Managing physical assets is a paradigm shift from maintenance

A physical asset is an entity that is capable of creating, sustaining or destroying value at any stage in its life cycle. Physical asset management is about ensuring that the value profile, as defined by all stakeholders, is enhanced in a sustainable manner throughout the asset's life. This involves the synergistic integration of a wide range of disciplines and processes covering the life-cycle stages of creating, establishing, exploiting and divesting a physical asset in a balanced manner to satisfy the continuum of constraints imposed by business strategy, economy, ergonomics, technical and operational integrity, and regulatory compliance. Innovative approaches that optimise the balance of these constraints are vital during each stage, and also throughout the life of a physical asset. The ramifications for applying such innovative tendencies are a paradigm shift from the conventional cost doctrine typical in maintenance or terotechnology.