Asset Management Training for Hydro Tasmania

Following on from an ISO 55001 Gap Assessment performed by us, Hydro Tasmania wished to increase the awareness and knowledge of ISO 55000 and Asset Management among key internal stakeholders. We delivered our Implementing ISO 55001 training course and the results were immediate.

The client

Hydro Tasmania is Australia’s leading producer of renewable energy, with over 100 years of experience producing hydroelectric power. Its integrated network of 30 power stations and 55 major dams, plus other supporting infrastructure, has a capacity of over 2600 MW and is a key part of Tasmania’s energy strategy. It also makes Hydro Tasmania the largest water manager in Australia. Owned by the Tasmanian Government, Hydro Tasmania has assets worth around $5 billion and employs over 1100 people. This asset base is ageing, creating challenges for the organisation in maintenance and refurbishments to ensure production meets demand and reduce asset risks.

The challenge

Hydro Tasmania had been pursuing improvements to its asset management practices using ISO 55001:2014, the first global standard for asset management systems, as the benchmark for this work. An initial gap assessment of Hydro Tasmania’s alignment with the standard, provided awareness to stakeholders across the business that asset management is not just ‘a maintenance thing’. There was a need to ensure that all key stakeholders, including those from the procurement, human resource, information technology and wholesale energy services areas were aware of the part that they needed to play in effective asset management.

Training requirement

To assist with implementation of the recommendations from the gap assessment and improve the Hydro Tasmania staff understanding of asset management and the ISO 55001 standard, Hydro Tasmania requested we provide our two-day public course Implementing an ISO 55001 Compliant Asset Management System for its staff. The objectives of the course are to:

• Describe the structure and intent of the ISO 55000 series of standards;
• Describe the fundamentals of asset management;
• Describe the key elements of an ISO 55001 compliant asset management system;
• Understand how an organisation can demonstrate compliance with the requirements of ISO 55001;
• Understand how best to implement improved Asset Management processes and systems within an organisation
• Understand the ISO 55001 certification process and how to seek certification.

The gap assessment (which we had also performed) had identified the parts of the business that need to be included in the development and implementation of an improved Asset Management system for Hydro Tasmania. It had also identified that a number of business functions within Hydro Tasmania needed to become more aware of Asset Management concepts and principles. The training we delivered provided Hydro Tasmania with the opportunity to address this issue. As a result of the course, other parts of the business, such as Procurement and IT, became more engaged in assisting to formulate Hydro Tasmania’s Asset Management Policy.

Tony Ang, Hydro Tasmania’s Manager of Asset Strategy and Risk, now finds that a lot of people within Hydro Tasmania understand that Asset Management is a discipline that is significantly bigger than just Maintenance. “As a management system, there are elements that are more important than just fixing the assets. This includes the need for Asset Management policy, processes, data, information management etc.” said Tony. “Personnel from other departments now understand that they have an important part to play in Asset Management and will be involved in follow up activities.”

Applying the skills and knowledge learnt is assisting his organisation with immediate effect. “Immediately after the course one of my managers volunteered to help champion Asset Management for the whole organisation”, said Tony. Tony tasked this keen employee with updating the Asset Management Policy, in conjunction with other key stakeholders, across the business and also asked him to look at improving the risk management process. The course has made it easier for Tony to resource and implement improvements in Asset Management practices within Hydro Tasmania.

Companies are often challenged by the need to improve the efficiency of their asset management processes while improving the system. Following the asset management training, key stakeholders now understand the importance of this happening. Tony says, “Asset Management is our core business activity. The training was a great opportunity to bring in others such as finance, IT and procurement personnel together with the technical asset managers to understand ISO 55000, but more importantly, to make them aware that they have a role to play in maintaining and managing the assets as part of a system.”

The benefits

As a result of undertaking the asset management training, Hydro Tasmania has created a greater awareness within other service areas outside of Asset and Infrastructure that Asset Management is not just ‘a maintenance thing’. This improved the overall organisational understanding of Asset Management, including both the benefits and how to go about achieving them. The training also contributed to improving awareness of Asset Management which is a key requirement of the ISO 55001 standard.