and gas, but that is not to suggest its principles cannot be applied across sectors.
Take the evolving energy sector, for example. When it comes to power generation, distribution, and transmission, AIM helps to ensure that the infrastructure is reliable and safe. As the world is moving further towards green and clean energy generation and distribution, and with legacy technology gradually being replaced, AIM will prove integral in the global shift towards carbon neutrality.
Manufacturing and healthcare are also sectors that benefit greatly from effective AIM policies and processes. AIM plays a vital role in optimising and validating critical equipment (whether on a production line or a patient ward) and maintaining a safe environment for all users when in operation. The same can be said for all interconnected transport systems and infrastructure, which look set to be given increased funding and support from the new Labour government.
Furthermore, as more organisations – in the industrial sector and beyond – embrace digitisation, maintaining the integrity and security of data and digital assets grows increasingly important. AIM can work in tandem with cyber security strategies to safeguard networks that extend beyond geographical borders.
While the benefits of AIM are clear, organisations often face challenges in its deployment and implementation.
A common issue faced is determining the exact business costs for each stage in an asset’s life cycle, in terms of, for example, capital expenditure, time, materials, and labour. With such a broad range of assets requiring granular data, and with many coming to the end of their natural lifecycle, it becomes increasingly complex when determining how to quantify and optimise costs for each asset.
Implementing an effective AIM strategy can be challenging for existing operational managers and teams who are already familiar with existing processes. Upskilling and learning new technologies and procedures will take time, which can also be difficult to quantify on top of the significant upfront costs of new AIM technology. Businesses must be prepared to invest sufficiently if they are to witness the long-term advantages of AIM, and also to expect some resilience within the workplace at first.
External factors like fluctuating wholesale prices, regulatory changes, dwindling resources, supply chain pressures, and evolving workforce and buyer demands will also continue to influence how effective an AIM programme will be. There will inevitably be some resilience and efficiency bottlenecks, but ensuring that a robust AIM system is in place will help to minimise the long-term impact of these issues.
Evolving technology will continue to innovate – but also potentially disrupt – the AIM process. Advanced Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors offer real-time monitoring of asset whereabouts, location history, and asset health and performance. Blockchain is also being explored for enhancing the security of asset-related transactions, which will prove instrumental in aligning buyers and suppliers across supply chains. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will also prove useful in predictive maintenance and analysis, helping managers make informed decisions regarding asset management.
However, all of these technologies will require significant human oversight and supervision as operations continue to become more tech-enabled. The key is balancing costs, efficiency, and employee security, rather than exclusively seeing this technology as a cost-saving or productivity-improving initiative.
It’s clear that AIM will continue to evolve with industries, regulations, and technology as a whole. However, the core focus on maintaining asset integrity throughout their lifecycle will remain for years to come. With the right approach, UK organisations can leverage AIM effectively to maintain a competitive edge in the market, drive innovation, manage costs, and improve efficiency.
