ASSET MANAGEMENT REALLY CAN HELP: SIMPLE ASSET MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES ASSIST 3 UTILITIES

摘要

Asset Management can be implemented in stages to achieve benefits right away. While implementing a robust asset management program may appear to be completely overwhelming, examining a utility's primary concerns and focusing the program on addressing those concerns first may reap significant benefits that will drive the program forward. For example, the water industry often fails to calculate the cost of current practices - what is being spent now based on faulty or missing information? What is the cost of lost time, damaged infrastructure, reduced public confidence? Current practices are not 'free.' There is a cost to reduced efficiency. If this time and effort can be regained, it can be spent in other places in the utility (maintenance, repairs, additional data collection, flushing, valve exercising, or improving the Asset Management program or business practices around Asset Management.) The most important factor in successful outcomes is to change some of the way business is routinely done to improve decision-making, save financial resources, and make work tasks more efficient. When utilities understand that the program design is for them, to solve their problems, they are much more likely to engage in the process and move towards implementation. Ultimately, the industry hopes every utility will develop and implement a comprehensive, robust Asset Management strategy, but this cannot happen with a voluntary program unless utilities get started and see the benefits they will achieve. Therefore, a simpler approach that engages the utility staff and addresses their needs might be a great way to get started. Then the program can grow over time, perhaps over a decade or more. In the meantime, the utilities are still moving in the right direction. Three case studies will be presented to show how utilities who were not practicing asset management were able to achieve benefits from applying simple asset management techniques. In each case, the asset management program was focused on the specific needs and interests of the community. These programs can be expanded over time, but even with the level of their current practice, they are able to achieve benefits. The three communities were Haines Borough, Alaska; Gatesville, Texas; and Youngstown, Ohio. Each community was asked to provide their greatest need related to Asset Management and assistance was provided by the Southwest Environmental Finance Center to focus the Asset Management approach on addressing the identified needs. The needs included: knowledge management, asset location, pipe replacement, and useful life remaining of treatment assets to aid in developing a capital improvement plan. The development of the programs were relatively quick (for example, the field work in Alaska was completed in two weeks) and were built off the existing methodologies. As an example, Haines Borough had some limited geographic information system (GIS) mapping that was too erroneous to be used by the operators and paper as-builts that were used but the format was somewhat difficult. The SW EFC was able to work with the limited mapping as a starting place to geocode all the assets, add missing assets, and associate attribute data, photos and a copy of the as-built information with each asset. In another example, Youngstown had a database with 15 years-worth of break data that could be used to assess pipe condition. The data was available but extremely difficult to use as a decision-tool because of the format. Changing the format of this data resulted in the utility having actionable information.