Integrated Acquisition Engineering Model for Acquiring Heavy Engineering Assets

摘要

In asset intensive industries such as mining, oil & gas, utilities etc. most of the capital expenditure happens on acquiring engineering assets. Process of acquiring assets is called as "Procurement" or "Acquisition". An asset procurement decision should be taken in consideration with the installation, commissioning, operational, maintenance and disposal needs of an asset. However, such cross-functional collaboration and communication does not appear to happen between engineering, maintenance, warehousing, procurement and other functions in many asset intensive industries. Acquisition planning and execution are two distinct parts of asset acquisition process. Acquisition planning or procurement planning is responsible for determining exactly what is required to be purchased. It is important that an asset acquisition decision is the result of cross-functional decision making process. An acquisition decision leads to a formal purchase order. Most costly asset decisions occur even before they are acquired. Therefore, acquisition decision should be an outcome of an integrated planning & decision making process. There has been extensive research done on how to implement an effective procurement process. There are numerous software solutions available for executing a procurement process. However, not much has been done on how to arrive at a cross functional procurement planning process that adheres to organizational procurement policies and delivers on project objectives. It is also important to link procurement planning process to procurement execution process. It is important to consider factors that affect policies, planning and processes in engineering asset procurement in asset intensive industries. An Acquisition Engineering Framework can be established which will help make acquisition decisions based on various criteria to satisfy cross-functional organizational requirements. An Acquisition Engineering Framework which will consider inputs from corporate asset management strategy, organizational procurement policy, production management, maintenance management, warehousing, finance and HSE. Such a framework will improve the effectiveness of asset acquisition planning process. An appropriate acquisition decision can be a competitive advantage for an organization.