ISO 55001 Certification for Pioneer Energy

The client

Pioneer Energy is a supplier of local and renewable energy solutions across New Zealand, particularly on the South Island. Owned by the Central Lakes Trust, Pioneer Energy supplies industry and the public with a diverse range of energy solutions, including hydro-electric, wind, landfill gas, steam generation and wood chip.

The opportunity

As an asset-intensive organisation, Pioneer Energy was focussed on demonstrating sound stewardship of its assets and had decided to pursue certification against ISO 55001:2014 as evidence of this. Pioneer Energy also saw ISO 55001 certification as a way of differentiating itself from its competitors and providing customers with confidence in its capabilities to manage assets to meet their needs. Pioneer Energy consequently made a firm commitment to achieving ISO 55001 certification, stating in their 2016 Annual Report:

“Pioneer has set a goal of attaining ISO 55000 accreditation by 2019. The ISO accreditation is an independent validation that Pioneer’s Asset Management programme is world class.”

Pioneer Energy had made some previous attempts to implement Asset Management, however, these had not been successfully developed, implemented and, more importantly, incorporated and sustained to become part of Business as Usual. With not only certification as the goal, Pioneer Energy was determined to realise the benefits of making Asset Management part of step change new way of Business as Usual thinking.

How we helped

We were first engaged in late 2016 to conduct a readiness assessment of Pioneer Energy’s asset management system, uncovering any gaps in compliance to ISO 55001 and supporting development of a subsequent plan of action to close the gaps; the first steps in the journey to certification. With an improvement plan in place, Pioneer Energy then proceeded to undertake the actions required to close gaps. To ensure that development and implementation of the asset management system would not only close the gaps in compliance but also become fully embedded and sustained within their organisation, we continued to support Pioneer Energy in its journey to certification. We performed the following activities, helping to implement and embed the practice of asset management and Pioneer Energy’s asset management system:

• Development of a framework and structure for the Pioneer Energy asset management system manual;
• Delivery of Introduction to asset management training to Pioneer Energy staff;
• Delivery of Introduction to Internal Auditing training to nominated Pioneer Energy internal auditors; and
• Four subsequent Progress reviews undertaken in March and December 2017, and in July and November 2018. These reviews were designed to ensure improvement actions were being undertaken to close identified gaps in compliance. This also provided the opportunity to give further advice and coaching to Pioneer Energy staff on their role in asset management, and increase their awareness and understanding of Asset Management and the benefits for Pioneer Energy.

Deliverables and benefits

Pioneer Energy seamlessly achieved certification to ISO 55001 in 2019; being the first generator and only the second organisation in the New Zealand to have achieved certification. Through the journey to certification, Pioneer Energy has developed an asset management culture, where asset management has truly become part of an embedded new way of working, and from this the business can start to see benefits associated with decision making, performance, cost and risk. Independent certification also has provided further customer confidence in Pioneer Energy’s capabilities to manage assets to meet their needs, supporting the success of future competitive business opportunities.